In the world of cleaning animals, crab guts are pretty innocuous. Simply pull them all off and discard them. To cook your crabs, use a large pot. Usually the face of the crab will come off with the shell but if not be sure to remove the crabs face as well. Simply rinse them out under cool running water. You now have a fully cleaned crab. Once your crab is clean, you can cook and enjoy it. After you've pulled off the apron, you will see a small hole between the body and the top shell, or carapace, at the back of the crab. Remove the crabs from the pot and let sit until cool enough to handle. Then, cut the legs into thin pieces. There are two theories about preparing the crab for cooking; the crab can be cracked in half and cleaned before placing in the pot, or the entire crab can be placed into the pot and then cleaned after it's cooked. Some like to steam their crabs, whereas others prefer to boil them. % of people told us that this article helped them. know where to start wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. However, not all scissors will be sharp enough. Any medium to large sized mud crabs you can use for the dish. The remaining parts of the crab (besides the shell) that you don't want to eat are the guts. A male crabs' claw is bright blue while a female is red. Toss the whole cleaned crabs (or halves or quarters depending on the size) with some olive oil and maybe a minced clove of garlic or two, plus some chopped rosemary or thyme leaves if you like. Either way will work, it's all in your preference for mess. Any undigested food left inside the crab before it was cooked may grow bacteria and ruin the crab meat. Place crab on a work surface, belly side up. Rinse under cold running water. 2. If you want to clean a crab, start by using a pair of scissors to make a cut behind its eyes and mouth to remove the face. Carefully take your live crabs out of the ice water with tongs and place them into the steamer pot one by … 5. Pull the top of the crab’s shell off using your fingers. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 44,838 times. Holding the crab claws by the claw shell, dip the meaty part into the egg wash, and then dredge them in the flour again. One at a time, grasp crabs as described above and plunge them headfirst into the boiling water; if you have too much water, ladle out excess and discard. Place the steamer section into the pot, making sure the steamer is not touching the liquid. To complete the cleaning process, rinse out the crab's guts under cold water until all of the greenish brown substances are gone. To clean soft-shell crabs, hold the crab in one hand, and using a pair of kitchen shears, cut off the front of the crab, about 1/2 inch behind the eyes and mouth. Dunk the crab in ice water to stop cooking. By signing up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/cleaning-crab, http://www.eatingwell.com/healthy_cooking/healthy_cooking_101_basics_techniques/kitchen_tips_techniques/how_to_prepare_dungeness_crab, http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/how-to-clean-soft-shell-crabs.html, http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/crab/clean_prepare.html, http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/09/french-in-a-flash-soft-shell-crab-meuniere-recipe.html, consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. Bring the water, vinegar (or beer), and salt to a boil in your large pot and add in 2 tbsp of the Old Bay seasoning. from Pournima to Amavasya. Get daily tips and expert advice to help you take your cooking skills to the next level. Remove the apron by grabbing the point towards the front of the crab and pulling it off. How-to Clean Your Cooked or Live Crabs. One point though, always have the claws removed from the vendor selling the crab. Take them out and soak them in cold water for 10 minutes. Once they are done, drop them briefly into the ice bath to stop the cooking process. After you've done one or two, they go pretty quickly. Remove from the heat and finish with a sprinkle of cumin. The liquid that will come out is called "crab butter" (it's the fat from the back of the crab) and many people save it for use in soups or even as a dipping sauce for the crab itself. You will also need to remove the shell and guts as part of the cleaning process. I’ve been buying these yummy critters for $2.99 per pound at Sun Fat Seafood. How to Cook and Clean a Fresh Dungeness Crab Step 1: Get a Fresh Crab. Let's start by turning the crab over. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Please help us continue to provide you with our trusted how-to guides and videos for free by whitelisting wikiHow on your ad blocker. Steam or boil your crab at ~7-8 minutes/pound, lid on but cocked to allow a bit of venting. Live crabs ship surprisingly well when handled properly and kept on ice, but there is something about the local crab season that can't be beaten, whether that's Dungeness crab pulled out of the Pacific Ocean or blue crabs from the Chesapeake Bay. Once it has completely cooled down, take a layer of cling wrapper and wrap each blue crab individually. A mature crab will generally molt about once a month, growing larger with each molt. You can any method you like to do this, but a quick 60-second blanch in boiling water seems to do the trick. How to Clean and Cook Crab Like a Pro Buying, Storing, and Cleaning. Discard the top part of the shell. If you really can’t stand to see another ad again, then please consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. Boiling is more common, but steaming crabs emerge from the pot less water-logged and more filled with their own crabby juices. Other people wear latex gloves to protect themselves from the heat of the shells. The crab can either be frozen like this, in … Treat Blue Crab just like you would any other type of crab. If you don't want to boil them after catching them, at the very least, you should clean the crabs before freezing. 1. Crab-O-Licious.com Replies-Yes, you can freeze blue crab before cooking them, but you should clean them FIRST. It'll be easy to clean crabs when you have access to running water. Along the top are two rows of opaque, feathery gills. wikiHow's. If you want to reserve the crab butter, make sure to hold the crab upside-down and pull the body up and out of the top shell so the shell collects the liquid. Turn crab over and remove shell by prying off using your thumb or fingers. Great prices on cheap crab are being found all over San Francisco at places like Manila Oriental Market, Chinatown, and Clement Street. 2. Cook your crab. Last Updated: October 23, 2020 These are not tasty. If you’ve felt intimidated about cooking and cleaning your own Dungeness, don’t. Leave it in the water for five minutes. for sauteing. Others just simply want to eat their already cooked crab and don't know where to start. For tips on how to kill a crab before you clean it and how to cook a crab, read on! It’s Dungeness crab season in California! First, boil the water, put the legs in, then boil for 15 minutes. Smaller cleaned crabs can be served whole, but you'll want to break up larger crabs for people to work from or if you're going to pick the crab meat before serving. By using our site, you agree to our. It is generally easier to use scissors to remove the face. To clean the crab: begin by removing the top shell. 3. The Spruce Eats uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. The term "soft-shell" refers to the brief time after a blue crab molts and before the new, hardened shell has formed; the entire shell is edible during this period. Remove the crab from the pot and rinse under cool water to stop the cooking process and cool the shell for handling. Crabs kept on ice or in the fridge will be lethargic, but even they should respond to being picked up or moved around with a bit of leg movement. Simple as boiling water, seasoning, salt, and a little vinegar. The remaining parts of the crab (besides the shell) that you don't want to eat are the guts. Most crabs can be broken in half or into quarters by hand. My mother used to buy the crabs and clean it, slowly i took over cleaning the crabs since my teen days. Once the top shell is gone, you'll see the crab's insides. Immerse the whole crab and again bring the water to boiling. You now have a fully cleaned crab. Most people discard the carapace, but some people like to clean the shell is use it to serve crab salad. Step 2: Cook. If you want to eat crab meat, you need to clean your crab first. Let the crab cool for a minute before beginning the cleaning process. Many people ask us how do you clean a crab to use for sauce or for sauteing. This article has been viewed 44,838 times. Using the tongs, pick up a crab and place it in the bucket of ice water. Rinse under cold running water. Place a crab on its back on the work surface. 6. Once you’ve purchased your crab of choice, there are a handful of options for cooking the … When fresh, they smell clean and astringent, like sea mist―a fitting aroma for a delicacy that both captures the romance of the sea and the allure of a full moon in spring. You should be left with two even sections of crab meat. Hold the body with one hand and pull off the top shell by grabbing the shell where that small hole is. You'll want to cook the crabs before you clean them. One Tip my mother gave to me : Always buy the crab during the full moon to the new moon phase i.e. For tips on how to kill a crab before you clean it and how to cook a crab, read on! if the crab has been cooked washing is optional. Then, extract the meat by holding the crab upside down and pushing down on both sides until the crab breaks in half. In the world of cleaning animals, crab guts are pretty innocuous. Unlike before where cleaning the crab was optional, you’re going to have to now if you plan on it lasting more than a week. This dish is very popular in Singapore and actually popular across all parts of the world for crab and seafood lovers. Choose a method, add water to your pot, and bring it to a boil. It is much easier to clean crabs after cooking when the meat has loosened from the shell. If you're choosing crabs from a tank or cooler, look for feisty specimens. Lift the tool to pop the shell free from the crab, exposing the entrails and gills. Use a large knife to cut apart bigger or tougher crabs. Allow each crab to cook for approximately 15 minutes (once they float to the top, give them an extra 2-3 minutes). In order for a crustacean to grow, it must periodically shed (molt) its old exoskeleton, or shell. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. Yes. Pull off triangular-shaped belly flap (aka apron); drain, if needed. An award-winning food writer and cookbook author, Molly Watson has created more than 1,000 recipes focused on local, seasonal ingredients. After you've done one or two, they go pretty quickly. 4. Cooking spider crabs is very similar to boiling blue crabs and/or stone crab claws. If your crab is live, you will need to boil it to kill it. 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