Boiling Crabs Question?

[Swampa]

They don't live on ice and yes cook them whole then pop the top off

[Swampa]

Uh la la!

[Lockpro]

Boil them just like crawfish. And they'll be fine for a couple days on ice, even if they die.

Storing and transporting
Crab should be kept alive and cooked as soon as possible. It’s essential to keep crab cool and damp until you are ready to cook them. Place the crabs into an ice chest and cover them with burlap or a towel soaked in salt water. Place ice over the burlap or towel to keep them cool. Don’t store crabs in water because they may not get enough oxygen.

Two ways to prepare crab
Although most crabs are either alive or have been killed just prior to cooking, they certainly are safe to use if you know they are fresh, i.e., dead for only a few hours.

You’ll need a large pot for boiling, a small mallet or hammer, a nutcracker and a small fork.

1. Cook it, then clean it.

The easiest way to prepare your crab for eating is to cook it first and then clean it.

Here’s how to proceed:

Use about ¼ cup of salt per gallon of fresh water and bring to a boil. Immerse the whole crab and again bring the water to boiling. Boil for about 18-20 minutes.
Remove the crab from the pot and rinse under cool water to stop the cooking process and cool the shell for handling.
Remove the abdomen with your fingers (also called the apron, it is the flap of shell on the underside of the crab).
Remove the outer shell (the back of the crab, also called the carapace) by sticking your thumb into the hole left from removing the abdomen and lifting up firmly.
The shell will detach from the body with some guts attached.
Remove and discard the leaf-like, spongy gills from either side of the body.
Rinse out the greenish-brown guts. Break off and discard the mandibles, which are the mouthparts at the front of the crab.
Turn the crab upside down, grip it on either side and place your thumbs underneath near the midline on the back (where the shell used to be).
Push up with your thumbs and pull down with your hands; the crab will crack easily along its center line.
Pull all of the large chunks of meat out of the body, then break open the legs and claws using a mallet or nutcracker.

2. Clean it, then cook it.

Many people prefer to clean their crabs before cooking. The resulting sections require less water for boiling and result in a cleaner table product.

If handling live crabs proves to be a problem when removing the back, the crab can be killed quickly by a blow to the abdomen.

Here’s how to proceed:

Remove the abdomen with your fingers (also called the apron, it is the flap of shell on the underside of the crab).
Remove the outer shell (the back of the crab, also called the carapace) by sticking your thumb into the hole left from removing the abdomen and lifting up firmly.
The shell will detach from the body with some guts attached.
Remove and discard the leaf-like, spongy gills from either side of the body.
Rinse out the greenish-brown guts. Break off and discard the mandibles, which are the mouthparts at the front of the crab.
Turn the crab upside down, grip it on either side and place your thumbs underneath near the midline on the back (where the shell used to be).
Push up with your thumbs and pull down with your hands; the crab will crack easily along its center line.
Immerse crab sections into boiling water for about 12 minutes. Use water somewhat less salty than used for whole crabs (see 1.1 above)

Do NOT keep dead crabs. They go bad quickly (even on ice) and produce a toxin that can not be cooked out of them.

There is a reason all commercial and sport caught crab are cooked as they come off the boat. Been doing this for years and have my own traps and puller on the boat.

[Phillip Fields]

Cook then clean

[coonazz]

Steam them alive.

What the what??????

Steam them??? Old Bay???
I really hope you're kidding.

You boil 'em live and please use a real crab boil from the south.

Ice them good before throwing them in the boil and the claws will stay on.

[DoubleGProstaff]

I clean them the boil with Cajun Blake's elite seafood boil.

[johnpaul]

Went ahead and cleaned them, and don't tell me crabs release toxins after they have been cleaned cause I've frozen them before cleaned and pulled them out and boiled them 4 months later and they were fine! That is 44 cleaned crabs in a 100 quart igloo for size reference.

[Bowtech2004]

Dust them with BBQ crab seasoning and fry them suckers. Then dust again and enjoy!

[Swampa]

Looks phenomenal! Looks like all males

[tvc184]

Ate them both ways.

I clean, then cook.

[coonazz]

I couldnt imagine not eating a fat female loaded with eggs.

#1 Females are the best.

[johnpaul]

Looks phenomenal! Looks like all males

1 female, I'm not sure if they have been stuck in our reservoir since hurricane Ike or if they are coming off of spindletop gully (where we pump from and it connects to the intercoastal).

About a month after Hurricane Ike we set 3 traps in the bar ditches of our big reservoir and they were so full in 45 minutes we couldn't pick them up. If I had to guess there was probably 50-75 crabs in each trap. You couldn't have fit one more inside them.

[Bonesplitter]

They should look like these!
Boil them and then soak for a bit.

[b.latiolais]

I myself prefer to boil them whole. I think the meat is alot sweeter this way. But, majority of the time we clean them then boil them because it's easier for the women and children to eat them. Nothing beats a boiled crab pincher. Even when we fry crabs we always take off the pinchers and boil them. Frying a pincher is a waste.

[warrington]

Cleaned is the only way to go. pull off the shell, cut off the lungs, legs, and break off claws. Spray out the innereds. Then cook them like crawfish. Clean crabs are great.