Crab recipes and storage tips

So I've been catching a bit of crab lately (and hope to continue doing so).  I wanted to share with you what I've been doing with it.  One of my hopes is that you help me improve my storage techniques and/or improve the recipes.

I steam my crabs whole.  I put an inch of water in a 5 gallon pot, bring it to a boil, layer 10 crabs on it, and steam for 20 minutes.  After that I put them in an ice/water bath to stop the cooking. Then eat, eat, eat.  And yes, I love the crab butter.

I'll eat it the day I catch them and the day after.  But what to do after that.  I clean them if I know I won't be eating them fresh, put the meat in a vacuum bag, freeze first, then vacuum after it's frozen.  I freeze first because the meat is too wet to vacuum pack raw.

The majority of time I do one of 3 things to the frozen meat.

The first option is make a simple crab omellette.  Beat eggs, mix in crab, cook in pan.  Eat.

The second option is make a crab dip.  Here's recipe I have used, in original form and my mods in parentheses.

6 ounce of crab ( I use way more, like 16 ounces (2 cups) )
1 cup of finely chopped celery
1 cup Mayo ( can use a less. I usually do, like 1/2 a cup)
1 package of  Philly cream cheese softened
1-3 green onions (I toss in twice as much)
can of cream of mushroom soup-warmed
1 package of gelatin (don't really need this unless you are trying to mold the result to hold a form)
(1 jalapeno pepper, diced)
 
Mix 3 tablespoons of cold water with gelatin. Add gelatin to warm soup. let cool.
 
Add six ounces of crab, one cup of mayo, one large philly cream cheese softened, one cup of finely chopped celery, and the green onions.  Add cooled soup and place in mold. Chill for a few hours.

The third option is make a crab chowder.  My current favorite is from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/all-american-festivals/chrissys-crab-chowder-recipe/index.html .  I do add extra crab meat and a handful of fish chunks.  And I do use less bacon.

One of the things I noticed with the frozen meat is that a lot of liquid is released.  When making the dip, I wring this out before adding, otherwise the dip is too wet.  When making chowder, all the liquid goodness is included.

Any of you freeze the crab in the shell?  Anything special you do?

What other recipes you want to share?

-Allen

hmmmm, Here we fill the pot with water and add a good handfull of salt, bring to boil, add crab while still alive of course. Bring back to a boil and hold for 15 min., cool in ice water bath. Eat what we can and then I do remove the carapace and loose innards( I too like the butter), Then I freeze the crab in the shell.
 The only reason I leave the shell on is to reduce the chance of freezer burn.
 I have not found a method of freezing the meat without it releasing some liquid, but the flavor is intact.

Well, I may get some blowback from PETA lovers...but I keep 'em alive in a cooler in the garage. I've found they can be kept alive and in great shape for up to 5 days. Buys me enough time to consume a limit of 5 crabs (with my gf's help) while they are fresh. If I have any left over towards the end, I'll give them away or boil then refrigerate (buys another day or 2).

The trick is, you have to collect enough clean saltwater so that you can change it out daily. About 4 gal a day. I use 2 cheap electric aerators to give them O2. And yes, I even feed them. I'll drop bits of raw fish (or whatever you normally use for crab bait) in the water on the 2nd or 3rd day. That dirties the water with poop so you have to time it so you change the water a few hours after.

In the summer it's harder because the water has to be kept cold, which is tricky (keeping them in a 5 gal bucket inside a cooler with blue ice in it works). In the winter they are fine just in the cooler.

I've kept them alive for longer but there's a noticeable slowdown.  Even with clean water and food (they won't eat).  I don't want to eat a dying crab. and despite my hatred for PETA, I don't actually want them to suffer. I imagine it would be possible to keep them sprightly for longer than 5 days, but yer prolly getting into saltwater aquarium territory (high DoD). And there's likely a limit to how long a dungeness crab can live outside its habitat anyway.

Frickin love eating crab!!

Allen,

I know your real particular (me too) about rinsing saltwater fish in fresh water, but you soak fresh cooked crab in fresh water. Maybe it's pulling extra moisture into the meat.

After cooking I just drop them in a cooler ON TOP of the ice and just keep pouring off the melt until things are cooled down completely.

I always heard the cold water "shock" was done not only to stop the cooking, but to get the meat to contract away from the shell making it easier to eat. I notice no difference in shelling difficulty between submerging in cold water vs. placing them on top of the ice.

Cleaning them first might exclude you from eating the butter, but I think it's cleaner and the meat probably holds up an extra day. In winter time, I'll still eat crab 4 nights after catching them, 3 nights in warmer weather.

When I'm at the coast for a long period of time in the summer I sink my crab hotel (huge commie pot with all the entrances wired closed) out in the bay and it holds my dinner guests (crabs/clams) until its time to eat them as I want.  Other locals have "dock boxes" that accomplish the same thing

I have tried the freeze in milk thing.. didn't like it, affected taste, texture ok, messy to thaw
I have tried canning crab... bad taste and texture
I have "potted" crab meat like classic "potted shrimp" keeps well, great taste and texture but limited to things like spreading on crackers/toast points etc. not diet food for sure..BUTTER!
I have frozen then vac sealed (like you did)... taste is ok texture is lacking
I have made large batches of crab bisque, using their shells for the stock base and meat for body of the bisque (f'n tasty!) , then frozen the bisque.  Tastes fine, dairy base soups don't freeze well super long term so eat sooner than later
Same idea with crab enchiladas.  Assemble, cook, freeze.. seems to work better than assemble freeze then cook .

I know your real particular (me too) about rinsing saltwater fish in fresh water, but you soak fresh cooked crab in fresh water. Maybe it's pulling extra moisture into the meat.

After cooking I just drop them in a cooler ON TOP of the ice and just keep pouring off the melt until things are cooled down completely.

I always heard the cold water "shock" was done not only to stop the cooking, but to get the meat to contract away from the shell making it easier to eat. I notice no difference in shelling difficulty between submerging in cold water vs. placing them on top of the ice.

Cleaning them first might exclude you from eating the butter, but I think it's cleaner and the meat probably holds up an extra day. In winter time, I'll still eat crab 4 nights after catching them, 3 nights in warmer weather.

Good point on the fresh water soak.  I'll try your way next time.

-Allen

When I'm at the coast for a long period of time in the summer I sink my crab hotel (huge commie pot with all the entrances wired closed) out in the bay and it holds my dinner guests (crabs/clams) until its time to eat them as I want.  Other locals have "dock boxes" that accomplish the same thing

I have tried the freeze in milk thing.. didn't like it, affected taste, texture ok, messy to thaw
I have tried canning crab... bad taste and texture
I have "potted" crab meat like classic "potted shrimp" keeps well, great taste and texture but limited to things like spreading on crackers/toast points etc. not diet food for sure..BUTTER!
I have frozen then vac sealed (like you did)... taste is ok texture is lacking
I have made large batches of crab bisque, using their shells for the stock base and meat for body of the bisque (f'n tasty!) , then frozen the bisque.  Tastes fine, dairy base soups don't freeze well super long term so eat sooner than later
Same idea with crab enchiladas.  Assemble, cook, freeze.. seems to work better than assemble freeze then cook .

I too have tried the milk thing, didn't like it either.  I've often thought about canning it, thanks for the feedback.  What is "potted"?  Like the idea of using the shells for stock.  I don't know why I've never done that.

-Allen

Meat/shrimp etc can all be potted.. old school method of food preservation

Basically you cook the food, cover it with liquid fat, in this case butter, that when cooled goes solid. This keeps the air off it and allows it to last a long time in the refer.  I put mine in wide mouth 1/2pint swing top jars

Not my recipe but close :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/traditionalpottedshr_11395

When  I get crab I generally do the following..

I make Singapore Chilli Crab.  It's a bit more work then just steaming them, but I get rave reviews so it seems worth the extra prep.   This isn't exactly my recipe, but looks pretty close... http://allrecipes.com/recipe/singaporean-chile-crab/

With the left-overs I either do a crab omelette the next day or I'll make a batch of sweet potato curry soup with crab.  I think this is the recipe I have...
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/curried-sweet-potato-soup-with-crab-10000000523441/

As for long term storage.. I haven't had that problem yet.

Along the lines of Singapore chile crab I've made Black Pepper sauce crab in the past and like the tasty yet messy results.   I feel a crab trip coming on!

http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/product/lkk-black-pepper-sauce-8-1-oz?utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&gclid=CJL_gYrt9LMCFSTZQgod6ysAlg

I feel a crab trip coming on!

I think I'll wait a few days.  Here's the forecast at my local crabbing hole.

Friday: S wind 25 to 27 kt, with gusts as high as 34 kt. Rain, with thunderstorms also possible after 4pm. Mixed swell...W 16 ft at 14 seconds and SSW 1 ft at 8 seconds. Wind waves 6 to 7 ft.

-Allen

One of the guys at work lives off Camano Is which is usually fantastic crabbing.  He usually gets many dozens of limits each year (between him, his wife and their 2-3 kids and crabbing all summer long that's not hard).  What he said he does with whatever they can't eat fresh is they'll shuck the meat (after cooking) and then make crab cakes very similar to what Anthony's serves and freeze them (I don't think they cook them before freezing).  Then all winter long when they want a snack, or whatever, they just take a cake or two out of the freezer pop it in the oven and enjoy.

Pulled four dungies out of the freezer last night and tried this recipe for crab bisque.  It turned out really good and everyone loved it.  I'm going to hold onto this one: 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/wolfgang-puck/dungeness-crab-bisque-recipe/index.html