How to Freeze Crab and How Long?

Over the past summer, we did really well crabbing in Pacific City, and caught more that we could eat in one sitting.  After cooking the crab and cleaning out the guts, I decided to vacuum seal the crabs in my vacuum sealed bags.  I made the mistake of sealing the first one too tightly as the sharp edges of the body shell pierced the bag.  The rest of them I sucked out most of the air, but left room so the shells wouldn't pierce the bags.

Over the weekend, I took out 4 crabs to have for dinner, some were ok, some were less than prime, chewy and a bit on the dry side, while only one tasted like it just came out of the pot.  As a note, I reheated them in the oven, covered in foil, not in any water, other than their own moisture.

I wanted to see how other people freeze their crabs, and how long they can realistically keep in the freezer before the get freezer burned or past their prime.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Que Bill in 3...2...1...

I've vacuum sealed/frozen small amounts to use later in dips, cakes, and so on with high success. After cooking I shelled, vacuum sealed while still warm, refrigerated until cool, then straight into the deep freeze. They had a different texture than fresh crab when eaten alone, but in dips and crab cakes we could hardly tell a difference.  Bill will likely have the best info on this since he's a pro fish monger and whatnot.   

Frozen cooked crab won't be like fresh.
I cook shell, vac pack and freeze the meat.
Commercially speaking sections are often cleaned and frozen raw with a heavy glaze. They are then cooked and shelled and the meat sold as 'fresh' because it hasn't been frozen after it was cooked.
When whole cooked crabs are produced commercially they are left whole, glazed and put in plastic sleeves. 
Heating with dry heat is only going to dry your crab out further. Try steaming or quickly boiling to reheat.
There is little point to vac pack something if you don't remove all the air. You are better off freezing, putting a heavy glaze on the crab and putting them in a heavy zip lock.

I've also heard of freezing in seawater but I have never tried that. Usually my goal when freezing is to get things frozen as fast as possible, so for me that means single layer of smaller thin packages. Then pack the freezer once my fish is frozen.

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As far as the how long question. That totally depends on the condition it is stored in. The short answer is quality fish can stay frozen in your freezer as long the conditions are right to not damage the fish. Could be as sort as a week to up to 2 years.
If you take fish out, thaw it and it tastes bad, it was in there too long for how it was handled/packed.

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Commercially speaking sections are often cleaned and frozen raw with a heavy glaze. They are then cooked and shelled and the meat sold as 'fresh' because it hasn't been frozen after it was cooked.

This is interesting...I've always wondered if it was possible to live clean crab and freeze the meat raw.  I'm curious what a "heavy glaze" is, do you dip the crab in water, quick freeze it, then repeat the process with the frozen sections?

Gazing is a way of protecting frozen fish if not vac packed.
Freeze the fish then dip it in very cold water. A layer of ice will freeze to the outside of the fish. The colder the fish and the colder the water the heavier the glaze. Things can be dipped twice too.

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My experience from back when I actually did well and attempted to save my bounty was to preshell my crab, steam about half my normal steam time, knowing that I will be resteaming them once thawed with less chance of over cooking that way.

Then, cool quickly in salted ice water.  Shake and drip dry, lay out on wax papered tray and place in the deep freezer.  Then as Bill mentioned dip the crab in really cold water to glaze and allow to fully freeze the glaze dry before the next step. 

I found that wrapping the crab in wax paper and then a few layers of news print before being sealed in a vacuum bag did the best to eliminate punctures.

The best advice I can give for thawing anything sealed under a vacuum is to crack the seal before thawing.  Vacuum can suck the moisture out of the contents as it thaws, so letting it thaw at atmosphere helps to reduce this effect.

Thanks for all of the tips.  It sounds like the best option is to take the crab out of the shell.  I have tried to take the crab out of the shell so that I can freeze it, but some how, the pile keeps disappearing before any crab makes it to the freezer.

Thanks for all of the tips.  It sounds like the best option is to take the crab out of the shell.  I have tried to take the crab out of the shell so that I can freeze it, but some how, the pile keeps disappearing before any crab makes it to the freezer.

Try cracking the crab .....AFTER.... dinner.

I always crack it, clean it, then cook it, shell it, freeze it.