Has anyone here ordered canned crab (or other seafood) from Oregon’s Choice? My family’s been buying from this company for years and has yet to encounter a bum can. Before giving up on canned crab (which is understandable because you often don’t know how long they’ve been on the shelf), you may want to give them a shot because their product is high-quality.
Fresh, of course, is best but that’s not always an option if, like me, you live hundreds of miles from the ocean.
I kill and clean them first. For one thing, there is less risk of any toxins that may be present in the ‘crab butter’ (the stuff inside of the crab, not the actual butter you melt) getting into the meat. For another, you can fit more crabs in a pot if you clean them first. This is how it’s done:
[ul][li]Put the crab on its back[/li][li]Get a large knife, a machete, an axe, etc. (I use a machete) and a rubber mallet[/li][li]Place the blade longitudinally along the crab’s abdomen. He won’t like this, and will try to grab the blade. Don’t let it slip from the centre.[/li][li]Whack the blade smartly with the mallet. This will bisect the crab and kill it. If you let the crab move the blade at the last instant, the larger half will still be alive and try to grab you with its pincer.[/li][li]Grasp one set of legs and claw in one hand and the body half in the other. Wrench it free.[/li][li]Give it a good shake to remove the viscera, and remove the gills.[/li][li]Rinse, and repeat for the other half.[/li][li]When all of the crabs are cleaned, put the legs and that mass of meat at the base of the legs into a pot of boiling seawater for 11 minutes.[/ul][/li]Killing the crabs first does not change the taste, you can cook more crabs at a time, and you avoid any potential risk from toxins.
I’ve heard that a good way to store crab is to put the meat into a plastic container, leaving a couple of cm space at the top. Just cover the crab meat with seawater and freeze. When the water is frozen, top off the container (leaving just a bit of room for expansion) with seawater and freeze. This ‘seals in’ the meat so that it’s not exposed to air. I’m told that the meat is just as tasty later as when it was just cooked.
I don’t. To me it tastes almost, but not quite, entirely unlike crab.
Ya, but it’s good in salads and whatnot.
To the naysayers of canned crab, you only need to run down to your local Trader Joe’s and get some of theirs. Fine stuff. (Though the only reason I buy it is to make crab cakes, and since they also sell fine crab cakes…)
The nearest Trader Joe’s is 80 miles away. 
Still, I did go down the other day and got some monkfish and Triple Ginger Snaps and four big cans of French Roast and cheese-and-chile tamales and turkey meatloaf and French onion soup. I really like the soup, and I recently came by some oven-safe soup bowls.
But I still don’t like surimi, even in salads. (Dad loved the stuff though.)
I live in Baltimore. I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to buy canned crab here.
Once, when I was little, the police raided my neighbor’s house. They led Mr. and Mrs. Oglebee out in handcuffs, and brought out a box marked ‘Evidence’. It was full of cans of crab meat. My neighbors tried to protest, wailing, “But we’re from Idiania. We didn’t know!” The cops wouldn’t hear any of it though.
My neighbors came back home the next day. I remeber as the police office dropped them off, he strongly advised them to ‘keep their noses clean’. A few months later, they left town.
Get rid of stuff? How is THAT done? 
Man, if for some reason I could move out there AND have a job I’d be first in line for your Zodiac! Screw the ferry! I’m taking the Zodiac to work! 
Well… I’ve got some stuff on eBay…
As for work, I haven’t a job. Anyway, the only places I could ‘commute’ to in the zodiac is Orcas Island or Pt. Roberts. Long trips. (I guess if you lived in Seattle it might be of some use for commuting.)
If someone did water-commute, he could set his crab traps on the way to work and check them on the way home. 