It’s Dungeness crab season and I’d like to go buy a couple of live crabs and cook them. I’ve done so in the past, but the lively, aggressive crabs scare me and I don’t like to throw them in a pot of boiling water.
I seem to remember that you can “numb” lobsters by burying them in crushed ice in a cooler for awhile. They go into a sort of coma and don’t come out of it even when they go into the boiling pot.
Can I do the same for crabs?
I wouldn’t risk freezing the flesh before cooking; that messes up the texture. Dungeness crabs are built to endure pretty cold temps, so you are going to have to get them pretty close to freezing to stun them.
You can dispatch a crab pretty quickly by thrusting a knife into the hole under the (folded back) tail, but just plunging them into boiling water is almost as quick. Thick gardening gloves make handling live crabs a little less dangerous or icky.
You can. The carapace is thick enough that your crabs are not going to freeze in the short time it takes to get from seller to pot.
I do a fair number of these each season.
My method:
Make sure everything is ready before you fetch the victims crabs.
Make sure to use the largest pot you have. I use a 23-quart canning vessel. I once used a pot that was too small. Once. I’d rather not relate the outcome.
Fill well with water and add salt until it tastes like the sea.
Have the crab seller bag the crabs in crushed ice. Not too much, and make sure there is air in the bag with a couple small air holes. Don’t bury them. It’s sufficient for them to rest on the ice. The crabs should get very slow, but sometimes you get a fighter. Make sure everything is contained in a large open cooler.
When you arrive home, transfer the crabs and ice to your sink and bring your water and salt to a rolling boil. Don a sturdy pair of rubber gloves just in case.
Grab the crab firmly from the rear part of the shell. Even if he’s lively, he can’t pinch you if he can’t reach you. They can only reach to the front.
Plunge the crab decisively into the boiling pot of water head first. It will be instantly killed.
Proceed with your preferred method for cooking and serving.
I’m not at all squeamish about most things, but this made me cringe.
I’m sorry. Not trying to freak anyone out. I just don’t want them to suffer, and hesitation will cause suffering. That makes me cringe.
Eh, just think of them as big bugs. I’ve plunged plenty of live lobsters in boiling water.
If you want to save the insect from suffering use the ice method. Don’t boil them! Steam them! In a large pot, get an inch or two of water to a rolling boil under a rack of some kind, keep the heat on high, drop the frigid crabs in and shut the lid. The steam will kill them just as effectively as boiling if you don’t overcrowd the pot, just one layer of crabs should be fine. Don’t boil lobsters either. Seafood is expensive, you don’t need to toss half the flavor down the drain after boiling. You can also make them Maryland style with a heavy coat of Old Bay seasoning over the crabs in the pot.
This is how I do it.
Tools
Directions
Lay the crab(s) on its(their) back on the cutting board. Align the blade exactly along the crab’s longitudinal axis. Give it a sharp whack with the mallet. This will kill the crab instantly as you cut through its brain. There will probably be some residual movement.
Wrench the legs from the carapace. Give them a good ‘flick’ into the colander to remove some of the internal goo. (I use a colander to it doesn’t go down the drain.) Remove the gills and other not-meat. Rinse thoroughly, then boil the crab halves for eleven minutes. Serve with melted butter, corn on the cob, and coleslaw.
I’ll tell you a secret: that’s not what we put on crabs in the pot. Old Bay goes on shrimp and crab cakes and pretty much everything else, but whole crabs get JO Seasoning #2. It’s similar in flavor but a bit spicier and ground a bit finer so it sticks better, more evenly. Old Bay tends to just slide and bounce off and clump up.
For my money, Dungeness needs no seasoning at all. I don’t even eat them with butter. The flavor alone is sublime.
I’m betting the crabs have the same opinion of man flesh.
LOL, I swear, I think the exact same thing at the moment of The Plunge.
I’ll look for it and try it out if I can. Haven’t had a problem with Old Bay though I often add other stuff to it.
Thanks for all the advice. I’m not big on grabbing the lively scrabbling crabs even from behind, because they intimidate me too much. That’s what I’d have to do to put one on a board and kill it with a skewer or a cleaver. I’m looking for a method to cause them to go into a torpor so I can grab them with long-handled tongs and convey them into the boiling pot without too much drama or danger.
I’ll try the icing method the next time I go to the seafood store. If I have it right, keep them loosely wrapped in the plastic bag that they came in, and bury them bag and all in crushed ice in a cooler. Leave them until they’re very lethargic, and then into the pot. Hopefully it works!
Don’t bury them in the ice. They’ll suffocate. They’ll go into a stupor just being on the ice.
I’ve used the tong method but the shells are so smooth, even with silicone tong ends, the crab can easily slip out of grasp. Then you’ve got a pissed off crab on your floor. This never happened to me, but almost.
Good luck!
^ This.
They’re easy to grab from behind with your hand. Killing them and cleaning them first makes them taste better (IMO) and you can get more in the pot.