what is the proper way to take care of a crab after you catch it. I've seen some that were in half with there belly meat and legs attached thats it. or will that ruin the crab. need help. what is the right way to cook them just in boiled water. much thanks Ben

keep it alive until you quit. then boil them while still alive. they will stay alive out of water for quite a while.
tyler

We always used to bring home a five gallon bucket of salt water to cook them in. Didn't really need any other seasoning. Of course, hard to say what's in the water anymore.

You guys didn't know I used to be the crab master ... did ya??? Growing up in Portlan, Tillamook Bay crab were nearly endangered in the late 80's until I stopped road tripping back home to dump the pots ... fortunately, they've made a nice recovery since

Ditto on the salt water. If you don't use salt water, then use rock salt, plenty of it. Nothing runins a good crab quicker than boiling in plain water ... yuck!!

Keep 'em alive and then boil 'em whole. As soon as they come out of the water, plunge them into ice water. This last step seems to separate the meat from the shell and easy to slurp up

After the ice water, just pull the back off and clean up the goop and then give a rinse, trying to remove anything that isn't white in color.

Enjoy and please send some my way

We bring a couple of 5 gallon buckets as others have said and fillem' up with the saltwater that the crabs live in. Then take them home a fire up the propane cooker and get it to a good boil. Drop the gonna be pissed off crabs into it for 14-15 minutes and take out and cool off with cold water. Letem' cool a bit and eat them till ya hurt. I like them on a toasted English muffin with cheeze melted on top. yuuummmmie!!!!

A picture of my daughter and granddaughter just havin' a great time knockin' down the keepers.

I have invited Bob,TRBO, but he just won't come try it. I think he gets seasick.....

fp

And who taught that to you Bobolink?
One remaining step.....making ALL those crabs
last. Keep them refrigerated and iced at ALL times and they should last 3-4 days -
Drain the water off each day so that they don't sit in the water. Have you ever had crab spagetti???

I thought I'd show ya that you can put a pretty easy pulling system in your boat. 90 degree bend on a 1 1/2" pipe and a pully and a couple of kids to pull it and what could be better??

fp

good rule of thumb when cooking crab in tap water and rock salt...1 handfull of salt per crab and one generous one for the pot. if i'm using my keg cooker and a big mess of crab at once, i'll put 2 or 3 handfulls for the pot. hit them with cold, cold water (the ice method mentioned earlier is good) to separate the meat from the shell. I should dig up my corn and crab chowder recipie to post...maybe tommorrow night. it goes great in a sourdough bowl along side a pint of ale!

Woops, didn't see that Bob mentioned the separation factor. If you cook them allready backed, decrease the cooking time by a couple of minutes. My neighbor cooks them backed and they seem to take the salt more liberally...so adjust that down also. He used to say "You don't cook your fish with the guts in them do you?" I cook them whole...love that crab butter!

[ 01-22-2002: Message edited by: Chuckn'Duck ]

Anybody out there ever see or catch a 13 inch dungy, I had a customer tell me about a spot in the San Juans where he regularly catches 9-10 inchers and has even caught a 13 incher, I was skeptical until about a week ago when he brought in a picture of it, really was 13 inches.

I've caught a few of those big san juan crabs. Lots in the 8-9" range and a few over that. Our biggest was a little over 11 inches and it had what appeared to be purple paint on its shell. Still tasted fine to me.
Another crab question: has anyone caught any tanner crabs (like snow crabs) or puget sound kings? We caught 4 tanners in the san juans in 12 fathoms over a muddy bottom. They were only about 3 inches across in the shell but 8 or so in the legs. We let them go since they were small. Anyone get any big ones?

WOW thanks for all the cool responses, now I feel its time to dump the pot. chunknduck that crab recipe would be cool if its not any problem. that crap puller looks real handy like. but Ill be be keeled over pulling in a trap. thanks again for all the responses. Ben

p.s. is there a such thing as a puget soung king crab. does that family of crab inhabit washington waters