How many of you clean your crabs before cooking? I used to just drop them in the boiling water, live and whole, and let them cook. I read somewhere about killing them first, cleaning them and then boiling them. There is a difference. The taste and color of the cleaned crab is better, in my opinion. So, how many do this? Also, does anybody have any other special things to do with crab at cooking time?

Good topic, I'm looking forward to seeing the responses.

I've always cooked them live, in the shell. But last week while I was cooking some, I remembered watching a video a long time ago that showed them being killed and cleaned before they were cooked. I think the video was made by Charlie White, and in the video the body meat came out much easier, and I think he said the meat tasted better as well. Next time I'm going to try it that way.

We feel that the key is cooking them in "their"
water from the sea. being halfway dormant and being consistent in the timing of 20 minutes and immediately
dropping them in cold water. If we bring them all the way home, we have enough sea water to take care of the job.
We rarely buy crab at the supermarkets because
once you are used to catching your own, the others
taste bland. Further, if you have someone cook them at the beach, frequently yours is the 100th
crab to be cooked in the same water as many before you. Ice, ice ice....even if you are eating
them in the next 3 days, keep them iced in the refrigerator. Good eating.

Forgot.,,,
How do you kill them first??? We are probably
going to have PETA all over us for stressing the
crab.

When we cook crabs, we remove the shell and all the guts, rinse and then cook the crab. The whole crab is still intact, minus the shell.
You can use a cup of sea salt( depending on the amount of crabs) for 10 quarts of water.
When you do this you don't get that funky foam and smell in the pan. good luck.

OK..Does the back just remove really easily and when you are doing this to that poor soul...
WHAT are the claws doing??

As a person addicted to eating crab at least once per week...Hood Canal Breakfast...I cook them whole...love that funky foamy stinky water....use seawater if you can get it! I'm starten my own grassroots group...PETC...guess what that means? :p

yes it does, and Hold the crab right it pops right off and u wont get pinched.

You can take an axe and just lop them in half, that pretty much kills them....

We've cleaned them a couple of times before cooking but we tend to default to cleaning them afterwards. I haven't really noticed a difference in taste however I wasn't really paying that much attention either.

I agree that once you've had fresh crab it is impossible to eat that stuff from the store. Sort of makes you a crab snob....

funny this comes up at this time, were up in the islands this weekend, caught some real nice crab right at 7" well cooking on board was slow for the first crab we cooked with the shells on, so while waiting to return to a boil we cleaned the others, well to say the least, night and day nobody wanted to even touch the crab cooked with the shells on, , the crab that was cleaned first was so much sweeter, the other hand funky yellow water when you cracked into the legs, and by the way the cleaned crab was cooked in the same water as the ones with the shells on, never again with the shells on there really is a big differance, doug

goose ----------people eating tasty crab??????????? RIGHT??

I had a 'bud' once who split them in half over a shovel blade and shook out the innards and tossed them in the boilng water---------I on the other hand preferred cleaning them after they were dead!!!!!!

Periwinkle's bud hit it right. Use a square point shovel, split them into two. Remove the top shell. Next, grab the pinchers and legs in one hand and pretend your using a hatchet and shake on firm strok downwards- watch out guts! This will pretty much get all the innards out, but you'll need to fine tune the insides under some cold water...

As far as cooking... throw all the halves into the pot, add a little Johnny's and allspice, turn stove on high. When the water hit a boil, remove your feast and munch away.

Downriggin :p

Try adding a tablespoon of pickling spice to the water before boiling. It gives the meat a very mild but killer flavor! Old family secret... Someone is probably rolling over right now :p

Periwinkle definitely knows how to eat crab!!!!!!

Clean first then steam for 18 to 20 mins. steaming keeps the flavor in.

how i clean them is, hold all legs including the claws, underneath the shell, and find some blunt but flat object, such as a railing, or a cement block, and in one downward, slighty tilt the crab and wham the shell, eyes first, and kinda pull it towards you as your whacking the crab into the block, it will pop the shell off, and jus clean out the rest.. **berkley boy**

Oh gawd. You couldn't pay me enough $$$ to eat a crabe that was cooked whole. Nasty!

Can you say TOXINS? Hmmmm. The crab muscle is fine, it's the gut and shell exterior that you need to consider. Whatever is in that gut, and on that shell, will now be in your nice clean meat, when cooked. I guess that is one of the downsides to having a fisheries degree. Some knowledge I wish I just didn't have....

I always clean the crabes first. Do was Berkley Boy75 said to do. Or, if you're good, you can grab half the legs with one hand, and with the other, reach down and grab the lower side of the carapus and lift up. The crabes top will pop right off. Gotta be quick, or the crabes tend to reach over with their free pincher and whack your finger! I do this at a dock, or beach, where I don't have access to a bucket. Once the crabe has had it's noggen knocked off, split the crabe in half over the bucket. This will give you a handfull of legs in each hand. Clean out the gills and shake any and all guts out of each section. Wash each half THOROUGHLY in cold, fresh water. Use your fingers, or a sponge and wash the exterior of the crab. Re-rinse.

In boiling water with a cup full of sea-salt added, boil the crab halfs for 8 minutes. Yummy!

PS. Any raw oyster eaters out there? Probably should re-consider, and cook them first. You won't find *ANY ONE* at the UW School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences eating raw oysters any more (Ok, except Ken Chew. . Recent, and compelling studies are showing that there are many nasties in raw oyesters. So much so, that you should be concerned....thats *all* oysters in our state in *all* waters.

I clean them like Berkley Boy...grab them by the legs and claws and whack them on the edge of a 5 gallon bucket. Both sides of the crab pull away from the shell and with a little rinsing are ready to cook. The thing I like best is that you can cook twice the number of crab in the same size pot and no more burning your hands trying to clean a hot crab.

this is some good info. i was always told by my grandpa that you had to boil them alive. i think i'll try cleaning the next batch i get.