Crab Pots

Ok I got my first crab pots this past weekend and did pretty good but I had a couple of questions. 1- Everything I read said to keep/cook them live so do they need to be live or can you keep them iced down good then cook? 2 ? Do most just boil them? Thanks for the help!

Re: Crab Pots

They are best when cooked live, but you can keep them iced down for a day without problems but keep them iced, don't let the water melt and warm up. As far as cooking them, there are many recipies from boiling to baking, get a good cookbook.

Art

Re: Crab Pots

I could be wrong about this but I think the advantage to keeping them live is to ensure you don't cook a bad one. We don't cook a crab that doesn't appear healthy (frisky.) If you keep them cool, moist and right side up they will keep for days out of water. By moist I mean covered with a wet fabric such as burlap that will allow air to flow through, not under water.

I live in Florida but learned to catch/eat crabs in the Chesapeake area, so I have to plug steaming as the best method of cooking - plenty of videos out there. One note though if you opt to ice them down before cooking you will need to increase cooking time to compensate for the cold crabs. You don't want mushy meat and too long in the heat dries them out.

Enjoy! Oh yeah, don't eat the gills.

Re: Crab Pots

We keep them alive in a seperate cage till time to eat. Keep plenty of food for them, because as you probably know, they will eat each other.

Good Luck!

Re: Crab Pots

We used to carefully step on fresh Blue crabs backs w a shoe on, and grab/break off the claws. then pop off the shell/pull off the gills,mouth and vent and rinse off the guts,Then cook, or refridge, a few days is Ok, or freeze them when we had too many.Cook the claws w the bodies and use a 1/2 a claw tip to dig the meat out of the bodies ,I could eat a dozen about now.Do make sure there is not a hole in the top of your worn out shoe over your toes . Very important when you have a rather large crab underfoot that can put its claw over its shoulder !!!!!

Re: Crab Pots

Better to cook them right away after the catch while they are alive. Freeze or eat after the cooking.
Crab meat will be fresh-frozen up to 6mo. when sealed properly.

Re: Crab Pots

I throw mine in a cooler full of ice. They get real slow but are still alive till we get in. Then I clean em right at the dock and ice the meat till I get home and boil it.

Re: Crab Pots

with dungeness crab that we catch around puget sound, it's best to keep the crab alive by rinsing some fresh seawater over to revive them. When we get in from crabbing, we clean them on the beach/dock. Rip off the shell, break them in half, shake the guts out(hold the legs and swing the half crab like a tennis racket ) then wipe or cut off the gills. The crab is then ready to be put on ice or refrigerated for a couple days before cooking. I cook mine by dropping it into boiling seawater for 15 to 20 min. You can also cook them whole live in the shell for a little extra flavor. I cant wait crab opens in a couple weeks! Fish ON!