Crabbing

tombraider

tombraider

LG
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Let's do a crabbing thread.

Pots down by 0700, ya gat luv the salt early in the day.

Got our 10, many back in. In between pulling pots I bounced a pink jig hook and watched many flounder attack.

Life is Great.
 

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Dropped a couple of pots on a solo run on opening day. By the time I got back to them after catching some salmon, they were stuffed. Got all my keepers from the first pot and had to dump the second one. Pretty good start to the season, though given how much crabbing I have done the last few years it might also be a good end to the season!
 
I have 5 in each cooler filled with water. And 10 gallons of water. I throw them in alive and bay water is better than homaid salt water. Use to clean then in the pot but I think the flavor gets washed out. Got Walmart Garlic bread, the best for $1.98.
 
Limited the handful of times we’ve been out this season and had several good dinners. Would like to be hitting it harder to compensate for the lack of salmon headed for the freezer, especially with the weather cooperating so nicely, but July filled up fast with land-based activity.
 
Seems to be getting into the fished out part of the season. Dropped 4 pots last night, picked this morning. Each pot had 20 or more crabs in it, but there were only 7 that weren’t either too small, female or soft shell. Still, 7 decent sized crabs is enough for dinner.
 
We always boil whole in salted water. Cool in ice, clean and consume. Live backing seemed to lose a bit of flavor. Maybe I did it wrong.

Slack tides work great for me. When tides running dungies sit, seems like Red Rock are a bit more active.

We process and make crab cakes to freeze. Seemed to degrade the least.
 
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Last summer I steamed ten large crab ( just the legs and claws). I let them cool (rinsed them off) and put them in freezer bags and froze them. I periodically shook the bags as they froze to keep them "separated" ....and this kept the bags transparent. The ziplock bags ended up being very visually appealing. I kept them frozen with dry ice transporting them to the family party. I re-steamed them (seven minutes)..put out some garlic butter, newspaper, cutting board and a meat tenderizing hammer. The flavor was absolutely spot on (I taste tested this with fresh live crab before the party). Never freeze uncooked crab..the meat will stick to the shell. But if done correctly you can serve those (previously frozen) crabs weeks later... Aaaaand I was a culinary hero. So many of us have never fully experienced what a tasty thing a Dungy is, it was fun to watch peoples first experience.
 
Jim in Anacortes said:
Last summer I steamed ten large crab ( just the legs and claws). I let them cool (rinsed them off) and put them in freezer bags and froze them. I periodically shook the bags as they froze to keep them "separated" ....and this kept the bags transparent. The ziplock bags ended up being very visually appealing. I kept them frozen with dry ice transporting them to the family party. I re-steamed them (seven minutes)..put out some garlic butter, newspaper, cutting board and a meat tenderizing hammer. The flavor was absolutely spot on (I taste tested this with fresh live crab before the party). Never freeze uncooked crab..the meat will stick to the shell. But if done correctly you can serve those (previously frozen) crabs weeks later... Aaaaand I was a culinary hero. So many of us have never fully experienced what a tasty thing a Dungy is, it was fun to watch peoples first experience.
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I’ll have to try that. Been freezing them in milk.
 
I wanted to take them to a party in Spokane. I know how to pack live crab to be flown to Asia...to be sold in vending machines (believe it or not) but I did not want to be panicky about the time frame. The way I prepared them along with dry ice, kept them perfectly fresh ( and frozen) for quite some time, (less mess also). Ten large crabs made quite the feast and only being frozen for a few days...they tasted almost identical to live crab.
 
Jake Watrous said:
My kids and neighbors foundered after the first several each.

The rest get frozen for future use/trading. 43 crabs in the freezer thus far, 63 taken.
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Do you pick them and just vacuum pack the meat or freeze them in the shell? I have always frozen just the meat to be used later in recipes, crab cakes, chowders, pastas etc. as to me the freezing changes the taste and texture too much to use without doing something to it.
 
albula said:
Do you pick them and just vacuum pack the meat or freeze them in the shell? I have always frozen just the meat to be used later in recipes, crab cakes, chowders, pastas etc. as to me the freezing changes the taste and texture too much to use without doing something to it.
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Picked, mixed with whole milk, and vac sealed.

Some shells get frozen separately for stock.
 
I like to save the carapace. I clean them in the sink and freeze them. They make the perfect "container" for "crab au gratin". Using recipes for potato au gratin ....incorporating the crab meat ...and using the carapace as a "vessel". You can produce a very eloquent presentation. Once the carapace has been filled with crab meat (and various other substances) you have a very tasty product , with a very fancy presentation......that can be frozen. Trust me, pull one of these babies out of the freezer, heat it up in an oven, plate it....... Culinary hero.
 
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