Do you cook your crab before you freeze it?

[drakehunter]

just wondering what most people do with there crab before they freeze them? ive herd of people boiling/steaming there crabs before freezing them? I usually just clean them and put them in freezer bags without cooking them and then cook them when i want to eat them. Does it make any difference?

[Shooter]

Ya I have always cooked them first and they freeze way better. Crab meat starts to deteriorate as soon as it dies. Thats why it best to cook them right away and the meat will hold up bettter.

[kennyj]

I've never had crab that was previously frozen that was even close to being as good as fresh.
Kenny

[Leaseman]

cook it for half your cooking time, then stick it in ice water to quickly cool... then freeze it... when you go to eat it, let it thaw, then put it in your boiling water for the second half of time and it turns out great.... have done this with crab , lobster etc and has always worked for me!!

Mike

[betteroffishing]

fully cook and cool it, pull the meat out and portion it into freezer ziplocks, add a touch of creamo, or milk. or once cooled do as i do and make monster batches of crab cakes and indevidually freeze them with a dusting of cornmeal for easy seperation , mmmm

[Mr. Dean]

It usually isn't around long enough to worry about. But on instances were it was, fully cooked AND cleaned seemed to work best. Meat that was frozen fresh didn't seem to 'keep' well for very long.

[tomahawk]

I've never had crab that was previously frozen that was even close to being as good as fresh.
Kenny

Ain't that the truth, I pig out on the fresh crab and give what I can't eat to other folks to eat fresh as well.

[newhunterette]

Whole crab



To prepare crab meat for freezing, remove the back shell and break the crab in half, front to back, shaking out the viscera. Thoroughly clean the crab under a flow of fresh water.Remove any newly forming shell (a jelly-like substance containing dark pigments).


Cook in boiling salt water (2–4 Tbsp. per gallon, according to your taste preference) for 12–15 minutes. Some people prefer the flavor of crab cooked with the back left intact, if you use this method, add 10 minutes to the cooking time. Add 2–3 minutes to the cooking time if the water doesn’t boil within a few minutes after adding the crab.


To remove the edible portion from the crab, place on ice or in the refrigerator until it is just cool enough to handle, then shake the meat from the legs and body cavity. It is easier to clean crab while it is still somewhat warm.


To avoid cross-contamination, do not return the cooked crab to any of the baskets or trays used for the raw crab.

[Stresd]

We always cook our crab live in salted roiling, boiling salted water. for about 15min. dumped into cold water then halved, spayed clean with the hose. Little trays with a candle under them for the heated butter. There has never been anything left to freeze.;)

[dime]

We have always cooked them and then froze, but last year we tried a couple of new ways. First as previously suggested, remove the crab meat out of the shell and put in a tupperware container, fill to brim and compact a little to get the air out, then pour half and half cream over the whole lot. Put on the lid, into a zip lock and in the freezer. Good for a year that way in the deep freeze. The other way we tried is to remove the last leg segments(pointy ends of legs with virtually no meat anyway) and vaccum seal half a crab in each pouch after it has been boiled. As long as you file down the pointy bits, these seal properly and work like a hot damn. When you are ready to eat, take the half a crab and throw into boiling water and presto, almost as good as fresh. Nice for those winter days when you are missing the smell of the beach.

[Sitkaspruce]

Whole crab







Cook in boiling salt water (2–4 Tbsp. per gallon, according to your taste preference) for 12–15 minutes. Some people prefer the flavor of crab cooked with the back left intact, if you use this method, add 10 minutes to the cooking time.




Ali


are you sure about the cooking time???


I have always cooked my crab live for 12-14 minutes, then plunged in ice water, then cleaned. I have never heard of cooking crab for 22-25 minutes.


Did I read it wrong or is it something new???


Cheers


SS

[Johnnybear]

I'm like a lot of folks in that there isn't much left after to freeze:smile:. If we have a "bumper" haul I fully cook em, cool em, shell em, and then vaccum bag the meat. It's great in seafood chowders or on Crab Ceasar salads.

Thanks for the half and half cream suggestion. I'll try that one.

How many of you "can" crab meat?

[newhunterette]

Ali




are you sure about the cooking time???




I have always cooked my crab live for 12-14 minutes, then plunged in ice water, then cleaned. I have never heard of cooking crab for 22-25 minutes.




Did I read it wrong or is it something new???




Cheers




SS



SS,

times I post are usually approximations however cooking the extra time is because of bacterias and toxins that need to be boiled off if not removing the back to clean out the viscera - boiling a crab whole can become contaminated and quite bitter to flavour

Ali

[spreerider]

i usually boil them whole then tear off the leggs and claws then freeze them seperate and still in the shell, then i clean all the meat out of the body and freeze it seperatly and use this meat for crabcakes and ontop of salads and soups,
then i keep the legs and claws for occasions when its good to have some claws and whatnot.
i spoke with my friend who owned a seafood shop and she said you have to cook crab before you freeze it or it gets freezerburnt inside the shell and wont thaw properly and is gross