How to Cook a Crab
Freeze your crabs., Check for signs of sensitivity., Spike the crab to kill it., Consider buying and thawing frozen crab.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Freeze your crabs.
Place your crabs in the freezer for several hours.
The cold air will numb the crabs and cause them to move around much slower.
This makes it easier to handle the crabs when killing them and may even dull their pain.
Remember that once they're desensitized to pain, you should kill them immediately so they don't recover and feel pain again.If your crabs are larger, they'll take longer to freeze. -
Step 2: Check for signs of sensitivity.
You'll know your crab has frozen long enough when it's easy to handle or manipulate.
The crabs shouldn't be moving their limbs at all or react when you touch near their mouthparts.Try tapping a crab's shell.
If the crab's eyes don't react, then the crab is desensitized. , You can quickly pierce the two nerve centers on a crab to immediately and painlessly kill the crab.
Place your immobile crab on a non-slip mat so that it's on its back.
Lift up the tail flap.
You should see a hole that looks like a small dot.
This is directly over a nerve center.
Take a knife (or awl) and spike into this tiny hole at an angle of 85°.
Do this again for the front nerve center.The front nerve center is located in the shallow depression at the front of the crab.
Insert this spike at an angle of 60°.
The whole spiking process should take less than 10 seconds.
You can then cook the crab according to any method you'd like. , If you don't want to worry about cooking a very fresh crab or killing it yourself, buy frozen crab legs and claws.
These are steamed before they're frozen so all you need to do is heat them back up.
To thaw your frozen crab you can either:
Place the frozen crab in the fridge and let it thaw overnight Place the frozen crab in a container of cool water that's set in your sink or on the counter -
Step 3: Spike the crab to kill it.
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Step 4: Consider buying and thawing frozen crab.
Detailed Guide
Place your crabs in the freezer for several hours.
The cold air will numb the crabs and cause them to move around much slower.
This makes it easier to handle the crabs when killing them and may even dull their pain.
Remember that once they're desensitized to pain, you should kill them immediately so they don't recover and feel pain again.If your crabs are larger, they'll take longer to freeze.
You'll know your crab has frozen long enough when it's easy to handle or manipulate.
The crabs shouldn't be moving their limbs at all or react when you touch near their mouthparts.Try tapping a crab's shell.
If the crab's eyes don't react, then the crab is desensitized. , You can quickly pierce the two nerve centers on a crab to immediately and painlessly kill the crab.
Place your immobile crab on a non-slip mat so that it's on its back.
Lift up the tail flap.
You should see a hole that looks like a small dot.
This is directly over a nerve center.
Take a knife (or awl) and spike into this tiny hole at an angle of 85°.
Do this again for the front nerve center.The front nerve center is located in the shallow depression at the front of the crab.
Insert this spike at an angle of 60°.
The whole spiking process should take less than 10 seconds.
You can then cook the crab according to any method you'd like. , If you don't want to worry about cooking a very fresh crab or killing it yourself, buy frozen crab legs and claws.
These are steamed before they're frozen so all you need to do is heat them back up.
To thaw your frozen crab you can either:
Place the frozen crab in the fridge and let it thaw overnight Place the frozen crab in a container of cool water that's set in your sink or on the counter
About the Author
Lauren Harris
Professional writer focused on creating easy-to-follow lifestyle tutorials.
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