Crab Claws
- Thread starter Guest2
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 15 Aug 2007
- Posts
- 15,788
- Location
- Outside in the bushes
I tend to try and get all my seafood products fresh seeing as when seafood of any kind is not fresh it tastes like ****.
Soldato
- Joined
- 15 Aug 2007
- Posts
- 15,788
- Location
- Outside in the bushes
I won't buy it if 2 days have passed since it was caught.
spider crab claws are awesome
get them myself
tools for the job...
big old school bag
flippers/fins (either will do, i use my manta blades)
5-10m 1/2" ID tubing (spare from watercooling)
bodyboard (to gently tie the tubing onto)
weight belt (either a real one, or tie rocks to a rope and use that to weigh yourself down)
pair of wetsuit gloves
snorkelling mask
they tend to explore more when it's mildly sunny, and they often stay in fairly large pockets of crabs, say 5-10 within close proximity of each other, on rocky beaches / coves
do some quick dives first without the belt / tubing to find an area that they are in
now go down with the tubing in your mouth and weight belt, with the bag at hand.
only breathe in through the tubing, or you'll deplete the oxygen if you keep breathing in and out in the tube, so breathe out through your nose
fill the bag with spider crabs, once you're done, untie the rocks and keep the rope.
then get home ASAP and put the bag in a freezer
the crabs will go into a hibernation like state as they're used to cold temperatures anyway, this seems more humane to me that throwing them straight into a boiling pan of water
now look up any spider crab cooking guide and you're off
they make great soup too
the only downside to this, is I get bad nightmares about the japanese ones getting me back, as revenge..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_spider_crab
4m leg span
get them myself
tools for the job...
big old school bag
flippers/fins (either will do, i use my manta blades)
5-10m 1/2" ID tubing (spare from watercooling)
bodyboard (to gently tie the tubing onto)
weight belt (either a real one, or tie rocks to a rope and use that to weigh yourself down)
pair of wetsuit gloves
snorkelling mask
they tend to explore more when it's mildly sunny, and they often stay in fairly large pockets of crabs, say 5-10 within close proximity of each other, on rocky beaches / coves
do some quick dives first without the belt / tubing to find an area that they are in
now go down with the tubing in your mouth and weight belt, with the bag at hand.
only breathe in through the tubing, or you'll deplete the oxygen if you keep breathing in and out in the tube, so breathe out through your nose
fill the bag with spider crabs, once you're done, untie the rocks and keep the rope.
then get home ASAP and put the bag in a freezer
the crabs will go into a hibernation like state as they're used to cold temperatures anyway, this seems more humane to me that throwing them straight into a boiling pan of water
now look up any spider crab cooking guide and you're off
they make great soup too
the only downside to this, is I get bad nightmares about the japanese ones getting me back, as revenge..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_spider_crab
4m leg span
Last edited:
bledd - I thought breathing through a tube at 10metres is very bad for you. Sort of like holding your breath when scuba diving? (but nowhere near as bad)
They will be extremely fresh this way but as i cant touch a live crab anyway as they are horrible alien like creatures then I think ill pass on collecting families of them whilst breathing through a long straw!
They will be extremely fresh this way but as i cant touch a live crab anyway as they are horrible alien like creatures then I think ill pass on collecting families of them whilst breathing through a long straw!
dunno, i've never been the whole 10m deep with it, but it is 10m long, usually find the crabs at around 3-5 metres down, it's just easier to have the tube instead of going up for air all the time
don't just get the claws, the whole crab is delicous !
I actually prefer the "brown" meat which is really rich and creamy. Hence i always buy female crab which has a higher fat conent.
We have it chinese style though, so chopped into pieces, coated in corn flour, flash fried in hot oil to seal the outside and then braised with spring onion, ginger, oyster sauce and a big big splash of alcohol (we usually use cognac/brandy)
I actually prefer the "brown" meat which is really rich and creamy. Hence i always buy female crab which has a higher fat conent.
We have it chinese style though, so chopped into pieces, coated in corn flour, flash fried in hot oil to seal the outside and then braised with spring onion, ginger, oyster sauce and a big big splash of alcohol (we usually use cognac/brandy)
Caporegime
- Joined
- 13 May 2003
- Posts
- 34,570
- Location
- Warwickshire
I would have thought it's only bad if you suck in a lung full then propel yourself to the surface without breathing out, creating a risk of your lungs bursting. Normal shallow diving is just done by breathing compressed air anyway.
Bledd - man points for you doing that!
Yep, I have 3 lobster pots down this year, as do many friends.
Go and check it a few times a week, usually lobster and crab in them.
Take the crab
Rip the claws off the crab
Put clawless crab back in the sea (claws eventually grow back... apparently)
Take home lobster and crab claws
Cook
Remove meat
Eat
Can't get fresher than that!
Oh, and it's all free.
and why on earth do you eat spider crab claws? They're tiny in the UK!
Go and check it a few times a week, usually lobster and crab in them.
Take the crab
Rip the claws off the crab
Put clawless crab back in the sea (claws eventually grow back... apparently)
Take home lobster and crab claws
Cook
Remove meat
Eat
Can't get fresher than that!
Oh, and it's all free.
and why on earth do you eat spider crab claws? They're tiny in the UK!
They need at least one claw to be able to eat IIRC, but they do regenerate.
/edit:
It seems they can indeed eat without claws, but makes them more vulnerable to predators.
Tell me about it. Got some fish from the Tesco fish counter recently and both times I've binned it after cooking and tasting it. Never again.
Ive seen these in the Aquarium in Bangkok, theyre huge!
Luckily I live right next to the sea so all the seafood is fresh. The thais eat a lot of crab, usually of the softshell variety, so when you cook it, you dont have to worry about de-shelling it. Delicious
Something else that I havent seen in the UK, all big supermarkets here have a fish counter that will cook the fish/shellfish for you for free.
they're the easiest crab to find in an abundance without having a pot, and I wouldn't go raiding other people's pots
kayak fishing is another one of my summertime activities
2x kayaks with a pallet between them,and tied at the ends (so it's kind of like the boat in waterworld), use this pallet as a table for holding tackle etc, and take 2x beachcaster fishing rods, but only the lower half of the rod
4x dayglows on each rod = mackerel time
I'm pretty sure this kills a crab.. (not instantly)
Crabs can grow their claws back, but only when they've lost it in a fight, they can 'release' the claw if they know they're going to lose it. -ie, in a fight
Ripping it off will not let the crabs joint seal up properly, think this is what someone told me..
So simply ripping it off, will kill the crab
After feeling sorry for crabs and reading a little more, I found out that it can be done, and is practiced by some fishermen. You do have to break it off correctly in order for the crab to act as if the limb was autolysed, i.e. it shed it itself rather than was ripped off. I don't know how it's done though, and it seems that those fishermen/crab catchers only take one of the crab's claws to give the creature a better chance of survival, and thus add sustainability.