Crab is a delicious and popular seafood enjoyed by many However, cleaning crab properly before cooking is essential to ensure you remove all inedible parts, guts and bacteria, leaving just the tasty crab meat.
With the right techniques, cleaning crab is a pretty straightforward process. This comprehensive guide will teach you everything you need to know about prepping crab for cooking.
Overview of Cleaning Crab
Here’s a quick overview of the key steps to clean crab:
- Kill live crab humanely by boiling, steaming or freezing
- Remove top shell
- Scoop out viscera and guts
- Remove gills and mouthparts
- Crack open body and legs
- Rinse thoroughly
- Extract crab meat
Properly cleaning the crab removes all non-edible parts, leaving just the delicious crab meat ready for your recipe Doing it properly makes a big difference in enjoying sweet, tender meat versus dealing with a mouthful of crab guts or shell fragments
It takes a bit of time and effort upfront, but it’s well worth it! Follow these steps and you’ll be ready to cook your crab like a pro.
Equipment Needed
Cleaning fresh crab requires just a few basic tools:
- Large pot for boiling or steaming
- Heavy duty kitchen shears or scissors
- Small knife or crab cracker
- Large bowl filled with ice water
- Cutting board
- Seafood fork
Specialized crab tools are not essential. Most of the cleaning can be done using common kitchen items. Sturdy scissors or shears are the most helpful for quickly dismantling the crab.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Follow these detailed steps for cleaning live or cooked crab before cooking:
1. Prepare and Kill the Live Crab (If Applicable)
For live crab purchased from a fish market or store, you’ll need to humanely kill it first before cleaning. There are a couple quick methods:
Boiling:
- Drop the live crab into boiling salted water for about 1 minute. This quickly kills the crab.
Steaming:
- Place the live crab into a steamer basket and steam for 3-5 minutes until lifeless.
Once dead, immediately transfer to a large bowl filled with ice water to stop the cooking process. This helps preserve the meat and makes the crab easier to handle.
If using previously frozen or cooked crab, simply thaw using the ice water method above.
2. Remove the Top Shell
Place the crab top side down on a cutting board. Insert the tip of sturdy kitchen shears into the rear side of the top shell. Cut along the perimeter to remove it completely.
Discard the top shell or set aside for making crab stock later.
3. Scoop Out the Viscera
With the top shell removed, use a spoon or fork to scoop out all the viscera (internal organs and guts) from the body cavity. Scrape out all the grey/green matter and discard.
Ensure you remove all of it to avoid an unpleasant texture when eating.
4. Remove the Mandibles and Gills
The mandibles are the crab’s mouthparts located where the legs connect. Snip these off with shears or scissors.
Inside the top of the body are feathery gills on each side. Pull these out completely with your fingers and discard.
5. Crack Open the Body and Legs
Place the crab top-side down on a cutting board. Using a crab cracker or the back of a heavy knife, crack the body and legs.
This allows easier access to remove the meat later. Be careful not to completely shatter the crab.
6. Rinse Thoroughly
Give the crab a good rinse under cold running water, getting into all the cracks and crevices. This removes any remaining particles or fluids.
7. Extract the Crab Meat
Finally, pick out all the crab meat in sections from the body and legs using your hands or a seafood fork. Discard any remaining cartilage or shell.
The crab is now cleaned and ready for your recipe!
Tips for Easy and Effective Cleaning
Here are some handy tips for a smooth crab cleaning process:
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Clean crab as close to cooking as possible for freshness. Don’t clean too far in advance.
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Work over a colander to catch any juices, particles or guts.
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Rinse tools and cutting board right away to avoid lingering odors.
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Consider wearing kitchen gloves to simplify handling.
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For convenience, purchase crab pre-killed and cleaned, just double check for any remaining viscera.
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Cook the cleaned crab meat right away, or store covered in the fridge up to 2 days.
What to Do With the Scraps
Don’t throw away the tops shells, legs and other parts after cleaning the crab! Simmer them in water to make a tasty crab stock. Strain and use this stock to boost seafood soups, stews and sauces.
The top shell also makes an attractive presentation for serving crab cakes or dips.
Ready to Cook Your Crab
Now that you know how to properly clean a whole crab, you’re ready to cook up this succulent seafood in your favorite recipes. Taking the time to thoroughly clean crab makes a big difference in flavor and enjoyment when eating it.
Some popular ways to cook cleaned crab include:
- Crab cakes
- Whole roasted or broiled
- Crab dip
- Crab bisque
- Crab salad
- Crab legs
The sweet, delicate flavor of fresh crab is perfect for everything from impressive main courses to easy appetizers. Impress your family and friends with your expertly cleaned and cooked crab next time. Just follow these steps and you’ll be a crab cleaning pro in no time!
Step 1: Get a Fresh Crab
There are many options. 1) Go crabbing. Get your fishing license and set out some crab traps! If youve got a boat, or a friend with a boat, this should be easy. If not, consider getting a free boat. 2) Buy a fresh crab. Your local farmers market might have a fresh crab stand; I got mine at the Oakland Grand Lake market. Seafood shops, yuppie grocers, and asian grocery stores may also carry fresh crab. 3) Buy a pre-cooked crab. This is sub-optimal, but will certainly do if you really cant find a live source or dont want to deal with live pinchers. In any case proceed to step 4 to clean your crab. Note that a happy crab will be active and feisty when disturbed. Pick him* up with tongs or carefully with your hands, making sure to grab at the back of the shell. The crab can reach pretty far back under his body to pinch, but your upper fingers are quite safe. You can also grab hold of a couple of back legs on either side to immobilize your crab, but be careful not to break them off.
*youre only allowed to keep and eat the males
Steam or boil your crab at ~7-8 minutes/pound, lid on but cocked to allow a bit of venting. I chose to steam mine because Ive got a large steamer insert, and steam decreases the amount of water retained in the body cavity. Boiling will get the job done quite well, though, and more people are likely to have a big pot than a big steamer. If youre adding a large number of crabs, start your timer when the water comes back to a boil. Base your number of minutes on the average crab weight, not the sum total. Round times down whenever necessary; raw/undercooked crabs can always be cooked further, while overcooked rubbery crab is unsalvageable. Thankfully theres a decent margin for error in crab-cooking. If youre boiling, you can add some seasonings to your water. Add salt (or use sea water), a bay leaf, some celery chunks, a carrot, some pepper corns, and any other whole spices youve got sitting around. Pre-mixed crab boil seasonings are available, but not necessary.NOTES FROM THE COMMENTS: – Take advantage of their cold-bloodedness! Chilling the crabs in the fridge or freezer just before use will slow their metabolism down enough that you can handle them easily. – You can clean your Dungeness crabs before cooking. This keeps the mess out of the pot and allows for more crabs in the space. Just pre-chill your crab as described above, follow the instructions from steps 3-9, then cook according to this steps directions. However, this approach does require vivisection, which freaks some people out even if the crabs arent moving. Take your pick. Also, if youve pre-cleaned and halved your crabs, re-weigh the parts (average weight of each half-crab) to determine cooking time.
– many countries/states require you to take your crabs home before breaking them down, so they can be checked for legal size by any passing fisheries officer. If you break them down while still on your boat, it may be construed as an attempt to sneak off with undersized crabs.
Step 6: Remove Gills
How to clean a crab
FAQ
How do you clean a crab before cooking it?
Pull all of the nice large chunks of meat out of the body, then break open the legs and claws. You can pick the meat out with a tool, or forgo decorum and simply slurp it out directly.
Is it okay to eat the yellow stuff in crabs?
Why are some crabs yellow inside and some green after cooking It’s their diet. Both green and yellow mustards are edible, however I would suggest making sure they are cooked before consuming.
How do you prepare fresh crab for cooking?
Bring Water to a Boil: Heat the pot until the water is boiling. Add the Crabs: Carefully place the live crabs into the steamer basket, stacking them if necessary. Cover and Steam: Cover the pot with a lid and steam the crabs for about 10-15 minutes, until they are bright red and cooked through.
Does crab need to be washed?
Once the shell is off, the leaf-like gills and slimy body meat are exposed. You can gently scrape away the gills with your thumb or the back of a spoon. Then, run the crab under a strong stream of cold water to rinse off all of the slimy viscera on the meat.