Edible things in my sea.

[Niels]

We have quite a couple of shore crabs in our waters, I was just wondering, can you eat what inside of the shield?
I have heard of people eating the contents of their claws, but the're not that big and ehrm, my appetite is

Any thougts on cooking them?
Thanks in advance!

 

[shaggystu]

here you go mate http://crabbing.tonyjiang.com/cooking.htm

HTH

stuart

 

[santaman2000]

Don't know about every species of crab but we certainly eat the meat from the body of Blue Crabs. Most canned crab or frozen meat at the grocery store contains body meat.

 

[PDA1]

With soft-shelled crab, one eats everything: yum

 

[The Big Lebowski]

All crabs around the coast of Britain and the English channel (from Norway down to the south of France) and probably around the med are edible. I only know our cold water species.
The brown crab (or edible) being one of the larger. Spider crabs, velvet crabs (excellent, but watch those fingers!), shore crabs, all good. as with anything, the bigger you can find,
the better the return. We have a minimum size in the uk for the edible crab, so you may want to check any local laws.

Best way to cook crab? Hard boil sea water for 1 min to kill any bacteria, turn off heat and add live crab for 5 mins. Simple. No need to boil/toughen the meat.
Don't eat the dead mans fingers (gills) and there's video's on Youtube of how to prepare (dress) a larger crab.

I would just be thoughtful of where you source both the crab, and the water.

Hope this helps.

 

[santaman2000]

....Best way to cook crab? Hard boil sea water for 1 min to kill any bacteria, turn off heat and add live crab for 5 mins. Simple. No need to boil/toughen the meat.
Don't eat the dead mans fingers (gills) and there's video's on Youtube of how to prepare (dress) a larger crab....

I'd forgotten about the soft-shell crabs PDA1 mentioned in post #4. They're not really a separate species, just a special time to harvest them; right after they've shed their old shell and before the new one can harden. they're delicious when cooked; the whole grab (shell and all) is battered and fried.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

We have something similar in the uk possibly, All crabs shed their shell as we know, but the most common here is the shore crab to find.

I'm not sure about eating them, but they make great smoothound/bass bait

 

[xylaria]

I kill it by stabbing the front between the eyes and then cooking until red. The dead man fingers are the feathery bits that cant eaten, I also remove the organs bits, which leaves brown soft stuff and white meat to eat. The claws on the smaller shore crabs are tastey but really really fiddley. A crab needs to a lest palm size to be worth eating in opinion, there differant regs on what size can taken for various species.

 

[santaman2000]

We have something similar in the uk possibly, All crabs shed their shell as we know, but the most common here is the shore crab to find.

I'm not sure about eating them, but they make great smoothound/bass bait

Yeah we have a small one here in Florida (about an inch or less across) that makes good bait; it's called (locally at least) a sand flea. Our most common one (again, in Florida at least) that we catch and eat is the Blue Crab.

 

[santaman2000]

I kill it by stabbing the front between the eyes and then cooking until red. The dead man fingers are the feathery bits that cant eaten, I also remove the organs bits, which leaves brown soft stuff and white meat to eat. The claws on the smaller shore crabs are tastey but really really fiddley. A crab needs to a lest palm size to be worth eating in opinion, there differant regs on what size can taken for various species.

The organs (particularly the digestive organs and brains) on crabs and lobster here are referred to as the "tamale" and considerred by some to be the tastiest part. The Cajuns will pinch the tail off a cooked crawfish, peel it and eat it, then suck the organs out of the upper body.

 

[Andy BB]

Slightly off topic, but, although I've always removed the dead mens fingers when dressing crab - is it actually poisonous, or just unpleasant tasting? Presumably if you eat soft-shell crabs complete, either the dead mens fingers in them are harmless, or the cooking neutralises the poison or the unpleasant taste?

 

[santaman2000]

I've never experienced any ill affects eating the softshell crabs (gills and all) That said, that's the only way I've ever actually eaten them, fried on a softshell.

 

[Niels]

Thanks for the replies Looks like I will be eating crabs this winter.
Might post some pictures of the actual catching.

 

[xylaria]

Slightly off topic, but, although I've always removed the dead mens fingers when dressing crab - is it actually poisonous, or just unpleasant tasting? Presumably if you eat soft-shell crabs complete, either the dead mens fingers in them are harmless, or the cooking neutralises the poison or the unpleasant taste?

not poisonous just as edible as a toothbrush. By organs i mean the wierd stuff around between the mouth and eyes, not the soft brown stuff which tastes nice.

 

[santaman2000]

not poisonous just as edible as a toothbrush. By organs i mean the wierd stuff around between the mouth and eyes, not the soft brown stuff which tastes nice.

Weird stuff? It's a bug! How much weirder can it get?

 

[Niels]

Weird stuff? It's a bug! How much weirder can it get?

A crab's not a bug a crab is a fish spider-ish type of thing

 

[shaggystu]

A crab's not a bug a crab is a fish spider-ish type of thing

no mate, crabs are Arthropods, just like centipedes/shrimp/butterflies/spiders/scorpions etc.......bugs.
fish are Vertebrates, just like mammals/birds/reptiles etc.

crabs are not fish, they just live near them

cheers

stuart

 

[Niels]

I learnt something today! Thanks.
I've been looking under rocks today, no big crabs found though, only shore crabs of about 5 centimeters inc. the legs.
What would be the minimum size that you would be able to eat one?

I also spotted a seadog (?) with a plaice in it's mouth

 

[santaman2000]

no mate, crabs are Arthropods, just like centipedes/shrimp/butterflies/spiders/scorpions etc.......bugs.
fish are Vertebrates, just like mammals/birds/reptiles etc.

crabs are not fish, they just live near them

cheers

stuart

For proper taxonomy you're right (and therefore they're bugs) But as they do indeed have gills and breathe water, in that sense at least they are fish.

 

[xylaria]

I learnt something today! Thanks.
I've been looking under rocks today, no big crabs found though, only shore crabs of about 5 centimeters inc. the legs.
What would be the minimum size that you would be able to eat one?

I also spotted a seadog (?) with a plaice in it's mouth

it depends on local fishing regs, for the uk the regs are on the tide timetable. for anything even slightly worth it i would go for a carapice [body] above 10cm personally.