Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

[waynebw]

Hi all, new to the forum!...
I've recently started catching Mudcrabs and have had some inconsistencies in the outcome with cooking them.

Sometimes the crab is perfect - packed with meat and sweet
Sometimes the crab is watery and/or soft and average tasing

I am pretty consistent with my cooking methods, usually chill them to put them to sleep, then split them open, remove guts and steam. Boiling seems to not make much difference. When I catch them, I sometimes keep them over night in the sink with about 5-10cm of slightly salted water, or otherwise cook same day.

My questions are:
Could I be doing something wrong with my methods or cooking or storing (in water)? Is this just a 'luck' thing, some crabs are just simply watery?

I just got 4 massive crabs today, and I want to get it right!
Thank you for any advise.

[WHALEOIL]

A search found this. It might help.


http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?t=61926&highlight=cooking+mud+crabs

[Noelm]

not too sure the cooking will give you watery crabs if you do the same thing each time, I do not clean mine before I cook (though heaps do) I just put mine in ice water, or give them a 'stab" and kill them straight away, boil them for about 16 to 20 minutes depending on size, but never had a mushy one yet, you will sometimes get them a bit empty and certain times of the year.

[snasman]

Put them to sleep in the frezzer(about twenty mins)then take them out and turn on pot, get ya pot boiling hard,heaps of salt,drop in the crab/s wait for pot to start boiling again and count down 12 mins,drop into chilled ice water ,I salt mine and crack claws,leave in till cold then clean and enjoy

[waynebw]

Thanks for all the help everyone...

I cooked the 4 crabs today (1KG each) and i noticed (before cooking) one had a thin shell i could press in... the others were rock hard... and strangely this crab with the thin shell came out watery, and the meat shrunk up, but the other 3 were packed with meat and perfect (they were all cooked together).

I think technique is okay after looking at the comments, just get the odd crab with watery meat.

P.s. I cooked the crabs today as a really delicious thai style (i just made the recipe up today!) maybe I should post it?


Cheers all

[pebble_monkey]

Thanks for all the help everyone...

I cooked the 4 crabs today (1KG each) and i noticed (before cooking) one had a thin shell i could press in... the others were rock hard... and strangely this crab with the thin shell came out watery, and the meat shrunk up

The meat in the thin shelled crab didn't shrink .... it wasn't full in the first place ..... crabs need to grow new shells as "they" grow. A crab with a hard shell and worn down nippers (also normaly showing lots of brown shading on the underside) are nearly ready to shed their shell, so this means they are full of meat and have no more room to grow, so when you cook them there is little or no room for water to get into the shell. The crab with the soft shell has only just shed his old shell and has plenty of growing room in the new one, so when you cook them all the space fills with water. A soft shelled empty crab requires just a couple of minutes less cooking to prevent the flesh from going watery, they don't need quite as long in the pot, since the heat penetrates the shell and air pockets much more easily hence cooking them faster.

Hope this helps
Petra

[Noelm]

hhhmmm don't know about the shell filling with water theory, what happens when you clean them before cooking?? they are still perfectly fine, and in that case they have NO shell! but I do agree that a clean and softish crab will not have as much meat, as explained, it has just "grown" again.

[Marlin_Mike]

Plenty of salt, make sure water is on boil, throw crab in. 12 minutes for mine, maybe a minute longer if hes a big sucker. I put them in the freezer for a bit slwos them down and they dont throw the claws then

Mike

[Noelm]

I find that if they have been in the freezer or on ice that 12 minutes is not quite long enough, but will still be OK, just prefer a tad longer, it is OK if you give them the "stab" method to kill them though.

[timddo]

I just stab them in the mouth area and cook straight away. If you are storing them. Just leave thin in a dry box with some wet rags or newspaper. Never put them in salt water. As with cooking. Try cutting some onions with ginger , frying them up till nice an brown. Cut the crabs up and add all together. Pour half a jar of sweat chill sauce and wella.. Sweat chill crabs. If the shell is soft or the crab is light. it means their not full. If the shell is hard and the crab is light. Means oldd.

[pebble_monkey]

hhhmmm don't know about the shell filling with water theory, what happens when you clean them before cooking?? they are still perfectly fine, and in that case they have NO shell!

Sorry if i wasn't clear, it is not because they are cooking in water, it't the fact that with the soft shell allowing heat to penetrate quicker and the empty shell allowing more hot water to enter the shell, they do not require quite as long to cook as the crab with the hard shell assumming you are using the same method of cooking each crab. If you half your crab and clean them out and crack their claws etc. they do not need to be cooked quite as long and you adjust your cooking time accordingly.

Correct me if i am wrong

Petra

[fisherfemme]

:D Hi waynebw!

Yes, do the 'kind' thing and let them go nigh nighs in the freezer for half to one hour.

Have the water in your pot boiling well. Add half a cup of honey and stir. In with the muddie, then down to a medium boil for 10-12 mins...excellent!

I don't add salt. If I want to do it that way I bring home a bucket of water from where it was caught, and still add the honey. I don't clean them beforehand.;)

[Noelm]

not being a tree hugging Whale kissing Greeny or anything, but I am not too sure that slowly freezing to death would be any "better/kinder" than being stabbed and killed almost instantly ( I do both by the way, depending on time I have)

[Noelm]

OH and this may raise the temperature on Muddie eaters, but I reckon they are down the list of Crab eating qualities, Sandies/Blue swimmers first, then Spanners, then last Muddies, but to stop any wars I like them all, but in that order

[JEWIENEWIE]

Very tactful Noelm!
Your not a politician are you?;D
Jewie

[Noelm]

hey jewie, do you think I should be?

[bondy99]

Good on you Noelm. I too prefer Blue Swimmers as they are sweeter taste and fuller meat, Spanner for the same sweetness but less meat, then the muddy, sometimes full of meat and can be a suprise package. Peter

[cuzzamundi]

Must agree with Noel on sandies being better on the chew, but still love muddies whenever they come along., as long as their shell is firm and claws are pretty worn.I don't know about the humane debate, i too would be pretty pissed being shoved in a freezer, but then again, who knows if they have a CNS capable of transmitting pain - i doubt it.

cuzza

[BarraSteve]

Most people tend to overcook seafood..
Providing you've got a good boil of sea water..
Cleaned muddies need no more than 5 mins ..
Prawns need no more than 2 mins..
Barra Steve..

[Rod Fishing]

What ever happen to cooking them on the coals of a fire when the stop blowing steam from the shell they are done. Best damm tasting crab I have ever had...

Cheers Rod....

[BarraSteve]

Not wrong there RF...top way to cook 'em..do it often!!

BarraSteve..

[Haji-Baba]

Have you ever tried steaming them? Cut them in half, clean out the innards.

Have 1 inch of water in a pot with a wire tray just above the water with equal amounts of sugar and salt. Sea water is best with added sugar. probably half a cup in 1 liter of water.

Bring to the boil, add crabs to top of wire mesh and steam for about 12- 15 minutes. Make sure you have the lid on to compact the steam.

Good for redclaw tails, not so good for prawns, they tend to pack dowwn too close and don't cook well in this manner.

Any way you cook them is always best.

Have fun Haji-Baba

[Mark Lynch]

G'Day,
Put your catch on ice, bring salt water home with you, boil up hard, crabs in pot and bring back to boil, once boiling again 12 -15 depending on size, out of pot to cold water, clean and enjoy with a canadian club and dry mixa

[Noelm]

yep, 12 to 15mins for me too, perhaps a tad longer for a really big one that has been Iced or put in the freezer, by the way, I have found that if you put the Crab in the Freezer, by the time a suitable amount of water has boiled, the Crab is well and truely "asleep", an hour or so (as mentioned earlier) will see it frozen hard as a rock (I reckon anyway)

[Gilli]

From the point at which u catch them, they can either be kept alive or killed n thrown in esky. If thrown on ice the meat doesnt stick inside the nippers and when u cook them. From the boil put the crabs in for 20 minutes.

[soggy1]

Ok everyone on the debate as to what crab is better eating u guys down south can keep your blue swimers, and ill take a mud crab staight from the gulf of carpentaria making my mouth water just thinking about this, im sure barra steve well back me on this by sounds of it. Complete different flavour to an east coast mud crab and everyone knows how good they are, and about 10mins after it comes back to the boil is about right.;D ;D

[Noelm]

not too sure if the Gulf Muddies are any different from the "normal" one's, but we get both (muddies and Blue Swimmers/sandies) and I still reckon Blue Swimmers leave them for dead in the Flavor department, then Spanners, then Mud crabs a distant third, but I have a nice fresh Mud Crab in my fridge for tea tonight and I will just have to suffer and choke it down with a nice cold Beer or two.

[DICER]

Before you even think about even taking the crab home, you must check to see if it is "full". Green soft shell crabs are ones to put back until they have grown more. Eating them is a waste as they will not cook at all well. Check the live crab to see if it is green by depressing the claw or the carapace shell (carefully). Ones with barnacles, heavy algae or have a dark brown shell are usually keepers. pebble_monkey is absolutely correct. Don't waste a green crab!!
(http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/member.php?u=43494)

[DICER]

good blue swimmer > best muddie

[Noelm]

hey dicer, I think you have got it ar$e around, but each to their own I guess.

[SMURFISH]

OH and this may raise the temperature on Muddie eaters, but I reckon they are down the list of Crab eating qualities, Sandies/Blue swimmers first, then Spanners, then last Muddies, but to stop any wars I like them all, but in that order

I agree here to a point. I much prefer the Spanner crab meat to Muddies I can take or leave sand crabs/three spots but the fact of the matter is muddies are way easier to catch than spanners, where I think you have to go deep sea to get them. Much easier to get down into the local creek and throw a few pots in for a good return of mud crabs. Mind you the nice thing about spanners are that you can buy jennys legally and they are full of eggs and taste great. I have eaten jenny mud crabs in the USA that came in from Vietnam and they were very tasty as they were full of eggs.

On the subject of watery crabs vs full crabs, the best full crabs will have their next shell packed into the carapace ready to go, when you peel the carapace back and see this you know you have a winner.

[DICER]

don't think so - soft shell, they go back.

[martinies]

Pouring black bean souce on steamed crabs is always nice. Just get really good sauce.

Some of my other favs are lightly frying the crabs and either use the ready mades black peper sauce or singapore chilli crab sauce from the asian grocery stores

[Haji-Baba]

Hi fellow fisherpersons, Have you ever heard of empty crabs being released.

Check the shell under the widest part and if it is soft and spongy release it. It will be empty when and if you cook it.

I think this is a general rule adopted by most experienced crabbers.

Have Fun Haji-Baba

[stingau]

Best crab by far is a coral crab very hard to get they look like sandies but have stripes. My uncle gave me some a few yrs ago that he caught while trawling.

I have never seen any since but they are so sweet....

They live in amongst coral reef's which explain the stripes

id kill for some now

[Aunty Jack]

I,m not 100% but dosn,t a soft shell mean the crab has just dropped its shell.
or is it just empty.?