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Thread: Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

  1. #1

    Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

    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.

  2. #2

    Re: Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

    A search found this. It might help.


    http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...king+mud+crabs

  3. #3

    Re: Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

    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.

  4. #4

    Re: Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

    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
    THOUGHT OF THE DAY

    Live life like a dog,If you cant eat it or hump it ,
    pee on it and walk away.

  5. #5

    Re: Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

    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

  6. #6

    Re: Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

    Quote Originally Posted by waynebw View Post
    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

  7. #7

    Re: Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

    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.

  8. #8

    Re: Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

    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

  9. #9

    Re: Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

    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.

  10. #10

    Re: Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

    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.

  11. #11

    Re: Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

    Quote Originally Posted by Noelm View Post
    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

  12. #12

    Re: Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

    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.

  13. #13

    Re: Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

    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)

  14. #14

    Re: Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

    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

  15. #15

    Re: Need Help Cooking Mudcrabs

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

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