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Thread: Cooking mud crabs

  1. #1

    Cooking mud crabs

    Hey all,
    I was after a bit of help with cooking mud crabs. I have the cooking time right just not the water to salt mix. Last time I cooked them they were very salty. How much salt per L and what sort of salt do you use.
    Thanks Ben

  2. #2

    Re: Cooking mud crabs

    I use sea water and put a hand full of rock salt in. I'm not sure how big my crab cooker is though approximately 10l I guess. I cook them for 12 mins after they come back to the boil. Then take them out and run the hose on them till they cool.

  3. #3

    Re: Cooking mud crabs

    Mate i steam them.........either broken up or whole.........i prefer broken up and washed out with sea water myself but whole are fine.........boiling them to me takes all the flavour away.....thats why you have to 'salt' your water.................thats your flavour!

    Try steaming them for a good 10mins and try it.........you'll be surprised at the real flavour of crab and not just salty crab water.

    Dan
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    Confidence.......the feeling you get before you fully understand the situation.

  4. #4

    Re: Cooking mud crabs

    How do you stop them from tearing the little bamboo container apart? How do you get them into the little bamboo container? Must be like trying to fit a cat into a spin dryer?

  5. #5

    Re: Cooking mud crabs

    My next muddie, I am going to break up into about 4 or 5 pieces , cover with perri perri sauce and put on the BBQ...........

    randell

  6. #6

    Re: Cooking mud crabs

    We got a few a xmas time and steamed them after cleaning using Stones Green ginger and beer as the liquid to be steamed. Quite nice.

  7. #7

    Re: Cooking mud crabs

    We try to grab a bucket of salt water before putting the boat back on the trailer and cook the crabs in that.. NO added salt...
    when finished cooking, pull apart and eat while hot with a cold beer or 6 ...

    Cheer

  8. #8

    Re: Cooking mud crabs

    Sandies and Muddies, chop them in half, clean out the gut, use fresh water to cook in, 1 liter to 1/2 cup of cooking salt and 1/2 cup of raw sugar.

    Place prepared water in a big pot with a lid, bring to the boil, have the crabs on a tray well above the water.

    I usually steam sandies for about 8-10 minutes, muddies for 12 minutes.

    Try one lot and then adjust the salt/sugar mix to your taste.

    I never use sea water as I have no idea what is in it. Especially from Moreton Bay.

    Think about Gladstone Harbour.

    Remember, the steam is cooking all the time so there is no catch up period afler placing the crabs in the steamer.

    I always cool my crabs down in salty water to prevend over cooking or drying out.

    My best cooker is a big wok with a lid, can get four muddies and 8 sandies in it at the same time.

    The wok is good for other things as well, smoking red claw and fish.

    Have Fun Haji-Baba

  9. #9

    Re: Cooking mud crabs

    I would say my pot takes 10l. How much salt should I add

  10. #10

    Re: Cooking mud crabs

    Amokk, I think you are talking about boiling your crabs.

    If I were to just plain boil my crabs I would probably use about 1/2 cup of salt and 1/2 cup of sugar in say 5-8 liters of water.

    10 liters is a lot of water, most big pots would only need to be half full and just about cover the crabs. With a lid on most pots will steam the crabs as they boil.

    All my pots have lids including the woks I use.

    Try cleaning only one crab and steaming it the way I do. It does work well.

    Have Fun Haji-Baba

  11. #11

    Re: Cooking mud crabs

    Two teaspoons of salt per liter is close to seawater.

  12. #12

    Re: Cooking mud crabs

    Thanks for the advice. I will give it a go

  13. #13

    Re: Cooking mud crabs

    Quote Originally Posted by killitfillit View Post
    Two teaspoons of salt per liter is close to seawater.
    is that like 35grams/ltr?

    cheers Murf

  14. #14

    Re: Cooking mud crabs

    have not treid the steam method but keen to try.
    mate add cooking salt/( rock salt better but heaps more exspensive)
    keep adding salt stiring with a tbl spoon and sip a bit till it is as near to sea water as you can get
    if you don't now how salty that is sip a bit next trip provinding there has been no rain for a while. i add sugar to the pot until water sweet testing with spoon cooling and sipping till right. i always clean my crabs before hand. i clean kitchen sink and make the same brew again using same technique. cook my crab for about 7mins on the boil. add a third of a bag of ice to brew and take crab straight from the pot into ice sweet/salty slurry in sink
    .(sorry to the crab purists).
    i add a bit bit more sugar and salt to compensate for melting ice as required you want both brews to be similar. depending on how many pots of crab you put thru your sink slurry. the sweeter the crab is the more my daughter likes it.
    have made brew where to much sugar fell in and apoligised to guests funny thing they reckon it was the best crab they have had.my mate adds golden syrup to his sea water 1 -1 1/2 tblspn to about three ltr. using sea water makes it hard to stuff up. brining to the boil takes away most nasty"s. learn't ice trick from iron chef bit more work and salt/ sugar but stops crab cooking straight away.
    hope this helps

  15. #15
    Ausfish Platinum Member gruntahunta's Avatar
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    Re: Cooking mud crabs

    I once steamed 6 crabs (broken/cleaned) over a bottle of cheap scotch. They were special.

    Chillie crab pices stir fried in Wok...thats pretty special as well.


    Gotta Love Maroochydore.

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