Crab blues

[REELTIME]

OK guys, Talking about the blue crabs on the east coast. Question is if one dies in the cooler during the day is it safe to eat that night ?? Some say yes, some say no. Anybody? *006*

[mikeinva]

never around here. i always cook em up asap.

[CFISHN]

We had a OBX neighbor that was A crabber .

He could not sell dead Peal-ears PERIOD in NC !

But the dead one's he gave to us was yummy

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

Never heard that for crabs, only for lobster, but i'm sure i ate dead ones once or twice or more in my life time while dinning out.

[boogieblues50]

Hey
I usualy throw the dead ones out...they just dont cook and taste as good...in the summer they boil themselves out if not cooled properly...basicly lose their meat and probably not good for you...if you keep them in a cooler with ice the bottom ones die in the cold water and are usually mushy when cooked doubt if they would hurt you...best way I have found to keep them is in a cooler with a couple wet burlap bags and a couple 2 liter bottles filled with frozen water...they will stay fresh and spunky and not drown in ice water....
another thing that helps when you cook them is to stick them with an ice pick between the eyes as you put them in the pot....it keeps them from tearing each others claws off...be carefull dont stick yourself....been there done that....PBR and ice picks dont mix....lol....BoogieBlues

[Whatever]

Man Boggie I can smell those thru my computer screen....*laughing*

[JeffH]

I had an old waterman from the Eastern Shore of Maryland once tell me that when you buy crabs, you never buy dead ones because you don't know how long they have been dead. But if you catch them and a few die and you cook them that night its ok. He also told me that they can be cold and dead for three days before you cook them and they will be okay. I also heard and read many comments to the contrary but over the years have followed his guidance and haven't had any problems or killed anybody with my steamed crabs.

[wjsmith82]

Dead ones are good too. It depends how long they are dead. It is a quality and taste issue, not safety. Have you ever fried, baked or grilled a dead fish?

[REELTIME]

Dead ones are good too. It depends how long they are dead. It is a quality and taste issue, not safety. Have you ever fried, baked or grilled a dead fish?

SURE, Ive just heard that a dead crab could make you sick*006*

[wjsmith82]

I used to bring them back from the Jersy shore and cook them. Half alive, half dead. Either way, about 4 hours. If cooked properly, bacteria will not survive.

I have found crabs that would not last more than an hour after being caught. That should be troubling.

[MartyJ16]

I had an old waterman from the Eastern Shore of Maryland once tell me that when you buy crabs, you never buy dead ones because you don't know how long they have been dead. But if you catch them and a few die and you cook them that night its ok.


I think there is a lot of wisdom in the old waterman. Hard to look at a dead one and know how long it has been dead till it stinks. But if you caught it - the choice is yours.

[Dave]

Dead crabs are good to eat if you know the circumstances of their demise and have taken proper care to keep them cold so bacteria growth is retarded. To do that you'll have to catch your own or buy them still alive. Don't know what part of the coast you travel to but if it's hear on the Crystal Coast (Beaufort/Morehead City area) then you are a good 5 hours drive from Marion. Keeping them alive is not always possible nor often practical for the average fellow with a cooler and a long drive back home, so I'd recommend you protect them well by cold storage and steam or boil them as soon as practical after you arrive home.

I live right here so I have no problem getting crabs home alive. But I don't always cook them the same day as I catch them and I don't always pick them the same day I cook them... I rarely eat the crabs right out of the pot, preferring to pick them (with help ;D) and use the crab meat for recipes including the crab meat (cakes, balls, stuffed flounder, stuffed shrimp, etc.). A dozen crabs yields about 1-1/2 pounds crab meat so if I have enough crabs, I'll package the extra meat up in 1/2 pound packages and freeze for future use.

Having worked and lived in Rutherfordton for a few years, (maintaining two households... one here in Havelock and another in Rutherfordton) I had occasion to bring crabs from here to there, so the production crew I worked with could taste the bounty of my summertime crab harvest. Most of these crabs did not make the 6 hour trip alive, but here is how I packed them to keep them cold without risk of spoilage:

I used a suitable sized cooler, which is to say one that held 2 doz crabs and 20 pounds of ice to fill it up. Cold travels down so I put the crabs in the bottom with most of the ice on top. Starting with live crabs, I put a doz crabs in the bottom of the cooler, then about 5 pounds of ice on top of those, followed by about 1 cup of rock salt sprinkled over top of the ice. Then I put the remaining doz crabs on top of that ice and the rest of the ice on top of those, followed by about 2 cups of rock salt... the salt acts with the ice to drop the temperature in the closed cooler to something just short of freezing. The tightly sealed cooler went into a low sided plastic tub I purchased at WalMart. The tub was necessary because I keep the drain plug open on the cooler so that water could drain out as it melted... don't need crabby smelling water in my SUV and it's best (I think) to keep the crabs out of standing water. These crabs were steamed behind the shop on the following day and were served up on a heavily covered with newspapers table top. My table leg guy had made up a bunch of hard maple clubs we used as crab mallets and we all had at 'em with those and a fist full of paper towels *Woot*

Dave

[rkuch]

I aways heard the secret to cooking great crabs is to put the crab in the pot head first so they drown. *004*

[Willie]

Dave is correct about leaving the cooler plug open.....crabs will drown when they use up the o2 in cooler water.....what I do is similar to Daves way only the ice goes in the cooler first and then I cover it with a damp, wet towel...then the live crabs get put on top of the towel....you can also put a damp towel over the crabs.....this helps to keep the crabs lungs moist and you can keep them alive this way for several days..in the shade of course.......but the key to great tasting crabs is to cook and eat the day they were caught.....hope this helps...

come on you bunch of crabbers jump on in here and give us your 2 cents....we may even give change....*thumbsup*