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Beche De Mer
(Sea Cucumber - Trepang)

Cooking King Crab:

Buying
Regardless of the type of Crab, look for ones which feel heavy for their size and have their legs and claws intact. With dead Crabs, if possible, give them a gentle shake to ensure there’s no sound of sloshing water. Live Crabs should be vigorous. Females with eggs are always protected, and in Queensland catching any female Crabs is prohibited (except for Spanner Crabs without eggs).

Killing
The RSPCA has guidelines for the humane killing of all crustaceans. The most acceptable, and easiest, method is to chill them in the freezer for about 45 minutes until they become insensible (but not long enough to freeze them). Once chilled, they should be killed promptly by splitting them in half or dropping them into rapidly boiling water.

How to humanely kill a Crab for cooking:
It is recommended that all crustaceans are immersed in a salt water/ice slurry for a minimum of 20 minutes before boiling, broiling, pithing or cutting. This ensures the animal is immobilised before procedures that may cause pain are carried out.

The salt water/ice slurry is made by first filling a suitable container (such as an esky) with normal crushed ice, then adding salt water (sea water salinity). The ratio of normal ice to salt water should be 3:1, which will give the consistency of wet concrete and a temperature of –1°C. It is important that enough ice is provided to maintain the temperature of the slurry.

Storing
Keep live Crabs in a cool place with a damp cloth over the container, ensuring that the cloth remains damp. Cooked or dead Crabs should be wrapped in plastic wrap or foil and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or frozen, at -18ºC or lower, for up to 3 months. Picked crabmeat can be stored in the same way.

Cooking
Crabs can be steamed, poached, deep-fried, stir-fried, pan-fried, grilled or barbecued. Don’t try to pick raw crabmeat, it’s almost impossible as the flesh is too watery.

If you need crabmeat, place chilled whole Crabs in a large pot of rapidly boiling water, that has been well salted (½ cup table salt to 2.5 litres water), for 8 minutes per 500g up to 1kg, or 5 minutes per 500g for larger specimens (timed from when the water returns to the boil). Refresh them in iced water then twist off legs and claws, crack and remove the meat with a Crab pick, skewer or crochet hook. Tip the body of the Crab over and, from underneath, lift off the top shell, most of the inedible organs will come away attached to the shell. Break off the eyes and the shell holding them in place. Lift out and discard the grey feathery gills (deadman’s fingers) from the body, use a small spoon to remove the internal organs, then wipe clean with a damp cloth. Some people like to keep the yellow ‘mustard’ (liver) to add a deeper flavour to the dish. Quarter the Crab and pick out all the meat from the body.

If stir-frying or marinating Crabs, it is easiest to work with uncooked (green) Blue Swimmers as they are already dead, clean as above without removing legs and claws, quarter the body and crack legs and claws with nut crackers so flavours can penetrate.

Cooking Tips: For live crabs allow 10 minutes per 500g to cook. Steam or boil in salted water.

King Crab Recipes:

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms - Mushroom caps stuffed with a savory crab mix, covered in cheese and baked.

Crabmeat Supreme - Crabmeat with onions, celery, Tabasco, lemon juice, pimentos, mushrooms, and sherry in a creamy sauce baked with crunchy topping of breadcrumbs.

Crab (or Surimi) Bruschetta - Flaked crabmeat with tomatoes, capsicum, mayonnaise, fresh chives and basil served on French baguette slices.

More CRAB RECIPES

Recipes using Crab and Crabmeat from How To Cook Fish

Video Recipes showing how to cook Crab:

Pan Fried Soft-Shell Crab	BBQ Shrimp w Crab Meat Stuffing	Singapore Chili Crab	Crab Cakes

See Also:
Giant Tasmanian King Crab (Pseudocarinus gigas) Photographs and Information
Commercial Fishery for Giant Tasmanian King Crab (Pseudocarinus gigas)
Cooking Giant Tasmanian King Crab | King Crab Recipes
Giant Tasmanian King Crab (Pseudocarinus gigas) Links, Resources & Publications