Cleaning crabs

 I've always taken the crabs home and cleaned them because I thought you had too. But speaking to a mate of mine, he cleans them after he has caught them before bring them home. He brings me back to an episode of fwa where they cleaned them on the shore.

so what is the deal? Can I measure them straight from the net and clean one at a time to save me a whole lot of cleaning when I get home?

thanks


crasny1's picture

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Cant process them on a boat

Tue, 2014-11-18 10:22

Once on land you can. I often clean mine close to the ramp after coming back from a trip. However I find it more relaxing cleaning them at home, and returning the waste to the Estuary. Im lucky though its only 100m walk to get there.

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Mike17's picture

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At Home

Tue, 2014-11-18 10:41

I've got an old sink plumbed in out the back so i clean them at home and then use all the offal and crush it up and ad it to my burley mix. 

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Kristof's picture

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Cooking first

Tue, 2014-11-18 12:14

I clean my crabs after I cook them. I reckon they taste better that way.

There's no right or wrong way really of doing it really.

Bodie's picture

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 Off topic, and I'm sure some

Tue, 2014-11-18 14:10

 Off topic, and I'm sure some already do this but if your cleaning your crabs after cooking them, place them in the boiling pot upside down and all the crap sits in the shell not in the body, makes cleaning a lot simpler 

rigpig's picture

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cheers mate

Tue, 2014-11-18 14:43

 good tip, I will deffinately give this a crack next time I get a feed..

Geoff78's picture

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 excellent tip. Wish I'd

Tue, 2014-11-18 14:52

 excellent tip. Wish I'd heard it 30 years ago.

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 +1 for cooking upside down,

Tue, 2014-11-18 14:58

 +1 for cooking upside down, also face lower than the back end.  Some of the crap runs out and away from the meat.

 

Can someone post something about cleaning them uncooked please? Never done it.  Always cooked them first.  Is it the same method?

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crasny1's picture

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do it exactly the same

Tue, 2014-11-18 15:18

but I dont get the meat out, so only lift the shell and wash out the gook, which isnt as nice as when it is cooked. Then right way up with chill/garlic/butter mix into the space where the gook was and it permeates into the whole crab on the BBQ. Yum, now Im drooling.

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crasny1's picture

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I tend to only Prepare

Tue, 2014-11-18 14:53

crabs two ways. Opened and cleaned raw for CHilli Garlic on the BBG and the other is boiling/steaming, and then can use the meat for all dishes. First plan happens at the waters edge, second in homely comfort.

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 Thanks for that guys, used

Tue, 2014-11-18 15:28

 Thanks for that guys, used to clean the crabs at home then have to freeze the shells till bin day if there is room in the freezer.

sea-kem's picture

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 Damn! The head meat is the

Tue, 2014-11-18 16:27

 Damn! The head meat is the best part.

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Bodie's picture

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One more tip for cooking

Tue, 2014-11-18 17:26

One more tip for cooking them, but surely everyone knows this, its the same with Crays.

Legs and claws fall off when put in water when still alive, put them in fresh water for 15 minutes before cooking stops this happening.

Obviously its against the standard rule of not putting seafood in freshwater before cooking, but for this purpose it works.

oh and one more, if your netting for them in Cockburn or Mandurah, cooking them in the water they come out of makes them taste so much better (not too sure on swan river water)

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 I reserve enough of the sea

Tue, 2014-11-18 18:04

 I reserve enough of the sea / estuary water to fill the pot and bring it to the boil.  Make an ice slurry with the rest and this puts the crabs to sleep first.  Into the boiling water, back to the boil ASAP.  6 minutes on the boil and straight back into the ice slurry to stop them over cooking.  Perfect every time.

:)

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Bodie's picture

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Maybe Mandurah crabs, but

Tue, 2014-11-18 19:43

Maybe Mandurah crabs, but Swan river crabs need longer than 6 minutes :) 9 from memory

PS: Spot on technique. I always have an esky with Ice ready to go with crabs.

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 Interesting.  Why the longer

Tue, 2014-11-18 19:47

 Interesting.  Why the longer cook time for swan river crabs?  We've got some big blue males in mandurah and six minutes still ok.

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Bodie's picture

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I've crabbed in Mandurah for

Tue, 2014-11-18 19:49

I've crabbed in Mandurah for 20 odd years and even back when I was a kid I don't ever remember seeing crabs the size of swan river crabs.

Not 70+cm claw to claw. And they are very thick, probably thicker shell too taking more cooking time. Im 99% sure its 9 minutes on the nose to cook them properly with only about 4 or 5 in the pot as I cant fit anymore in!

Geoff78's picture

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 We used to have a place in

Tue, 2014-11-18 19:58

 We used to have a place in Mandurah. Our PB was 95cm

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Been fishing both for years

Tue, 2014-11-18 20:21

 Swan crabs are in general a lot bigger that the pissers we catch at Mandurah which never seem to grow to full size because of overfishing.

Bodie's picture

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I agree, People are out

Tue, 2014-11-18 21:11

I agree,

People are out catching crabs now that are just over size... seems pointless to me. If they were left until say Christmas, Crabs wouldn't even need gauging!

Swan crabs almost never need gauging, I've probably measured 3 or 4.

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 I haven't been too

Tue, 2014-11-18 21:19

 I haven't been too successful at catching crabs in the swan so I haven't seen the size you taunt us with!  And I generally leave crabbing in mandurah until after australia day because at Xmas we catch 60 and throw 56 back...  later in the season, we catch 30 and throw 15 back and the boys are all well over size.

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sea-kem's picture

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 I used to get them regularly

Tue, 2014-11-18 21:23

 I used to get them regularly about 4 or 5 years ago randall. We'd get at least 8-12 crabs a session all measuring on average 150-190 tip to tip. Always big males too. But alas every man and his dog are into it now so I don't bother. 

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Right on

Tue, 2014-11-18 21:23

The crabbing season should start on December 1 down at Mandurah to give the crabs a chance to grow to a decent size.

jighead's picture

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Trust me

Tue, 2014-11-18 21:15

 People are out there catching AND KEEPING crabs well undersize. It shits me but what can you do but report it. If i was built like arnie then there would be a clear option.