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Hi Seeseacol, Do most people clean their crabs after cooking them? I've always cleaned them before boiling them. I don't think that would have made a difference to your crab problem.

I have all my life cleaned after cooking to retain flavour, I dont think it was the cooking but maybe the crabs themselves being extra large or end of breeding season or the like. It was only a couple of them that were a bit rank, the others { 4 } were OK

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i use too get that every now and then when i boiled them mate not sure if its because they have been over boiled or the lack of body meat  :unsure:

 

since ive been steaming them have never had a bad 1 even when they are empty they still taste choice... as the guts and feelers being boiled with little body meat is what make the crab taste crap when they arent full ;)

 

how full were they mate?? as i noticed the 1s i got the other day werent as full as previous 1s..beauty with steaming u cant over steam them either ;)

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i use too get that every now and then when i boiled them mate not sure if its because they have been over boiled or the lack of body meat  :unsure:

 

since ive been steaming them have never had a bad 1 even when they are empty they still taste choice... as the guts and feelers being boiled with little body meat is what make the crab taste crap when they arent full ;)

 

how full were they mate?? as i noticed the 1s i got the other day werent as full as previous 1s..beauty with steaming u cant over steam them either ;)

This lot were steamed mate, I put together a smallish 10 crab steamer a couple of weeks ago after suggestions. All good, the first lot 2 weeks back were great, not so this second lot. They seemed to have a reasonable amount of meat, but it was extra soft and watery, thinking maybe they are starting to lose condition down Brighton way. Have been cooking up Crabs since I was a young boy, spent much of my life raking them by the hundreds out of Middle Beach. This is the first time in my life I have rejected eating some crab because of taste, unusual ?...putting it down to poor quality of Crab not so much cooking style.

 

Bit embarrassing as we had the new Pommie neighbours over for tea who were dying to try some, I think they enjoyed it, I think they got the better ones { smaller, I put dibs on the two larger ones hehehe }, but I chucked my couple in the bin as they were foul....{ age I think mate  the Crabs age, not mine :rolleyes:  }

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yes definatly older crabs taste adverage usauly show signs of spots and dirtyness on the shells i no ya on the ball and also no ur an old basterd :D as ive seen pics of u and u make me feel like a spring chicken mate lmao ;)

 

u sure u steamed them enough as u have too do for 20-30mins cant over steam them as u can over boil them ;)

 

looking at ya pic again the shells arent snow white ay maybe it is due too there condition??

 

just a few maybes ;)

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Sorry if this is a bit off topic, or has been covered before, but is there any reason crabs will throw their claws when cooking.

It doesn't seem to happen all the time, and not even all in the same batch.

 

I suppose it doesn't really matter, but just wondering if I was doing something wrong maybe ??

It is a defence mechanism, they will drop claws much like some lizards drop their tails when threatened. If a fish or the like tries to grab a Crab it will throw it's Claw as a deterrent and escape. But Crabs also drop their claws when cooked whilst still alive, as they sense the hot water/steam as a threat, instinct makes them drop claws but ofcourse to no avail id cooking is the reason. How to avoid it is to make sure the Crab is dead before cooking so the instinctive leg dropping is overridden , or placed into a freezer for a while to put it to sleep which has the same effect, the brain cant react if dead or frozen. Sometimes legs will still drop off, but the incidence will be reduced.

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yes definatly older crabs taste adverage usauly show signs of spots and dirtyness on the shells i no ya on the ball and also no ur an old basterd :D as ive seen pics of u and u make me feel like a spring chicken mate lmao ;)

 

u sure u steamed them enough as u have too do for 20-30mins cant over steam them as u can over boil them ;)

 

looking at ya pic again the shells arent snow white ay maybe it is due too there condition??

 

just a few maybes ;)

Steamed for a good 20 minutes, just too old I think mate....not you mate.....I mean the crabs :P

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I steam my crabs. The time I steam them for, varies due to the number of crabs. As soon as those on the top turn red, I take them out and put them straight into the sink , where I have iced water ready for them. Why I do this, is it cools them straight away, which stops them from cooking further from the heat which is still in them, when you take them out of the cooker. They only need a few minutes to cool. If you leave them in to long, they loose taste. I have had some mushy ones when I have not chilled them down.  Another reason for finding a couple mushy ones can be they are going through the process of shell change. As far as the larger crabs being dirty, I would say that it is noticeable due to the extra age of the crab   and from that, more crap has accumulated  .  Sometimes I catch what I call resident crabs., that is, they reside in the same area, year round. Normally crabs come and leave the area. I often crab at Cowell  where I find the crabs that travel are very clean on the shells as well as the meat, but the resident crabs are dirty on the shell ( almost looks like rust, due to a high iron content in the water ) and sometimes the meat can be not as nice as normal. When I steam my crabs I only have about 1 cm of water unless there is a lot of crabs, then you would need a little more. Also, in closing, into the water that is in the steamer, I add 1 heaped teaspoon of herbs / spices and if you are using fresh water, 1 heaped teaspoon of salt.

      I do hope you  find something of use to you, in  my ramble.                                                     

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I should have added and will now, I clean my crabs before cooking. Some refer to the yellow stuff as being flavour I refer to it as being crap or more to the point,.......shit.

I dont eat/suck the mustard/shit, lightly rinse it off before eating but I believe it adds flavour while cooking.

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