How To Clean, Open and Crack Cooked Crab, whether you have whole crab, crab sections or crab legs this guide covers it!This guide covers everything you need to know about how to eat Dungeness crab! We've cracked hundreds of crabs from our coastal life and are blessed to provide this thorough guide.
Course How to, Main Course
Cuisine Pacific Coast, Seafood
Keyword cooked crab, crab legs, how to clean crab, How to crack crab, how to eat dungeness crab, how to open crab
First, flip the crab over, get your finger under the apron (the belly part that looks like a triangle) and rip it off.
With your thumb on the bottom edge of the crab shell, remove the outer shells and discard into a large bowl.
On the body of the crab, remove and discard all the gills and extra shells that don't contain meat.
Rip the crab in half. Separating it into 2 equal sections.
Into a large bowl, give each crab section a quick and hard shake to remove the extra crab butter. We don't eat crab butter since contains most of the toxins.
And, now you have crab sections to work off of.
Cracking Crab Sections
Remove the body from the legs.
Separate the body into 2-3 parts so it's easier for pick through.
Pick through the body for meat. Place all the meat in the small bowl and shells in the large bowl to discard (or use to make seafood stock).
Cracking Crab legs
Start by cracking crab legs using seafood crackers.
Peel back the shells, tossing them into your large discard bowl or bucket. Place all the crab meat in a small bowl.
For the smaller legs, you will need to use seafood picks to remove the meat. If the crab crackers are too large for smaller legs, you can simply rip the shell as best as you can, then use the picks to remove the crab meat.
Notes
Fresh cooked crab typically lasts for up to 2 days in the fridge. Be sure to store in an airtight container or bag.It's best to re-heat crab prior to eating when purchased cooked. Steam crab legs to warm through. For crab meat, heat on a skillet with butter or olive oil until warmed through. Or simply heat your dish with crab.