Change of Plans: Boiling Crabs

Got a late text yesterday from Bon Temps and as most of you know he's out of commission right now. Well he's saying "If you're Up Call Me". I call and find out He's got a Box of Blue Crabs for me I just have to pick them up. So this morning I got up and made a run to New Orleans to pick up my box of Crabs.

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This is a 100qt Igloo I have modified to carry Blue Crabs. It has a perforated False Floor so when you ice down the crabs they can't sit in the ice water, it will kill them. You leave the drain cap off while in use to allow the water to drain out. This keeps crabs alive for days as long as you continue to add ice.

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We had rain threatening today so I rigged up the pot under the overhang we built.

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To keep it simple 1 bag of Cajun Land Crab Boil, 2 bottles of liquid Crab Boil with Lemon, Yellow Onions (Used 5), 5 massive bulbs of Garlic, a carton of Button Mushrooms, and lastly Boil Booster Citrus for that extra Kaboom.

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I boiled all the seasonings for 1 hour before adding the Crabs.

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There were so many Crabs in the box it took 2 boils to cook all the crabs. Bon Temps text me to cover the Crabs with water but I took this picture before I topped up on the water so the crabs are easily seen. Once a rolling boil I boiled each batch for 8 minutes then turned off the heat. Then I put ice in the pot to cool them down and to make the crabs sink. Now the crabs were allowed to soak for 30 minutes before bringing inside too eat and cool for packing in the fridge.

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Here we are ready to dig in but since it's a messy process cleaning and eating Crabs I wanted to leave the phone away from all the action so no mess to show yet.

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Each batch of Crabs is spread out on the Island where the A/C can blow across them to speed cooling down. I always store all my boiled Crabs on their backs to retain the water inside. If you store them right side up they dry out in the fridge. I will be picking Crabs for the next few days to pack & freeze. A follow up with the containers and the packing process will follow.

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We both love the boiled Mushrooms & Sweet Corn but all the extra Garlic has a purpose, I peel the Crab Boiled Garlic and add it to a pound of melted Unsalted Butter and finely grated Parmesan Cheese to make a Garlic Spread for toasting on French Bread.

I've got to say, Bon Temps is a very good person to know. Thanks Bud. Oh, His Boiled Crabs are way better, just say'n!

Garlic butter sounds good.

Those are some nice blue crabs. ��
Thanks goes out to my first cousin Jeff who is like a younger brother to me. Jeff is a commercial fisherman out of Delicroux Island Louisiana. Jeff called and informed me he had a couple boxes of select blue crabs he had saved from his shrimp trawling trip that day. 1 for Rojo because of some favors Rojo had done for Jeff and 1 for me. I had to decline my crate because of my knee replacement a couple days ago but Rojo didn’t hesitate to drive over 150 miles round trip to pick up a crate of fresh select blue crabs. As is obvious in the pics Rojo is no rookie when it comes to boiling and processing blue crabs. Thank you Jeff!!
BON TEMPS!!

Boy howdy! Add some fried mushrooms to complete the meal.

Don't reckon I ever had boiled blue crab. I've had steamed snow crab and that sort, but always found it to be a lot of work for just a small amount of meat. I'll try the blues the next time I'm at the coast.

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Originally Posted by lugbolt

Don't reckon I ever had boiled blue crab. I've had steamed snow crab and that sort, but always found it to be a lot of work for just a small amount of meat. I'll try the blues the next time I'm at the coast.

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So there is an Art to cleaning Blue Crabs. For production purposes this morning I pulled the backs and all the claws on 80+ crabs in 45 minutes. When cleaning the meat out of the body once you learn the shell structure I can empty one in 2 minutes. I have a bud who can do it in 90 seconds, a sight to behold. His Grandfather made and sold thousands of Stuffed Crabs on the entire MS Gulf Coast. All the family cleaned and picked crabs for him. If I taught you what to do you would be smokin' them with the rest of us.

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So I pulled the Backs & Claws first packing the bodies & pinchers in a Rubbermaid Storage container. I filled 2 of these up and the containers are huge.

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I use a glass bowl with ice water to cool a stainless bowl receptacle for the picked crab meat to keep it very cool.

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I filled 2 5 gallon buckets with shells.

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Using a very large stainless bowl I mixed the Lump, Claw, and Body Crab Meat together. I don't try to cook with just certain parts of a crab, it's all fair game for the pot.

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These are Ball Freezer Jelly containers on the left (no longer available) and the current Ball Freezer containers. I use these on the left first as you are packing the meat into the container for freezing you really pack it removing as much air as possible. The lids have a seal and when screwed down compresses the crab meat more.

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Here 6 containers are packed as tight as I can get them by hand without ruining the crab meat.

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Stored in a Zero Degrees freezer this Crab meat will stay perfect for 6 months, taste really good at the 9 month mark, and taste like canned Crab by 1 year. I use my oldest Crab meat for Gumbos, freshest for Crab Cakes.

Those mushrooms boiled in with the crabs are awesome. So is the garlic for that matter

Mmmmmmm :highfive

Looks good!