Fried blue swimmer crab balls with chilli sauce recipe (2024)

FAQs

What's the best way to cook blue swimmer crabs? ›

1: Bring a large pot of water to the boil and approximately 2 tablespoons of salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Once water is at the boil place crabs in the pot upside down. 2: Cook for approximately 5-8 mins. Once they start floating & are a very vibrant orange colour it is a good indicator to tell they are cooked.

Gather the ingredients. Pick the crabmeat, discarding any bits of shell. Gently combine the crabmeat with the beaten eggs, onion, if using, cracker crumbs, mayonnaise, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Add the salt and pepper and gently shape the crabmeat mixture into small balls.

Cooking times for 127mm crabs are approx. 10-12 minutes from when 1st placed into the boiling water. For larger crabs cooking times will take approx. 12-14 minutes from when 1st placed into the boiling water.

blue swimmer crab

After cleaning, cook crab for about six minutes in boiling water. The cooked crab meat will no longer be translucent. Make sure you discard the cooking water or marinade.

Remove Gills & Mandibles

Along the top are two rows of opaque, feathery gills. These are not tasty. Simply pull them all off and discard them. The mandibles, at the front of the crab, need to be removed–simply snap the two pointy things to break them away from the crab and discard them.

You will want a starch like mashed potatoes or rice, a nice saffron rice would go very well. You may want to serve any number of veggies like asparagus, brussel sprouts, fresh garden peas or wax beans. A nice salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and sliced mozzarella cheese. The choices are limitless.

If you have a female crab and you see bright orange stuff inside, that is edible. It's the roe or eggs, also called "coral" in shellfish. Coral is delicious when it's warmed and served on toast or used in crab cakes.

Parasitic flatworms, called fluke, of the genus (group) Paragonimus cause paragonimiasis. You get it from eating raw or partially cooked crabs or crayfish. Cysts containing larvae (young fluke) can contaminate crabs or crayfish or their juices.

Remove the gills by peeling them away from either side of the body and discard them. You will also see a small amount of viscera (intestines and heart) in the center of the body cavity. Discard this as well. Crack the body of the crab down the center with your hands so you have two halves.

How many blue crabs per person? ›

A good rule of thumb is about 6-10 Maryland Blue Crabs per person. If you are serving other food, we recommend about a 1/2 dozen crabs per person. A bushel of large crabs will feed 8-10 people.

Eating undercooked or raw crabs can lead to illnesses such as vibriosis, which can cause symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. To ensure that blue crabs are safe to eat, they should be cooked thoroughly to an internal temperature of at least 145°F (63°C) for 15 seconds.

Boiling ensures the seasoning gets evenly distributed throughout the crab and keeps it moist. If you steam the crabs all the seasoning ends up on the outside shell and eventually on your fingers. It's not like Cheeto dust, either —you don't want to lick it off.

Which wins, steaming or boiling crabs? Chesapeake Bay fans prefer steamed blue crabs compared to the southern enthusiasts. They like to boil them with corn-on-the-cob, potatoes, and andouille sausage. Dousing them with Cajun spices, they claim the crabs get a more even spicing and the meat stays tender with the juices.

Rinse Crab Clean

The remaining parts of the crab (besides the shell) that you don't want to eat are the guts. In the world of cleaning animals, crab guts are pretty innocuous. Simply rinse them out under cool running water. You now have a fully cleaned crab.