Dungeness crab

[nxcoastgiant]

Crab Season recently opened here and I can get Live Dungeness Crab for $6 a pound. I've seen that people smoke crab legs but they tend to be pre cooked. My question is what is the best way to smoke crab and is it worth it?

 

[forktender]

Cold smoking is the only way I've seen it done, and $6 per pound is a complete steal, stock up while the price is still low, it will go up as the fishing gets tougher.
I crab on my own, and can't do it for anywhere near $6 per pound, times that by three and that is the price I figured on how much I pay to catch crab, and that was before the high fuel and bait costs.

 

[BandCollector]

I don't believe that nxcoastgiant 's question was answered.

Should the crab legs be precooked before cold smoking them?

Thanks,

John

 

[SmokinEdge]

I don't believe that nxcoastgiant 's question was answered.

Should the crab legs be precooked before cold smoking them?

Thanks,

John

Doesn’t all crab have be either alive or cooked? I didn’t think you could have dead uncooked crab? I’m no crab fisherman just a consumer.

 

[BandCollector]

Doesn’t all crab have be either alive or cooked? I didn’t think you could have dead uncooked crab? I’m no crab fisherman just a consumer.

I'm no crab fisherman either. . .That is why I was asking.

John

 

[TNJAKE]

Aside from taking it out of the shell before smoking I'd say you are signing up for an impossible task. Smoke can't penetrate a shell

 

[Fueling Around]

Just taking a wild guess.
Split the crab and clean out the innards.
You can get some smoke on the body meat at least.
Not sure parameters on how soon the meat has to get cooked before going bad.
Fresh Dungeness. I'm jealous!

 

[Nefarious]

have fish for dungeness crab often. They have lungs so they can stay alive for a long time in the boat. We kill them at the dock so we dont have to deal with the shells at home, and we can just throw them back in the water to recycle them. We usually have them in the pot of boiling water within an hour after killing them. They are very fresh and after boiled for 14 minutes, stay good for up to a week.

The $6/lb pricing is because they were probably harvested by an indian tribe. They dont have the same rules we do and have a much larger catch limit, infinite vs 5 a day.

I have never smoked crab, and just assume the smoke would have a hard time penetrating the shell. If you want to try something, I would cold smoke them after they are cooked.

 

[thirdeye]

Here is how I prep king crab legs, then add some compound butter before baking or grilling with some light flavor smoke. The only live crabs I've dealt with were from the Gulf of Mexico and we steamed them.

 

[sawhorseray]

My partner and I ran a dozen traps for Dungees for over 30 years, you boil them, no smoke. He sent me this today, $5.99lb at his local Asian market, be twice that here. RAY

 

[Nefarious]

My partner and I ran a dozen traps for Dungees for over 30 years, you boil them, no smoke. He sent me this today, $5.99lb at his local Asian market, be twice that here. RAY

View attachment 655315

Those have to be indian harvested, our limit here in wa. Is the largest dimension of the shell has to be over 7". They sure look tasty though. Its just too cold for us older to go out.

 

[sawhorseray]

5&3/4" in CA, I think Oregon used to be 6". I sold my 22' Proline when I hit 62, a man starts losing his sea legs right about then, at least we did, beat up old carpenters. RAY

 

[nxcoastgiant]

Aside from taking it out of the shell before smoking I'd say you are signing up for an impossible task. Smoke can't penetrate a shell

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Didn't know if it would be worth it to shell them and then smoke. Seems like the consensus is they are tasty enough boiled.

They are very fresh and after boiled for 14 minutes, stay good for up to a week.

The $6/lb pricing is because they were probably harvested by an indian tribe.

Thank you for the timing!
I don't know why they are so inexpensive. All the fisherman around here are only getting $2.25/lb commercially, so I go to the docks to support the fisherman.

boil them, no smoke.

View attachment 655315

I will boil. Those look nice, i'll put a pic up when I secure the crabs!

 

[dons2346]

The only way to do Dungeness is to split them, get rid of the guts and then steam for 17 minutes. Then bring out the melted butter for dunking.

 

[Fueling Around]

have fish for dungeness crab often. They have lungs so they can stay alive for a long time in the boat. We kill them at the dock so we dont have to deal with the shells at home, and we can just throw them back in the water to recycle them. We usually have them in the pot of boiling water within an hour after killing them. They are very fresh and after boiled for 14 minutes, stay good for up to a week.

The $6/lb pricing is because they were probably harvested by an indian tribe. They dont have the same rules we do and have a much larger catch limit, infinite vs 5 a day.

I have never smoked crab, and just assume the smoke would have a hard time penetrating the shell. If you want to try something, I would cold smoke them after they are cooked.

How do you "kill" your crab?
We used to stand on a small spade shovel, grab the legs and thrust them face into the shovel to split the upper and lower shells. Clean the innards and gills (they have gills not lungs as land crabs) and break the lower shell in half then toss in a bucket of ocean water. The chum went back in the water. We cooked as killed.

Many of the commercial crabbers are under the Judge Boldt indigenous rule.
Commercial crabbers are allowed more than the personal limit. It was 4 when I lived in Seattle.

I still have my crab gauge. It has 3 notches for California, Oregon, and Washington shell size.

 

[Nefarious]

We sit on the dock, grab the legs in each hand and use the cleats on the dock to pry the upper shell off. Then as you said. We fish in everett which is about 30 minutes from home. We put them in a cooler in bags and some ice to get them home and in the hot water. I figure its an hour till they are in the boiling water.

The limit is now 5 a day and in the summer we go out say 3 days in a row. We drop the pots in the morning on the first day and go back home until later in the afternoon. After.we.get our limit on a day, we just drop the pots again for the next day.

Nothing beats fresh dungeness crab, cooked and eaten day of.

 

[mneeley490]

We sit on the dock, grab the legs in each hand and use the cleats on the dock to pry the upper shell off. Then as you said. We fish in everett which is about 30 minutes from home. We put them in a cooler in bags and some ice to get them home and in the hot water. I figure its an hour till they are in the boiling water.

The limit is now 5 a day and in the summer we go out say 3 days in a row. We drop the pots in the morning on the first day and go back home until later in the afternoon. After.we.get our limit on a day, we just drop the pots again for the next day.

Nothing beats fresh dungeness crab, cooked and eaten day of.

Used to drop pots off of the Edmonds pier too, years ago. Haven't done it for a while, not sure if they still allow it.

 

[jcam222]

For my personal taste I think actually smoking them would just mask the sweet delicate flavor. I could see grilling in the shell.

 

[nxcoastgiant]

Fresh from the docks!

 

[cmayna]

Wife and I go out on Rock cod / crab combo fishing trips. We bring home 10 crabs each but have them cooked at the docks before we come home.

Tried cold smoking cooked dungee crab a couple years ago and yes, for my taste buds, it over powers the taste of the meat.