Clean a Blue Crab (Dead Critter Content)

fishshooter

fishshooter

Joined
Mar 29, 2006
Messages
1,466
I went surf fishing again yesterday, but this time took a couple buddies with me. What a great day, perfect weather (a little warm, but hey), calm, clear water, and plenty of activity.
My buddies out on a point, nice little drop off right along it.
IMG_4769.jpg

The sharks were feeding hard again today, we caught several, and kept two. Lots of crabs coming up into the shallows. Many had eggs hanging out the back, so we turned a lot loose, only keeping the ones that didn't have eggs. Even then, we only kept a few good size females.
The views on both sides of where we were.
IMG_4772.jpg

IMG_4771.jpg

What we ended up keeping.

IMG_4793.jpg


So when cleaning these crabs, it' easier to do if you chill them down. If they're still feisty, be careful. Grab between the claw shoulder and the point of the shell.
IMG_4794.jpg

With your other thumb, pull the top of the shell up, it will pop off. This is usually the end of the crab's bad attitude.
IMG_4796.jpg

Keep pulling, and the shell will pop right off.
IMG_4798.jpg

Next you'll want to scrape the "dead man's fingers" from each side.

IMG_4803.jpg

Now remove the sex organs. The one the left is a male, the one we are working on is a female. Very easy to tell the difference, but you'll treat them the same way.
IMG_4799.jpg


Use the tip of you knife or even a fingernail and get little tab out so you can pull it.
IMG_4800.jpg
 
Pull up and around, and you'll get a fair amount of the innards out.
IMG_4801.jpg


Now pinch the front, I guess what would be his "face" and snap it off.

IMG_4804.jpg


IMG_4807.jpg


Now gently pick and rinse what ever is left inside. Don't use real high pressure, you don't want to blow out any of the lump meat in the little joints. This baby is ready to cook.
IMG_4809.jpg


This is going to be a two part post. I'll be having some shark and crab for supper. I'll post how to get the meat out of the crab, which is a bit of an art. Some people bugger it up and then complain there isn't anything in it to eat. If you do it right, you can make a small meal from a few crabs.
 
Last edited:
Great report. I love Blue Claw Crabs. You can also clean them after they are steamed.
 
Those are decent size, bigger than we were getting a month ago in NE FL.
 
Another informative post! These posts are great! I never saw these cleaned before, let alone done it. Although if it tastes good, that may have to change sometime :thumbup:
 
@Fishshooter, you are living life man! That looks like an amazing beach, and everytime you start a thread, youre like "Today i went fishing/gigging/etc..."

Excellent tutorial again! Thanks for taking the time to post.
 
fishshooter said:
These are still on the small size. Nothing like come out of the baskets in the bay.
Click to expand...

That's for sure. Now I am near Tampa FL. About three hours from where I used to live. I fished about 150+ days last year. (all day)

I am going to head back up for the drum run soon, we killed them last year.:thumbup:

Great thread.....Again!
 
This is so cool! When I lived in Tampa we used to catch bucket fulls of Blue Crab in the bay. We never cleaned them and used them in any other dishes though, we just built a fire and cooked them whole in a big pot. Thanks for posting this!
 
Man, we eat everything except the filters, the devils. What you call dead man's fingers. Hahaha! Sex organs! Oh God nooooo!!! I thought I was just eating guts not nuts. I'm as scarred as when my Dad told me what the tasty crab "mustard" really was. :D

I've never even heard of anyone cleaning them before cooking them! Pretty cool!
 
Don Rearic said:
I thought I was just eating guts not nuts. I'm as scarred as when my Dad told me what the tasty crab "mustard" really was. :D

I've never even heard of anyone cleaning them before cooking them! Pretty cool!
Click to expand...
Haha. I'll save all that for you and send it your way! II'll even jar you up some crab mustard to go on your hot dogs.:D
I've always heard them called "deadman's fingers" and when I was a kid I thought they would kill you if ate them! Then I saw a drowning victim pulled from the river while dragging for him with my dad. Then I understood. :barf:
 
Great walk-through once again! What do you use as bait? I fished a similar spot with mullet, sand fleas, and shrimp and barely got any bites (when we did, I think they were almost all on the sand fleas).

Also, what rod/reel and test line do you use?
 
No, I'll take (apparently) my ovaries and testicles steamed, bitte. :D

The filters are, predictably, where all the toxins are. I don't eats them. :)
 
I used to crab a lot in Louisianna as a boy. String, a chicken net, and a dip net, and an ice chest full is no problem. Never cleaned them befor boiling though. You just pull that stuff out as you ate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top