On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 04:47:43 GMT, Kathy in NZ wrote:
>
> Yes it was messy, but delicious, and I was surprised how much meat was
> in the bodies, much easier to get at than I expected and absolutely
> delicious.
>
> In the end I made stir-fry chilli crabs using the wok burner of the
> barbecue. I won't use that particular recipe again without refining it
> as the sauce was too heavy on tomato sauce, but the concept was great
> and the crabs were fantastic, even though they *were* frozen, raw
> blue swimmer crabs (from India).
>
> Here's a pic of the final dish.
> http://tinypic.com/fxgw9x.jpg
>
I'm unclear on the concept of cooking crab in the shell with any sort
of sauce. Doesn't the sauce come off with the shell? If so, why
waste your time?
--

Practice safe eating. Always use condiments.

"sf" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 04:47:43 GMT, Kathy in NZ wrote:
> >
> > Yes it was messy, but delicious, and I was surprised how much meat was
> > in the bodies, much easier to get at than I expected and absolutely
> > delicious.
> >
> > In the end I made stir-fry chilli crabs using the wok burner of the
> > barbecue. I won't use that particular recipe again without refining it
> > as the sauce was too heavy on tomato sauce, but the concept was great
> > and the crabs were fantastic, even though they *were* frozen, raw
> > blue swimmer crabs (from India).
> >
> > Here's a pic of the final dish.
> > http://tinypic.com/fxgw9x.jpg
> >
> I'm unclear on the concept of cooking crab in the shell with any sort
> of sauce. Doesn't the sauce come off with the shell? If so, why
> waste your time?
> --

I ordered a Vietnamese Dungeness Crab dish, one time, back on Maui, at
Saigon Cafe. It was dungeness crab in a spicy-sweet sauce and it came in
the shell. I was thinking that I wouldn't be able to taste the sauce on it
either, but I was wrong. Wow. It was probably the messiest dish I have
ever eaten in my life, and those of you that know me, know I hate getting my
fingers dirty, but I couldn't stop eating it! I peeled the shell off, and
the flavor still came through. The crab was still covered in this spicy,
plumb-like sauce. Maybe because my fingers were still covered? I don't
know, but it was an experience not to be missed and a definite do-over. I
even had left-overs, although, next time? I'd eat the whole thing right
there. It was one of those dishes that was better the first go-around.

kili

On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 21:32:37 -0800, sf >
wrote:

>On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 04:47:43 GMT, Kathy in NZ wrote:
>>
>> Yes it was messy, but delicious, and I was surprised how much meat was
>> in the bodies, much easier to get at than I expected and absolutely
>> delicious.
>>
>> In the end I made stir-fry chilli crabs using the wok burner of the
>> barbecue. I won't use that particular recipe again without refining it
>> as the sauce was too heavy on tomato sauce, but the concept was great
>> and the crabs were fantastic, even though they *were* frozen, raw
>> blue swimmer crabs (from India).
>>
>> Here's a pic of the final dish.
>> http://tinypic.com/fxgw9x.jpg
>>
>I'm unclear on the concept of cooking crab in the shell with any sort
>of sauce. Doesn't the sauce come off with the shell? If so, why
>waste your time?

Now that I've tried cooking crabs I'll probably do them plain next
time. I had never cooked them before and was unsure what to do. Next
time it will be boiled or steamed or barbecued on the flat plate, so
that the delicate flavour of the crab is unadulterated.

They took much longer to cook than the recipe said, probably because
my small wok was so full of crab the heat wasn't readily getting to
them all. I resorted to covering the contents with a lid from a large
pot to help steam them.

In article >, (Kathy in NZ) wrote:
[snip]
>
>Now that I've tried cooking crabs I'll probably do them plain next
>time. I had never cooked them before and was unsure what to do. Next
>time it will be boiled or steamed or barbecued on the flat plate, so
>that the delicate flavour of the crab is unadulterated.

The *only* way crabs should be eaten. Especially our (Oz) mud crabs
which can grow quite big:
< quoting from http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishweb/2454.html >
Mud crabs are large crabs with a smooth, broad carapace. They can grow
to more than 25cm shell breadth (2kg), with males generally growing
larger than females.
</quoting>

But I'm *still* hoping one day to eat "enough" of them. (Maybe a 2 kg
sample would do; most I've demolished have been rather smaller and
never "enough" -- even if you get a whole one for yourself.

>They took much longer to cook than the recipe said, probably because
>my small wok was so full of crab the heat wasn't readily getting to
>them all. I resorted to covering the contents with a lid from a large
>pot to help steam them.

Mud crabs should be boiled in a large surplus of salted water. Those
old laundry "coppers" make an ideal cooker for them. (Bit hard to
come by now though.) Do not overcook. They're pretty much
self-indicating -- when the shell goes red they're cooked.

Incidentally, here in Queensland you have to be able to tell the boys
from the girls if you go out to catch your own. It's illegal to take
the girls; and there's a minimum size limit on the boys too. You can
find an illustration of the sex differences towards the bottom of this
page: <http://www.sea-ex.com/fishphotos/crab,mud.htm>
[ I like that site -- they reckon muddies can grow to 3.5 kg! Much
better than the government can do. ;-) ]

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 10:51:51 GMT, (Phred)
wrote:

>In article >, (Kathy in NZ) wrote:
>[snip]
>>
>>Now that I've tried cooking crabs I'll probably do them plain next
>>time. I had never cooked them before and was unsure what to do. Next
>>time it will be boiled or steamed or barbecued on the flat plate, so
>>that the delicate flavour of the crab is unadulterated.
>
>The *only* way crabs should be eaten. Especially our (Oz) mud crabs
>which can grow quite big:
>< quoting from http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishweb/2454.html >
>Mud crabs are large crabs with a smooth, broad carapace. They can grow
>to more than 25cm shell breadth (2kg), with males generally growing
>larger than females.
></quoting>
>
>But I'm *still* hoping one day to eat "enough" of them. (Maybe a 2 kg
>sample would do; most I've demolished have been rather smaller and
>never "enough" -- even if you get a whole one for yourself.
>
>>They took much longer to cook than the recipe said, probably because
>>my small wok was so full of crab the heat wasn't readily getting to
>>them all. I resorted to covering the contents with a lid from a large
>>pot to help steam them.
>
>Mud crabs should be boiled in a large surplus of salted water. Those
>old laundry "coppers" make an ideal cooker for them. (Bit hard to
>come by now though.) Do not overcook. They're pretty much
>self-indicating -- when the shell goes red they're cooked.
>
>Incidentally, here in Queensland you have to be able to tell the boys
>from the girls if you go out to catch your own. It's illegal to take
>the girls; and there's a minimum size limit on the boys too. You can
>find an illustration of the sex differences towards the bottom of this
>page: <http://www.sea-ex.com/fishphotos/crab,mud.htm>
>[ I like that site -- they reckon muddies can grow to 3.5 kg! Much
>better than the government can do. ;-) ]
>
>Cheers, Phred.
>
The crabs I cooked were blue swimmer crabs. I was relying on them
turning red. That took some time. They were not overcooked, but as I
say, the heat struggled to get to all of them. I estimate that cleaned
and halved, there were 4 crabs in the 1kg box.

I'm coming over for a feed of your mud crabs, courtesy of you. We get
mud crabs here too (if you catch them yourself). Nowhere near that
big, though, you Texan!!

Kathy in NZ

In article >, (Kathy
in NZ) wrote:
>On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 10:51:51 GMT, (Phred)
>wrote:
>>In article >, (Kathy in NZ)
> wrote:
>>[snip]
>>>Now that I've tried cooking crabs I'll probably do them plain next
>>>time. I had never cooked them before and was unsure what to do. Next
>>>time it will be boiled or steamed or barbecued on the flat plate, so
>>>that the delicate flavour of the crab is unadulterated.
>>
>>The *only* way crabs should be eaten. Especially our (Oz) mud crabs
>>which can grow quite big:
[snip]
>>But I'm *still* hoping one day to eat "enough" of them. (Maybe a 2 kg
>>sample would do; most I've demolished have been rather smaller and
>>never "enough" -- even if you get a whole one for yourself.
[snip
>
>I'm coming over for a feed of your mud crabs, courtesy of you. We get
>mud crabs here too (if you catch them yourself). Nowhere near that
>big, though, you Texan!!

The main problem you have with that scenario is that, as I said
earlier, it's my ambition to one day have "enough" mud crab to eat so
that I can say "No more, thank you." Given my present *very* poor
supply of muddies, I can't guarantee there'll be any left for you. ;-)

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID