Cooking FROZEN crab.. meat sticking to shell - help?

[Rockfish]

I have over the years found that for me cooking and freezing in the shell is not the best way to go. If crab spends much time in the freezer it tends to dry out and reheating but whatever method seems to run the risk of over cooking and it tends to come out chewing and not all that tasty no matter what you do. It may be less of an issue if you are very careful about overcooking and not keeping it frozen for long.

If for some reason I have more crab than can be eaten fresh. I cook it, shell it, vacuum pack it (sometimes takes several sealing line efforts and wiping with paper towels because of the moisture to get a seal) then freeze it. When it is unthawed I usually use it to make crab cakes or corn and crab chowder. You can put it on a salad or in sandwiches put I find it is just not quite the same as fresh; but what seafood is.

All of this is done at my permanent place of residence. We do see a lot of guys take off the carapace and clean them at the dock cleaning station which we all know is not legal and the reason is obvious, because DFO can no longer measure and determine they are of legal size.

 

[Aces]

A lot of interesting responses to both the freezing and the means of transporting them legally.

I would argue that not being able to process the crabs ahead of time on a 5+ day trip is quite frankly ridiculous, and in regards to directmule's statement if an "ordinary residence" is my home 5 hours away and I'm at a hotel in Vancouver, and the DFO website does say "It is prohibited to have in one's possession shelled or shucked crab, except at a person's place of ordinary residence." (http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/species-especes/crab-crabe-eng.html), does that mean if I cooked up 2 crabs for myself and got full and saved 1 full crab as leftovers, I now have to throw it out into the garbage and waste a perfectly good crab into the garbage because a single technicality says I can't bring it home within the confines of the law? I think the term "ordinary residence" is used loosely on an individual basis, and more of a means to use it in court against obvious poaching. Like Sentinel said.. if everyone who is quoting the DFO page took it to be a literal translation of what it means by "ordinary residence", anyone who brought crab to a friends house would have to leave their portion of crab fully in tact, and if a claw or two broke off while you were cooking it, you best be throwing it in the garbage and not bringing it home.

Also, I see my hotel as being my ordinary residence when I'm down in Vancouver. I don't go to other places to stay - I go to my hotel, eat, sleep, and center my life there. It has BECOME my ordinary residence for the time being.

I'm sure DFO has better things to do than chase people who are within their crab limits/size/gender, who are cooking them up at a hotel instead of their house or condo in their home town.

Not taking offense to any of this, it's actually rather interesting to have a discourse about the wording on the website. I most definitely want to stay within the means of the law, but if using strict literal meanings of words, I would safely assume the majority of the members on this forum have technically committed a crime.

Also - many suggestions for quickly cooking crab for 5 minutes followed by freezing. Will definitely try this.

Sorry but i take offense to your casual attitude. After being in the business for over 30 years i can say that you are exactly the type of people DFO are looking for. Those restrictions are to stop people from keeping undersized crabs. You can't tell the size when they are cleaned. Oh and by the way is states explicitly that the house where you live (address on your driver's license) is your "permanent residence" and not a hotel, campsite, camper etc.

Sorry that you don't live close to the ocean but that was YOUR choice.

And for Sentinel....if you don't like our rules stay in Washington State

rant over

 

[Sentinel]

Gotta love the ole Interweb. Yep I think they ought to put out an APB for Coltlong for the heinous crime he has committed. If all your countrymen were wound as tight as you Fishtofino I might stay away, but I seem to get along famously with most I have encountered including enforcement. As for not liking your rules that won't keep me away, as we have as many or more inane rules here in WA and I seem to be able to coexist with them.

 

[coltong]

Sorry but i take offense to your casual attitude. After being in the business for over 30 years i can say that you are exactly the type of people DFO are looking for. Those restrictions are to stop people from keeping undersized crabs. You can't tell the size when they are cleaned. Oh and by the way is states explicitly that the house where you live (address on your driver's license) is your "permanent residence" and not a hotel, campsite, camper etc.

Sorry that you don't live close to the ocean but that was YOUR choice.

And for Sentinel....if you don't like our rules stay in Washington State

rant over

Well I hardly think I have a casual attitude towards it, it's obviously a big enough deal to be discussing. The rule is there for the butt-hole poachers to be prosecuted when they shuck undersized crabs on their boat or on the beach so DFO can't identify size. Even though again by technicality they could do it, the rule was NOT put in place for someone who has properly caught crabs in limits and size to be treated as a criminal because they cooked their crabs at a hotel.

Also could you provide me with the webpage that says it needs to be your drivers license address? (I'm sure it exists but I had a look and I can't find it) - I have tried calling DFO a few times today with no answer, I wouldn't mind seeing that before I call again.

 

[Califbill]

How do you cook and eat fresh crab at the campsite? Here in Californoa the crabs are required to be whole until landed. Fish police check us at the dock a lot of the time for limits, size, etc. once they are landed, they can still give a ticket for too many, size etc. but you can clean and cook fish in the parking lot. You can even filet rockfish on the water, but they must have the whole skin attached to the fish. Most leave a small 1" attachment point, and those with a size limit must have the filet the minimum size.

 

[Samnjoe]

You can absolutely cook crab in your campsite, in your RV, or in your boat while on a fishing trip.
Just keep the shell on until just before you cook it.
Had fisheries officers walk into our camp while eating crab a few times.
Not a problem.
Some on this site would have you believe you have to leave the shell on until it slides down your throat.

How do you cook and eat fresh crab at the campsite? Here in Californoa the crabs are required to be whole until landed. Fish police check us at the dock a lot of the time for limits, size, etc. once they are landed, they can still give a ticket for too many, size etc. but you can clean and cook fish in the parking lot. You can even filet rockfish on the water, but they must have the whole skin attached to the fish. Most leave a small 1" attachment point, and those with a size limit must have the filet the minimum size.

 

[OldShoreFisherman]

Coltong,

I've gotten lazy a couple of times (I'm not suggesting you're lazy lol!) and just cleaned and froze my crabs instead of steaming them for a few minutes before freezing them and, so far, I haven't encountered a problem with the meat sticking to the shell. I've got a half-dozen in the freezer right now that I've caught within the past week that I just froze without par-cooking and will be having for dinner in the next few days. If I have any problems, I'll go back to the tried and true method -- steam them for about four for five minutes, immediately cool them in an ice bath or just under cold running water, freeze them and then steam them for another five minutes when you take them out of the freezer. That works for me.

 

[trophy fisher]

From DFO's Shellfish - Species and Limits Table
In order to be accurately measured, the carapace of Dungeness crab and Red Rock crab that you catch must remain attached until the crab arrives at your residence or it is consumed.

Doesn't say you can't cook and eat it at the dock, or in your boat or in your camp site. I would even equate your hotel room to being your camp site. If you are going to transport them (take them home or to your campsite) they have to be transported whole (meaning with the carapace intact) so they can measure and identify sex of the crab.

That is my take in the regs and I think most on here would agree.

As for transporting them, I always try to transport live layered in wet towels in a cooler with ice on top. If you need to keep them alive for a time before you transport them get a Rubbermaid tote and an air bubbler. TF

 

[SpringVelocity]

Sorry for all of my crab posts lately, but I ran into a big problem

I decided to portion my crabs before transport and freeze them for the trip home. The freezing worked perfectly, (they didn't thaw at any point) and we boiled half of them up for 15 mins in a pot of water at a rolling boil, all of the crab meat stuck to the shell. Don't know what went wrong, anyone have ideas?

Key points:
Crabs were killed and portioned (so they did not die and the meat didn't go bad from the enzymes beforehand)
Crabs were frozen solid and never thawed during trip home
Crabs were cooked from raw
Crabs were cooked 15 mins in one batch and tried another for a 10 min batch. Both had meat stuck to shells
Crabs did not thaw prior to going in the pot (straight from frozen)


If you have any solution to this it would be much appreciated! Having another dinner soon for friends with the remaining crabs, hoping there is a way to get around this!

RE: Transportation of Crabs in pieces. You can't do that... It is illegal to do so and you risk a large fine. What Wolf and others have said is true.... They have to be whole so they can be checked if undersized..... There isn't away around this unless you want to change the regulations...

 

[wolf]

What part do you NOT understand?? the part that says you have to transport it back in one piece?? Im sorry but TOTALLY agree with FT on this one the rules are there to follow if you dont like it then save your money and dont come over and buy your crab at at market at granville.
This bending the rules cause I can things YES pisses us off I tell my cients take them back whole cooked and enjoy them when you get home FRESH is always better anyways....

why is this even a debate the rules are there.....FOR A REASON

 

[wolf]

) Resident: means, in respect of a licence, a person who has continuously had his main place of residence in a defined area for a period of not less than six months immediately preceding the time that residence becomes material for the purpose of licensing.


[h=2]Transporting Crab[/h]When transporting a recreationally-caught crab, the carapace (shell) must remain attached to the body of the crab until consumed or it arrives at a person's ordinary residence. It is prohibited to have shelled or shucked crab in your possession, except at your ordinary residence.
Possession of female crab is prohibited. All female crabs must be immediately returned to the water in a manner that causes the least possible harm.
Fish caught by an angler that is being prepared, cooked, or is partially consumed away from the angler's ordinary residence ( i.e. while staying at a camp ground, overnighting on a boat, residing at a hotel, etc.) is included as part of the fisher's possession limit. If you send your fish to a licensed fish processor it is still considered to count towards your possession limit. The amount of fish a person is preparing to consume cannot exceed the possession limit. The head and tail of all finfish and the carapace (shell) of any crab caught must be retained until the fish has been consumed.


HERE YA GO BLACK AND WHITE took me less than 5 mins to find

 

[Clint r]

We've hauled live crab back from the island a couple times. Layers of wet towels in a cooler worked for us. Normally we eat them as fast as we catch them. Kind of a change of topic but in the same vein, walking the docks in a couple coastal community's I saw milk crates full of crabs tied together and hanging from the dock. I asked somebody who told me they belonged to guides who were keeping them for customers. I'm not sure if that was legit or not but I thought it might not be totally legal. I don't know, it just seemed weird.

 

[Big Green Machine]

Doesn't it feel grand to be micromanaged?

The micro management came to be when people from other parts of BC, other Provinces, the States etc. brought freezers and generators to their campsites and hotels and processed their daily or possession limits during the course of their vacation. Or in the old days had canneries set up in their RVs to process. That was then and this is now, rules have to be followed.

If four guys from out of Province drive into Bamfield with a freezer and generator in the back of their truck, they can easily fill it with seafood on a two day fishing trip assuming limits are had by all four for Salmon and bottom fish, even shellfish, crab and prawns.

That is legal if they go 'home' to process afterwards. More power to them.

The problem is enforcement and trying to determine if what these guys are doing is the same thing as one or two anglers staying in a campground or hotel processing their catch after a two day possession is caught. It gets very complicated and that is why the rule is in place, to deal with rule breakers not the honest sport fisherman.

Sometimes a rule is in place to protect the resource, not to make it inconvenient.

Fishing is about the whole experience, not catching, but that's just me.

 

[seadna]

Here's a silly question (and by the way I agree with the idea that one needs to follow the rules that exist even if you don't agree with them) - Suppose I take my catch back to my place of residence exactly as prescribed. I then process it and vacuum pack it (fillets, crab meat whatever). Three weeks later, I have a planned fishing trip at a cabin in BC. I bring some of my vacuum packed catch from a previous trip with me to eat in the cabin. Is this legal? From what I read, yes. BUT how is DFO to determine when and where I vacuum packed that fish? Especially if I caught a similar fish at the cabin and I'm eating that fresh. (or change the word cabin to campsite).

 

[Big Green Machine]

Here's a silly question (and by the way I agree with the idea that one needs to follow the rules that exist even if you don't agree with them) - Suppose I take my catch back to my place of residence exactly as prescribed. I then process it and vacuum pack it (fillets, crab meat whatever). Three weeks later, I have a planned fishing trip at a cabin in BC. I bring some of my vacuum packed catch from a previous trip with me to eat in the cabin. Is this legal? From what I read, yes. BUT how is DFO to determine when and where I vacuum packed that fish? Especially if I caught a similar fish at the cabin and I'm eating that fresh. (or change the word cabin to campsite).

There is always going to be exceptions, I guess it comes down to how confidently you can convince the official of your situation. Pretty sure any right minded official will get a sense if you are poaching or not, they have their ways of figuring that out. If you feel they are unjust, you have recourse. We may be getting into the most commonly asked question, 'what if' and that will go on forever lol

 

[coltong]

Here's a silly question (and by the way I agree with the idea that one needs to follow the rules that exist even if you don't agree with them) - Suppose I take my catch back to my place of residence exactly as prescribed. I then process it and vacuum pack it (fillets, crab meat whatever). Three weeks later, I have a planned fishing trip at a cabin in BC. I bring some of my vacuum packed catch from a previous trip with me to eat in the cabin. Is this legal? From what I read, yes. BUT how is DFO to determine when and where I vacuum packed that fish? Especially if I caught a similar fish at the cabin and I'm eating that fresh. (or change the word cabin to campsite).

Once again, for the third or fourth time, by technicality, what you want to do would be illegal. There can't be any part of a crab separated that's not at your residence or being immediately consumed. I would go on the fact that you would be 99.9999% fine by doing this, but the folks on here will remind you how illegal it is