Box Crabs - Cleaning & Picking 101

So you've bought your first box crab, managed to cook it, and are now staring at a whole but fully cooked crab wondering what to do next.  This post is dedicated to cleaning and picking your crab to get the most out of your money.  Though this post features cleaning and picking a box crab, the general methodologies can be used for any crab.




Cleaning Box Crabs is relatively easy with high reward owing to the relatively thin shell and large chunks of meat.  However, for our picking efforts, we started off with a fork (because all of our knives were dirty), a claw cracker, kitchen shears, and a mallet.  Note that safety glasses are highly recommended while using the mallet.

 

Cleaning 101

Cleaning a Box Crab has five steps, which can really be applied to most crabs, as discussed below.

Step 1: Remove the Apron.  Flip it up with your thumb or knife and break off.

Step 2: Remove the Carapace.  The Carapace is the hard outer shell of the crab.  To remove, simply stick the knife through the opening where the apron was and pry off.











Step 3: Remove the Gills from both sides of the crab.  Gills are how the crab breathes.  They are spongy and inedible.

Step 4: Remove the Mandibles.  The mandibles includes all of the parts of the crab's mouth.  Crack them off and throw them away.

Step 5: Rinse all of the green/brown goop out of the shell, leaving only clean (white) meat and shell.

Picking 101

Picking a Box Crab is comparable with picking Alaskan King Crabs and Snow Crabs. The body contains relatively little meat (compared to the legs) - but this meat can largely be picked using your hands, a knife, or a fork.  The legs take a little more effort.  However, a few basic techniques will make this work go very quickly.

First things first, break the crab in half and remove the legs from the body.

 Next, separate the legs.

PICKING MEAT FROM THE BODY 

As mentioned, the meat in the Box Crab body can likely be picked using your hands, knife, or a fork.  The meat will be separated by thin shells.  If you're having a hard time breaking the shells with your hand, try your kitchen shears.

PICKING MEAT FROM THE LEGS & CLAWS

Whereas the body meat of box crab is sparse, the let meat is plentiful.  Ingrid and I have found a few basic methods suitable for quickly breaking down a box crab, as discussed below.

Technique No. 1 - Kitchen Shears:  A lot of the leg shell is thin enough to be cut through with kitchen shears.  In this case, cut into the leg and use your fingers to pry apart the shell.  Use your fingers, a knife, or a fork to dig out the meat.






















Technique No. 2 - Crab Cracker:  The shells that are too hard to be cut through with kitchen shears easily succumb to crab crackers (any sort of leverage tool, like a nut cracker, will work).  Crack open the shell, and dig out the meat. 

Technique No. 3 - Mallet:  We found this technique worked best for the claws.  Hit the claws with the mallet to crack the shell and extract the meat with fingers, a knife, or a fork.

Box Crabs - Cooking (Steaming) 101

Cooking box crabs is comparable to cooking any other large crab.  Unfortunately, most people (myself included) was not familiar with how cook king crabs, as the typical American grocery store versions are frozen and previously cooked.

The most important item for cooking king crabs is having a big enough pot.  At the beginning of our whole crab cooking experience, we went out and purchased a 24 quart canning pot.  However, any pot large enough to fit your crabs will work.  Next comes the dirty work.

Step 1:  Put your crabs in the freezer for a minimum of 15 minutes.  This step is not absolutely necessary but is generally considered a humane step (by numbing the crabs just before their steam bath).

Step 2:  While your crabs are in the freezer, put enough water into your pot until it is 1/2" deep.  Put on the stove and bring to a boil.

Step 3:  Move your crabs directly from the freezer to the pot.  Put the lid on the pot and set the timer.  How long to cook your crabs depends on their weight.  A good rule of thumb is to cook your crabs for 8 minutes per average weight of each crab.  For example, one crab that weighs 3 pounds should be steamed for 24 minutes (8 minutes per pound * 3 pounds = 24 minutes).  However if you have two crabs, one that weighs 2 pounds, one that weighs 3 lbs, they should be steamed for 20 minutes (8 minutes per pound * ((2 pounds + 3 pounds)/2 crabs) = 20 minutes).

Step 4:  Once the crabs have finished cooking, allow them to cool to the touch before cleaning and picking. 

Box Crabs - The First Taste

Brown Box Crab - Caught near the Channel Islands

This past weekend at the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market we picked up some box crabs (our second box crab experience.  Box crabs are relatively pricey for crabs at the market, hitting $8.00 per pound.  However I will note that this price still seems good for crab.

Box crabs are a species of king crab and have sizable legs with large chunks of meat.  Brown box crabs are able to fold their legs in close to their body, in an almost perfect fit, leading to their common name.  They also have a unique circular opening in their claws that may help them feed.  The Box Crab is found from the coast of Alaska down to San Diego but is not widely marketed in southern California.

Since we have been visiting the fish market, Box Crabs have been a staple and should be available year round in San Diego.  The crabs available at the market were caught by trap off of the channel islands.  We ended up buying two spider crabs for dinner.  As soon as we got home from the market, we threw the crabs in the freezer for a humane numbing before their steam bath.  Our crabs averaged just under three pounds each, so after a twenty-two minute steam - eight minutes per pound (average weight of each crab) - and a quick cool down, Ingrid got down to picking the meat. 

It took about a half hour for Ingrid to pick the two crabs - again, Ingrid is an expert crab picker - and we came away with a pound and a half of meat, which put us at just under $30 per pound for actual meat.  The cooked meat, without accoutrement, is sweet and satisfying - on par with Alaskan King Crab.  Adding Old Bay seasoning (a Maryland Blue Crab Tradition), butter, and/or lemon, provided a little variety to the tasting.  Old Bay and butter was my preferred preparation.  Picking the meat was fairly comparable to picking Alaskan King Crab Legs, though with a few more sharp spines to watch out for.  All in all, our first few experiences with box crabs have been amazing.  I am at a loss as to why these crabs are not more widely available in grocery stores, which seem to only have king crab legs and snow crab legs shipped in from afar.  Abundant, relatively easy to catch (so we are told), tasty, and easy to pick. 

To read a 1992 report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Box Crab, click here.