Trip Report Video- Sheep Crabs on a Banksboard

[kev the sea dog]

This was shot last Saturday.
Hope you like it!
I always wondered what I'd do with a huge crab after catching it...how would I secure it if it were too big for my bag. The bungie web system on the Banksboard held this beauty no problem!
Peace.
YouTube - Banksboards: Freediving for sheep crab

[robbiefischer]

how are they? saw a huge one today, wasnt sure if i should have taken it

[kev the sea dog]

Originally Posted by robbiefischer

how are they? saw a huge one today, wasnt sure if i should have taken it

They are very tasty! I think people are turned off by em cuz the've got all kinds of barnicles and algae growing on them. They look ugly, but are chalk full of good meat. One big crab will have about a solid pound of meat on it. Only thing is you gotta crack the shell with a hammer or rock cuz it's so thick.
Peace.

[unkabonka]

Interesting... I have always (erroneously) referred to them as spider crabs. So sheep crabs is what they are called... Never knew they could be good eating. Thanks for the post

[mshsu1]

Nice work! That's some good eating right there.

Ming

[de los muertos]

so tasty got to eat outside cuz you need a hammer to open em up

[Namor]

I always stuff them into my NHT bag. It can be a little tricky getting the bigger models in, but they always fit.

I havent found any locally this year. Im hoping they appear soon. The eggs make excellent caviar. Channel locks work better than a hammer.

Jeremy

[CB_Freeman]

Nice catch Kev!

[kev the sea dog]

Originally Posted by Namor

I always stuff them into my NHT bag. It can be a little tricky getting the bigger models in, but they always fit.

I havent found any locally this year. Im hoping they appear soon. The eggs make excellent caviar. Channel locks work better than a hammer.

Jeremy

Channel locks huh? I'll have to try that!
I fed 15 people at a party with crab cackes from the last one a buddy from the board kicked down. Looking foreward to Mexican seafood cocktales from this beast. Thanks for the props guys, it was a very fun dive.
Peace.

[scootz]

Awesome.

You'll have to include pics of how you did em' up.

Before and after pics are my favorite...

[kev the sea dog]

Originally Posted by scootz

Awesome.

You'll have to include pics of how you did em' up.

Before and after pics are my favorite...

Will do, I didn't photograph it, but just had a great crab omlet for breakfast.
MMMMM
Peace.

[Namor]

here is some info on extracting the meat from these crabs that i posted on another thread

Like anything if you know how to do it its not that hard to clean them properly.
The key is to take your time and do a through job so you dont ruin your meal with shell shrapnel in your crab cocktail.

When I take an animal I use every part of it. In my opinion if your just going to eat a small part of the animal its not really worth taking its life. I recognize that given the nature of commercial seafood and its wasteful nature this is illogical but thats my 2 cents.

Use clean channel locks, adjust them so they crack the shell but dont crush or pulverize it. I have kitchen shears that I use to cut open the body joints for access. I use a chopstick to push the meat out of every joint and pocket.

After cooking whole I pry away the shell from the body, slurp the juice, save as much goopy "crab butter" as I want and then rinse away the excess and remove the gills. I then refrigerate the bodies as the cold meat is easier to extract. Once the legs are cleaned I cut with kitchen shears through the joints horizontally and bisect the the body like cutting a bagel in half. This allows easy access to the plentiful and flavorful joint meat, which I remove with a chopstick. At every step work slowly and thoroughly to extract all the meat and avoid getting shell in it.

It is work but when Im done there is nothing but shell, gills and guts left. Its not unusual for me to get a packed quart or more (often a lot more) of clean tasty crab meat. Im eating crab cocktails with horseradish the size of a bowl of cereal for days, and crab sandwiches, and fried rice and omelets and tacos etc.

To make the caviar you remove the eggs before cooking the crab. Cut the small appendages that the eggs are attached to free of the abdomen. I then use boiling salt water to wash them and kill the parasites-(they will change color to orange) and then immerse them in cold sea salt brine made from good clean water. After soaking in the brine for about 20 min. I rinse them a little, dont remove all the salt as they need it as a preservative. I then press as much water out of the eggs as I can and while keeping them cool (place a plate on a block of ice) allow them to dry out. Then using a medium fine screen you remove the eggs from the appendages by rubbing them against the screen.

I just do all this to taste at this point, but you can look up how to make caviar from fish eggs and get the exact concentration for the brine if you need to

jeremy

[kev the sea dog]

Thanks Jeremy!
I had figured out the chopstick on my own, but the shears are brilliant!
I am a forager from birth so I really appreciate the input on the resourceful preservation and use of the whole animal.

Scootz: My wife-to-be is at yoga, so I decided to take the time and make a crab cocktail.
Photo 1 is the meat from the body of one crab, excluding legs (less some from morning omlet and two heaping tacos for lunch):
Photo 2 munchies about to be in my belly!
Peace.

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by kev the sea dog

Thanks Jeremy!
I had figured out the chopstick on my own, but the shears are brilliant!
I am a forager from birth so I really appreciate the input on the resourceful preservation and use of the whole animal.

Scootz: My wife-to-be is at yoga, so I decided to take the time and make a crab cocktail.
Photo 1 is the meat from the body of one crab, excluding legs (less some from morning omlet and two heaping tacos for lunch):
Photo 2 munchies about to be in my belly!
Peace.

Ummm, may I have some?

Nice video, and very nice crabs. That second one was a hog!

[Scuba Fever]

Them crabs good Eatin! Nice Job!