Fried Crab – Jonah, Dungeness or Blue Crabs

The Best Fried Crab

Fried Crab can be found all over the world. Traditionally, it’s usually soft shell crab, like blue crabs, that are fried but the truth is, you can fry just about anything. Most of my experience with Fried Crabs have been at buffets and Cajun restaurants in the south. It’s real popular to put the majority of the breading over the meat from the body of the crab. I think mostly because the meat is already exposed, once the cavity shell has been removed, and you just sink your teeth right in and get a bight.

Jonah Fried Crab Recipe

Normally, for this Fried Crab recipe, I would use soft shell crabs but they aren’t available to me right now, unfortunately. I did find some Jonah crabs, however, which are the East coasts answer to the West’s Dungeness Crab. They’re typically a little bit smaller than the Dungeness and therefore a little cheaper as well. I picked up these two bad boys for just under $7 bucks. So you really can’t go wrong picking up a half dozen or so for frying.

Also, if you’re interested, be sure to check out a few relatable recipes I think you’ll enjoy. My King Crab Legs tutorial is phenomenal because I teach you how to peal the legs so quickly that your mouth never stops chewing between bites. My Stuffed Lobster recipe is one of the most amazing dish’s you’ll ever lay your eyes on; also incredible. And my Thai Red Curry Shrimp Recipe is easy and it’s to die for.

Fried Crab Ingredients:

6 to 8 Whole Crabs
1 stick Melted Butter
1 Garlic Clove, chopped

Egg Wash
1 egg
2 tbs milk
2 tbs Hot Sauce

Dry Mix
1/2 cup Plain Bread Crumbs
1/4 cup Potato or Corn Starch
1 1/2 tsp Crab Boil Seasoning

Oil for frying

Cook at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for only 2 to 3 minutes and enjoy your Fried Crab.

Seafood and Crab

Seafood and Crab Everything!

If you don’t know or haven’t realized by now, Seafood and Crab can go with just about anything. You can find it in Sushi, Cold Noodle Salads, Cheese Dips for chips or crackers and Sub Sandwich’s like the photo I’ve got here in this article. The list goes on and on. Of course it isn’t real Crab Meat though either. It’s made from imitation crab which consists of mostly Alaskan Pollock, egg whites and red food coloring. I guess the Pollock is what classifies it as “Seafood” even though there isn’t any real crab. But the recipe for Seafood and Crab is not so confusing and serves as the basic front line for dozens of other recipes to boot. Here I make a real basic sub sandwich that would normally have Tomatoes, Banana Peppers and olives on it as well if I were using a bigger loaf. But I use the basics just to show you how you can still get your fix by just using a few ingredients.

Seafood and Crab Ingredients:

2 cups Imitation Crab meat
2 chopped Green Onions
1 chopped Garlic Clove
1 cup Mayonnaise
1 tbsp Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Just mix all the ingredients together at once in one bowl and add the Seafood and Crab to your favorite recipe or dish.

Cooking King Crab Legs

The Best King Crab Legs

The thing about King Crab Legs, or any crab legs for that matter, is that they are already cooked when you buy them. I know, Shocker, right? So all we need to do is reheat them and you just need to choose the method you’d like to prepare them. Steaming is an easy way if you have a big enough pot that can be covered with a lid. A few inches of boiling water in the bottom will get them done in about 4 minutes. Just make sure that you get the water to a rolling boil before you actually add the King Crab Legs. Most people don’t realize that you can actually cheat and take it a step further; you can usually have them steamed at the place of purchase when you are buying them. Of course this means you need to be picking them up at meal time but if you’re waiting on the oven for bake potatoes, a quick trip to the grocery is perfect for that waiting time; just a suggestion.

Be Careful Grilling King Crab Legs

Grilling King Crab Legs leaves people oohing and awing every time you flip open the lid, but you need to be very careful not to dry them out. Even though you tend to gain the Smokey flavor of the grill, you lose the natural flavors of the crab meat. Remember this is just a reheat anyway so you don’t want them on the grill for too long. 10 minutes on low with the lid down, tops!

The oven will have a similar effect that grilling does if you don’t cover up the Crab Legs. It will dry them out, and you will lose flavor. The way I show you how to cook them in this tutorial is on a broiler pan covered with tin foil. The reason I do it this way is because you get the best of both worlds. By adding a half cup of water to the pan you get the steaming effect with convection as the heat rises from underneath the King Crab Legs, then the heat reflects off the foil, cooking the top. It’s win-win.

You can do a reheat in the microwave, but I don’t recommend it. In fact I don’t recommend that any meat go in the microwave for a reheat, EVER! I’ll get into that at later time.

King Crab Legs and Santolla Reds

Now, the crab legs that I’m introducing are not your traditional King Crab Legs. These are called Santolla Reds. The reason I’m using these instead of the other is they are practically the same thing. First off, they are almost exactly the same size; same look and everything that way. The only difference that I’ve noticed is they are a little bit saltier, so I just use unsalted butter. Second, it’s about the cost. I wouldn’t be living up to my reputation as the Poor Man’s Gourmet Kitchen showing you recipes at “A Low Budget Wonder”, if I was showing off recipes that aren’t affordable. Santolla Reds, if you can find them, are usually at least half the price of regular King Crab Legs. I can pick them up at Smith’s right now, for $6.99 a pound, and that’s year ‘round! Try getting more than a pound and a half of king crab legs at any restaurant these days for under $26 bucks! It’s worth doing it at home, and worth knowing a few tricks to cooking King Crab Legs and other gourmet meals at a low budget wonder.