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Crab Meat

Canned crab meat prepared by boiling live crabs, rinsing, brining, packing in cans, and pressure processing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Crab Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the crab

  1. Dissolve 1 lb baking soda in water in a large pot and bring to a rolling boil.

  2. Add the live crabs and cook for 20 minutes.

  3. Discard the foam and drain the cooking liquid.

  4. Rinse the crabs with cold water and pick the meat, avoiding shell pieces.

  5. Wash the picked meat in a brine made from 1 lb salt in 12½ gallons water.

  6. Drain the meat and pack it into enameled or parchment-lined cans.

Seal and process

  1. Cap the cans, leaving a small hole open, and exhaust No. 1 cans for 8 minutes and No. 2 cans for 10 minutes.

  2. Close the hole and process No. 1 cans for 20 minutes at 240°F, then 10 minutes at 260°F.

  3. After processing, cool the cans with a stream of cold water without opening them.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Crab meat
Forms the main body of the canned product, so its quality sets the final texture.
Baking soda
Raises the cooking liquid's pH, which helps loosen shell and firm the meat during the initial boil.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the picked meat in the brine wash, adding flavor and helping it hold moisture.

The step that matters

Close the hole and process the cans. Processing at the stated temperatures and times is what makes the sealed cans safe for shelf storage. Under-processing can leave surviving microorganisms, so the times should not be shortened.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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