Soft Shell Crabs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean and prepare the live crabs.
Place crabs in wire baskets and cook as you would hard crabs.
Can in brine
For canning, fill cans with hot brine, cap, tip, and process: Half No. 1 cans for 15 minutes at 240°F (115°C), then 8 minutes at 250°F (120°C); No. 1 cans for 20 minutes at 240°F (115°C), then 10 minutes at 250°F (120°C); No. 2 cans for 35 minutes at 240°F (115°C), then 15 minutes at 250°F (120°C).
Can in fat or oil
Alternatively, plunge cleaned crabs in boiling oil or lard for 5 minutes.
Pack crabs in cans, fill with hot fat or oil to create a 'bed,' cap, tip, and process as above.
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
- Live soft shell crabs
- The main ingredient, cooked whole so the soft shell becomes tender and edible.
- Salt
- Seasons the crab and firms its flesh during brining before canning.
- Boiling oil or lard
- Heat transfer medium that cooks the crab quickly and gives it a rich, fried flavor.
The step that matters
Following the processing times for each can size. Heat must penetrate the crab fully to make canned product safe. Time and temperature for each can size work together, so shortening either can leave the center underprocessed.
“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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