Raw crab?

damian · Post by **damian** » Sat 03 May 2008 19:18

Is it okay to eat dungeoness crab raw? I've always loved dungeoness crab, and I can buy live, locally caught dungeoness (or catch it myself) in my area.

The only things I could find on the internet are:

1. You can get dangerous parasites from eating freshwater crab (e.g., river crab), but I've read that saltwater animals, like dungeoness crab, are generally safe.

2. In some Asian countries, raw crab is sometimes served marinated. But I couldn't find anything on raw unmarinated crab.

damian · Post by **damian** » Sat 03 May 2008 19:19

Actually, I'm not just wondering whether you can eat dungeoness crab raw. I'm also wondering whether it tastes good

damian · Post by **damian** » Sun 04 May 2008 19:35

One more thing:

Assuming raw, unadulterated crab tastes good (or maybe I just need to find this out for myself) and is safe to eat (I'd like to verify this beforehand), how should I go about killing the crab so as to minimize suffering to the crab as well as to myself?

With a cooked crab, the first thing I do is to pull of the "tail" and then the top. This seems like a rather cruel thing to do to a live crab, but perhaps it's the least cruel way. It seems a lot less cruel and a lot safer to me than it would be to start by tearing off the claws. Probably the most humane way would be to chop it in half with a meat cleaver, but then the entrails (the tastiest part, in my opinion) would spill all over and get mixed with the shell.

Sorry if this grosses anyone out

Post by **Oscar** » Tue 06 May 2008 10:57

No idea

But keep us posted

YouTube · Post by **RRM** » Wed 07 May 2008 20:46

If you can eat it raw, the japanese will definitely do so, so all you need to do is look it up 'in the japanese cuisine'...

avo · Post by **avo** » Sun 21 Dec 2008 05:28

Raw lobster is available in both Japanese and Korean cuisine... and can commonly be found in those respective upscale restaurants. Quite delicious and fairly expensive. Frequently the muscle tissue is still 'alive' or 'dancing,' and many pay extra for this spectacle. In order for the lobsters to be served like this, they are killed to order.

Raw crab seems much more rare, absent from most menus that I've seen so far, although it technically is considered edible among the 'weirder' Korean foodists. I've heard of particularly dangerous lung-targeting parasites in raw crab meat, and that it isn't very tasty either, and therefore heavily seasoned or marinated.

summerwave · Post by **summerwave** » Sun 21 Dec 2008 14:32

You can eat raw crab very easily in China; it is marinated in a sweet-tasting high-content alcohol while under refrigeration for weeks.

It is delicious.

The alcohol is supposed to take care of disinfection. It is called Drunken Crab, of course.

YouTube · Post by **RRM** » Mon 22 Dec 2008 19:26

Thank you!

summerwave · Post by **summerwave** » Tue 07 Jul 2009 01:35

If you crack one open that has eggs, the eggs have marinated in the sweet alcohol too, to a sort of undifferentiated, gel-like mass.

Appearance aside:

Even more delicious (than the flesh in the legs; elsewhere)...

Post by **Oscar** » Tue 07 Jul 2009 10:34

Drunken Eggs??

summerwave · Post by **summerwave** » Tue 07 Jul 2009 12:10

Drunken baby crabs.

Shanghainese have all the good recipes.

summerwave · Post by **summerwave** » Sat 11 Jul 2009 14:52

I often wish for culinary training that would advance this diet for me, such as training in sashimi preparation (for non-farmed fish) or training in this crab recipe! I imagine the alcohol, though not really part of the Wai diet, could make a lot of raw seafoods like this more possible, or easier to preserve/keep on hand.