Leftover crab

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JGDean

Sous Chef
Joined
May 7, 2006
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543
Location
Northwest Florida
I cleaned out my freezer yesterday and found several large bags of crab legs/claws. I boiled them in craboil and water. Now I have all of this leftover crab. Do you have any ideas on how to utilize it other than the quintessential crab cakes or salad?
 
Add it to gumbo at the last minute. Use in crab salad, crab dip, or seafood pasta. There's crab bisque, corn & crab chowder, crab Rangoon, crab-stuffed mushrooms, fish stuffed with crab dressing...
 
What a predicament to be in - have fun!!

this is delicious -
mini-phyllo tart shells
combine some of your crabmeat with gr. onions and cream cheese.
Spoon this mixture in the tart shells and top with cranberry sauce.
Bake in ~350-375 F. oven for about 10 min.

(bet you can't eat just one!)
 
Mix some with a little Creme Fraiche, fresh chives, black pepper, and serve with crackers.
A hot crab dip, and serve with toasted pita points.
Crab Alfredo.
Cajun stuffed crabs.
Crab Stuffed steaks.

I could go on, as I have lots of recipes, but many of the basic themes are the same, and some of those ideas have been posted by other people.

Personally, I like to use leftover crab for gumbo, as Constance mentioned.
 
I never had that problem. How about a good cracker spread? Here is a good recipe.

CRAB CRACKER SPREAD
2-8oz cream cheese, softened
2/3 cups real mayonnaise
2 tsp prepared mustard
2 tsp horseradish
2 Tbsp dried minced onions
2 tsp seasoned salt
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
Pinch of salt
Lemon juice
2-6oz cans crab meat, drained and checked for shells.
Pinch of garlic powder.
Rich round crackers

Mix well first nine ingredients in a bowl.
Add dash of garlic powder.
Fold in drained crab meat. Mix thoroughly.
Taste and correct seasoning.
Chill covered overnight.
Enjoy
 
What kind of crab are we talking about here?

Blue crab? Alaskan King? Dungeness?


If you've got a ton of king crab lying around, I echo the sentiment to just eat it as-is, maybe with a hint of melted truffle butter if you want to jazz it up.

Likewise, if you've got a lot of Dungeness crab claws lying around, I'd just serve them over ice, accompanied by something pucker-inducing, like a good strong horseradish sauce or other bitter item.


Being from Maryland, I see no end to the uses of surplus blue crab, although it's unfortunately not a conundrum I run into very often.

Off the cuff, if I had it lying around *today*, this is what I'd try with it. Note that I have NOT ever tried/eaten this before, use at own risk:

-Make batch of Parmesan crisps
-Slice some good flavorful ham (or open a package, if slicer-deprived, like me)
-Toss crabmeat in a bit of lemon juice, fresh tarragon, finely diced onion, tartar sauce, melted butter, coarse salt & pepper, Worcestershire, and paprika. (ALWAYS taste mixture before committing primary ingredient to it, in this case, the crab)

Lay thin strip of ham on Parmesan crisp, add dollop of crab mixture, and serve.


Now, I'm a wacko with my eye-droppers in the kitchen, and I'd probably go adding a droplet or two of either something sweet (Grand Mariner) or something bitter (Red Scottish Ale) to the top of each.....crab thing. I'm also nuts, so no need for you to do this.
 
I read this wrong. I thought you boiled them after you got the legs out of the freezer. Surely they were cooked before they were frozen.

Confused again! :rolleyes:

LOL, I've never had that problem, either. Our crab is always finished.
 
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