# Rock Crab



## Timothy (Jul 12, 2011)

I have a question for those who are familiar with "rock crab". I've never tried it before, but here in Florida, in the USA, it's about half the cost of the "Snow Crab" that is common.

My question is; what do you do with it and how is it eaten usually? I can see that each cluster is much smaller and compact than snow crab is, but do you eat it the same way? Does it taste similar to snow crab?

I'm interested, because I love the snow crab, but can't afford to eat it very often due to the price per/pound being 7-10 dollars. That's more than most of my food costs.

Thanks for any help offered!


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## victoriabc (Jul 12, 2011)

Maybe someone in your area will have to help you. We have rock crab here in Nanaimo, BC Canada and I caught some one day. To me, I find it doesn't have much taste to it compared to the dungeness and king crab we get out here. I see there are quite a few recipes in the internet made with rock crab.


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## Timothy (Jul 12, 2011)

Thanks for the reply, Victoria! I may just buy some and give it a go! I'll learn as I eat!


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## Bolas De Fraile (Jul 13, 2011)

Tim does it look like this one, I looked on the internet and the pics for a Rock Crab looked the same


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## Snip 13 (Jul 13, 2011)

I'm not an expert on crab by any means! But I have had rock crab a few times. My brother cooked it, just boiled and served with garlic and lemon butter and crisp baguettes  Delicious!


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## Timothy (Jul 13, 2011)

Bolas De Fraile said:


> Tim does it look like this one, I looked on the internet and the pics for a Rock Crab looked the sameView attachment 11476


 
Hi Bolas De Fraile, it's good to meet you. The rock crab is sold here as only clusters. The main body of the crab is no longer there, so I have no idea what it looked like when whole. The clusters are about half the size of those which are harvested from Blue Crab or Snow Crab. WAY smaller than King Crab. They are sold already cooked, as are the other types sold here. The only live crab I've eaten are Blue Crab that I have caught myself here. They are delicous, but I no longer go to catch them.

I think I will try these by heating them and picking them as I do when I eat Blue Crab. It looks as though it may be the same, only with tighter clusters.

Thank you for helping!


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## Timothy (Jul 13, 2011)

Snip 13 said:


> I'm not an expert on crab by any means! But I have had rock crab a few times. My brother cooked it, just boiled and served with garlic and lemon butter and crisp baguettes  Delicious!


I am only an expert at eating crab meat! haha

I've never used garlic in the butter served with crab! It sounds like it would taste very good. I think I'll try that as well! How much garlic to how much butter do you prefer to use?

I love to pick the Blue Crab meat from the clusters and then mix it into a fresh salad with tomatoes, carrots and cucumber. Topped with a drizzle of warmed butter, it is a salad to remember!

I'm going to buy some of the rock crab today and try it this evening after it thaws from being frozen. I eat it cold usually, because it has already been cooked and frozen. I've found that it is better to just thaw it in cold water and then use it on a salad or in a cream sauce served over freshly toasted muffins.

This will be an adventure! I'll report back after having my belly filled with yummy!


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## Snip 13 (Jul 13, 2011)

Timothy said:


> I am only an expert at eating crab meat! haha
> 
> I've never used garlic in the butter served with crab! It sounds like it would taste very good. I think I'll try that as well! How much garlic to how much butter do you prefer to use?
> 
> ...



I use 2 crushed cloves for every 100 grams of butter roughly and the juice of one lemon  We eat most fish with this and sometimes add chilies


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## powerplantop (Jul 13, 2011)

Timothy said:


> Hi Bolas De Fraile, it's good to meet you. The rock crab is sold here as only clusters. *The main body of the crab is no longer there,* so I have no idea what it looked like when whole. The clusters are about half the size of those which are harvested from Blue Crab or Snow Crab. WAY smaller than King Crab. They are sold already cooked, as are the other types sold here. The only live crab I've eaten are Blue Crab that I have caught myself here. They are delicous, but I no longer go to catch them.
> 
> I think I will try these by heating them and picking them as I do when I eat Blue Crab. It looks as though it may be the same, only with tighter clusters.
> 
> Thank you for helping!


 
Usually one of the pichers is taken off and the crab are put back into the ocean.


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## spork (Jul 13, 2011)

How'd it go, Timothy?

I'm taken back to a time when I lived along the northern California coast...  a working musician friend of mine would call me on any weekend nights off, and we'd be up half the night dockside with our crab traps, trading harmonica riffs.  As long as they had a pair, we'd snip one pincer to put on ice and toss all the rock crabs back.  The biggest one of the night, I'd keep to boil or steam whole.  If a legal dungeness ever fell for one of our traps though, we would dual each other with a couple 12-bar solos.  Sometimes, he'd even concede me winner of the crustacean out of pity.

The frozen rock crabs we get at our local market are all claws.  They're okay, but I prefer clusters of snow.


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## Bolas De Fraile (Jul 14, 2011)

Timothy are the clusters the crabs claw?


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## Snip 13 (Jul 14, 2011)

Bolas De Fraile said:


> Timothy are the clusters the crabs claw?



I googled it, apparently it's all the sections of edible meat on the crab. Legs and claws sold in clusters.


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## justplainbill (Jul 14, 2011)

Guess it depends on the species of crab, but we get more meat from the bodies than from the legs and claws.


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## Timothy (Jul 14, 2011)

That sounds delicous! I'm trying it on the next batch!


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## Timothy (Jul 14, 2011)

powerplantop said:


> Usually one of the pichers is taken off and the crab are put back into the ocean.


 
Here, they do that by law with only "Stone Crab". "Rock Crab" and "Stone Crab" are two different kinds however. Stone Crab have one tiny claw that is left on the crab and one claw that looks like it's from a prehistoric monster. The only part that can be legally eaten from a Stone Crab is the large claw. It grows back.


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## Timothy (Jul 14, 2011)

spork said:


> How'd it go, Timothy?
> 
> I'm taken back to a time when I lived along the northern California coast... a working musician friend of mine would call me on any weekend nights off, and we'd be up half the night dockside with our crab traps, trading harmonica riffs. As long as they had a pair, we'd snip one pincer to put on ice and toss all the rock crabs back. The biggest one of the night, I'd keep to boil or steam whole. If a legal dungeness ever fell for one of our traps though, we would dual each other with a couple 12-bar solos. Sometimes, he'd even concede me winner of the crustacean out of pity.
> 
> The frozen rock crabs we get at our local market are all claws. They're okay, but I prefer clusters of snow.


I got side-tracked last night and actually ended up stopping at a Burger King and eating a nasty burger! Ha! Shame on me! I was showing my two websites to some folks and got tied up until much later than I intended. It was a friendly meeting with drinks...too many drinks..., and the time just slid away. I'm going to pick up some Rock Crabs this evening and eat them! I'll let you know how they turn out!

(My sites are a Hydroponic vegetable gardening site and a Florida Interest site. I'm not going to put the links here as that would be like spamming. PM me if you'd like to visit them sometime.)


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## Timothy (Jul 14, 2011)

Bolas De Fraile said:


> Timothy are the clusters the crabs claw?


Yes, it's the claw and the "shoulder" meat. Looks just like a snow crab cluster, but much smaller and tighter. I'll snap a picture of one tonight  before attacking it, and post it here. haha


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## Bolas De Fraile (Jul 14, 2011)

OK I would the gently crack the shell of the claws, heat some oil in a wok fry some ginger then garlic add some yellow bean paste fry till it smells good , add the claws and fry, add chicken stock,rice wine,soy sauce, sliced chili, tomato sauce, fish sauce, sugar and quartered toms, cook for about 5 mins, add a bit of corn starch if the sauce is thin


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## Timothy (Jul 14, 2011)

Bolas De Fraile said:


> OK I would the gently crack the shell of the claws, heat some oil in a wok fry some ginger then garlic add some yellow bean paste fry till it smells good , add the claws and fry, add chicken stock,rice wine,soy sauce, sliced chili, tomato sauce, fish sauce, sugar and quartered toms, cook for about 5 mins, add a bit of corn starch if the sauce is thin


 
Holy Cooked Crab-meat Batman! That sounds really good! I've never used bean paste. Do you make it or buy it? Maybe serve this over rice? Man oh man, you made my mouth water!


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## Bolas De Fraile (Jul 15, 2011)

I use ready made yellow bean paste, its also very good in chicken and cashew.


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## Timothy (Jul 16, 2011)

I finally tried the Rock Crab!

I ate it with only "Old Bay" seasoning and melted butter as a dip.

It was as sweet as "Snow Crab" "King Crab" or "Blue Crab", but much stronger in flavor than any of them. The crab flavor was outstanding!

However, the quantity of meat in relation to trash was much worse than any other type. The claw meat was the same in difficulty and easy to eat. Only the meat in the largest of the leg sections was worth picking, and the meat that is within the cluster itself was much more difficult to pick, and the small pockets were hard to open without crushing them. 

All in all:

Taste: 100%
Claw meat, ease of eating: 100%
Leg meat, ease of eating: 50%
Cluster meat, ease of eating: 10%

I doubt I'll ever eat this type of crab again. It's simply not worth the effort in the outcome of meat vs. work to get it.

My favorite crab is Blue crab for flavor, King crab of ease of eating. I can catch my own Blue crab easily, and King Crab is out of my price range.

An end to another food experiment!


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