Freezing crab meat?

[scotsman]

We got  our limit of Dungies yesterday. I have the crabs cleaned and cooked and would like to freeze some of the meat. Any suggestions of how to keep the meat from getting soggy? I dont have a vacuum packer.

Thx!

[Woodchuck]

Buy one or borrow one. You need to get the air out to keep frost off of it. 

[gilroym]

Fill your sink with water and put the meat in zip-lock bags with the zipper open push the back into the water as close to the edge as you can then zip it shut. Then roll it up and tap it together. Then wrap it in freezer paper. Most efficient way to do it without a vac sealer, but I also would recommend investing in as it saves the food much better.

[NRA4LIFE]

The following is if you don't plan to eat it in the next month or 2.  If not vacuum packed, I would suggest getting all the meat out of the shells and freeze it in water.  Vacuum packing the cleaned meat is the only way I freeze it now.  I have tried everything known to mankind over 13 years and this seems the best.

If you plan to eat them in the next couple months, you can freeze the uncleaned leg/body clusters in ziplocks and freeze them and they should be OK.

[Shannon]

Freezing shelled crab in zip lock bags in whole milk actually does a great job. I heard about this a few years ago from an old timer and it works great.

[sockeye66]

Freezing shelled crab in zip lock bags in whole milk actually does a great job. I heard about this a few years ago from an old timer and it works great.

fully agree

[pianoman9701]

You can freeze them whole-cooked, in sections, just the meat. Here's a good page for you. http://www.crab-o-licious.com/how-to-freeze-crab.html

[CaNINE]

Alaska trick:  You only want to cook about half way before you freeze - vacuum seal.  Thaw and finish cooking.

[gaddy]

Are you guys boiling or steaming? Had a friend that would halve them, boil them and then freeze. Worst crab i ever ate after only two weeks. My brother would steam whole in salt water, clean and halve, and then freeze in the shell.
Not too much flavor loss and when thawed you get to bust the shells, not bad at all. My self, I wish I had the problem of how to freeze crab.

[kball4]

We always pick the crab then just freeze the meat or make crab cakes and then freeze them.

[jagermiester]

What about canning? Never done it but seems like a good idea.

[jamesfromseattle]

I've had much better results picking and freezing. As suggested, vac pac is best but cling wrap and zip lock works for a few weeks. Once it's frozen the texture changes so it isn't great for eating straight out of the shell, so I only use frozen crab for crab cakes. Therefore, my opinion is that there is no benefit to freeze it in the shell because I would eventually pick it all to put in crab cakes anyways.

[NRA4LIFE]

Jager,

We tried canning it once.  No good as it turned out real bitter tasting for some reason and had a weird consistency.  We ended up throwing it all out.

[Stein]

I've tried every method of freezing except the milk one and they all come out dry and nasty even after a short period of time.  Shell on, shell off, whole, parts, cooked, half cooked, it all didn't work for me.

The only way I will preserve crab is by canning.  It isn't same day fresh, but works great in dips and other recipes where you mix it with stuff.  I used the basic recipe that came with my canner.

[Chad Osterholtz]

I agree with freezing it in milk, been crabbing for years and this is hands down the best way to freeze it. Cover it ALL with whole milk, ZipLock it and freeze it. When you thaw it out, rinse it and it's good as new.