Dungeness crab, canned vs frozen in milk?

[syoungs]

Fixing to make my annual trip to the columbia bar for crabbing.

There will be 6-9 of us crabbing over a 4 day period, and we always end up with a ton of crab. Usually I freeze whole, and try to use it up in a timely manner, but this year I want to try something different to extend the shelf life a bit.

I considered canning a bunch of the meat in pint jars, or possibly freezing the crab meat in whole milk, then vacuum sealing. The freezing method sure seams like it would be easy compared to canning.

Is there a huge quality difference between the 2 preservation methods? I have freezer space, and would likely use everything in a 6 month window. Being shelf stable isnt as important to me.

For those of you that have tried both methods, what would you do?

[Stein]

Canned for sure.  I've tried freezing them whole, shucked, vac packed, in milk and probably several I forgot about and all the frozen stuff turned out horrible.  Canned is ok, great for dip, stew or for people that don't know what it tastes like fresh.   

[fishngamereaper]

Haven't had much luck with anything that's any good beyond 2-3 months.
Canned crab for me was just weird.
Now we just make a ton of crab patties and vac seal them for easy grab and heat meals.

[bigdub257]

Haven't had much luck with anything that's any good beyond 2-3 months.
Canned crab for me was just weird.
Now we just make a ton of crab patties and vac seal them for easy grab and heat meals.

I've found this to be the best method also.  Patially freeze before vac packing.  Do a lot of this with salmon as well.

[syoungs]

Haven't had much luck with anything that's any good beyond 2-3 months.
Canned crab for me was just weird.
Now we just make a ton of crab patties and vac seal them for easy grab and heat meals.

care to share a recipe thats good?

[fishngamereaper]

Haven't had much luck with anything that's any good beyond 2-3 months.
Canned crab for me was just weird.
Now we just make a ton of crab patties and vac seal them for easy grab and heat meals.

care to share a recipe thats good?

I don't write down many methods to my madness
Basically cook crab.
Saute some onions and garlic.
Mix in with crab in a bowl, add some salt, pepper, couple eggs, a little mayo, spicy mustard and some panko so it holds a ball shape
Drop in a fry pan with oil and flatten into a patty..
Or deep fry in the ball form
Let cool
And whatever I can't eat in one sitting sits in the fridge overnight then vac sealed the next day .

Lots of variations but that's kinda my go to flavors.

[opdinkslayer]

Freezing in milk works for a short period of time but I agree with others here that canned or frozen crab isn’t that great. Never tried the frozen cakes or balls but our crab is usually devoured before making it to cake form

[Huckleberry]

Shuck, vacuum seal then add to chowder, pasta sauces, crab cakes, and dip. It's not as good as fresh but is a very quick and easy alternative especially during the closed season. Stacked well it will last 6 months and gets you through winter/spring. Everyone I know that crabs a lot doesn't do anything different. Nobody seems to turn it down when hosting either.

[RB]

Cook it, shuck it, measure out a pound, roll tight in a couple layers of plastic wrap, and vacuum seal. As everyone else has said it is not real good plain, but mixes well in whatever you want to make. Will last several months this way. my