I really don't think they can rot sufficiently in the 30 seconds between death and the boiling water. :) If you Google "how to kill a crab", you'll find several methods of anesthetizing or euthanizing crabs before boiling, including:
* freezing (plastic bag, ~2 hours) or immersion in ice water before dropping in the pot (renders them unconscious before cooking) * cleaving down the middle with a sharp cleaver (destroys both centers of the nervous system) * euthanizing with an ice pick or screwdriver in one or two points beneath the carapace
I don't like the idea of boiling them alive either, even if they are essentially bugs — and even if it didn't bother me several authorities believe that it toughens the meat! So I read up on the knife-dispatch method, decided if I was gonna eat the things I could damn well have enough gonads to kill 'em myself, and did it. It wasn't hugely gory, either, so take heart :}
decided if I was gonna eat the things I could damn well have enough gonads to kill 'em myself, and did it.
Yep. Sing it. That's how I see it. Any squeamishness I might have comes from the imagined pain I might be causing. I'm all for doing the deed if it diminishes that pain (though I see from other comments that even said presence of pain is questionable).
Thanks for these; I'm going to keep this post for reference. ;-)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2007-09-08 07:16 pm (UTC)* freezing (plastic bag, ~2 hours) or immersion in ice water before dropping in the pot (renders them unconscious before cooking)
* cleaving down the middle with a sharp cleaver (destroys both centers of the nervous system)
* euthanizing with an ice pick or screwdriver in one or two points beneath the carapace
I don't like the idea of boiling them alive either, even if they are essentially bugs — and even if it didn't bother me several authorities believe that it toughens the meat! So I read up on the knife-dispatch method, decided if I was gonna eat the things I could damn well have enough gonads to kill 'em myself, and did it. It wasn't hugely gory, either, so take heart :}
no subject
Date: 2007-09-09 12:04 pm (UTC)Yep. Sing it. That's how I see it. Any squeamishness I might have comes from the imagined pain I might be causing. I'm all for doing the deed if it diminishes that pain (though I see from other comments that even said presence of pain is questionable).
Thanks for these; I'm going to keep this post for reference. ;-)