Smoked crab?


 
M

Mark D

TVWBB Member
Went to a local seafood place this weekend and had a great piece of grilled fish topped with "smoked Maine crab guacamole". Absolutely delicious, and now I'm on a quest to make it at home.

Question is, how does one go about smoking a crab? Then again, I may be going out on a limb by assuming it was the crab that was smoked.
 
"smoked Maine crab guacamole"...I'd guess that they may have used chipotle peppers (smoked jalapenos) in the guacamole. Crab cooks very fast and trying to do a traditional low and slow smoke may only dry it out. I've never smoked crab...but I've inhaled my fair share
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...sorry, couldn't help myself. I love crab. So, if not smoked, I wouldn't think grilling would impart very much if any smoke flavor to the crab meat. That's my .02.
 
One uses cooked crab, in shell, shells split or cracked. Smoke at low temps with a light wood. Smoking is quick, about 20 min, 30 tops. Paint once with butter, if desired, 10 min into smoking.
 
I must agree with Paul on this one. The crab meat would definitely dry out and would become chewy. They must have introduced the smoke flavor another way. Please let us know if you find out or what the recipe is, sounds very good.
 
I would used cooked crab and cold smoke it for 15-20 minutes max with a mild wood. I would use picked crab, whether you do it yourself or used packed crab in a container, just make sure it's fresh and a good quality. Spread it out on a pan that will fit onto the top grate of your WSM, fill the water pan with ice and use about 4 small pieces of lit lump (I would not use Kingsford for this) and 1 very small piece of fruit wood. I wouldn't even worry about temp for this as you are only attempting to add flavor and with that little amount of lump for the short amount of time there isn't a chance for overcooking or drying out the meat.

Once the smoking is over I would put all of the meat into a container or zip loc and submerge in an icewater bath to quickly chill.
 
Except that it doesn't dry out--which is why I posted the method to use. Cooked crab contains significant moisture. As long as you don't smoke it too long moisture loss is not an issue.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
One uses cooked crab, in shell, shells split or cracked. Smoke at low temps with a light wood. Smoking is quick, about 20 min, 30 tops. Paint once with butter, if desired, 10 min into smoking. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks Kevin!

By light wood, I assume maybe alder, or perhaps apple or some other fruit wood? Sounds like I could probably do it in the kettle with just a small amount of wood rather than fire up the WSM.

I'll let everyone know how it turns out and post a recipe if it's good.

Mark
 
I use alder or citrus, mostly the latter as I have it in abundance.

In San Francisco, a bazillion years ago, we used to get fresh caught and cooked Dungeness, crack them well, smoke, then make crab and avocado 'parfaits' and smoked crab Louis.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
Except that it doesn't dry out--which is why I posted the method to use. Cooked crab contains significant moisture. As long as you don't smoke it too long moisture loss is not an issue. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yep, I'm with Kevin. Cold smoke cooked crab or any cooked seafood with a very mild/light smoke wood. Cold smoke in the 80-90 degree range with 100 being tops. The same as you would when doing cheese.
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