You've probably never heard of mud crabs before because I had never until I moved to the NT. But mud crab is HUGE here. One crab sells for like 35$. Anyway, a couple weeks ago, Jason decided that he was going to take up a new hobby of catching these damn crabs. We went out and bought a "crab pot" which is basically just a trap. You put some bait in there, crab comes in to get the bait, crab cant get out. Alternatively, and what happens most of the time, put some bait in there, fish/birds eat the bait, crab never goes in...lol.
Anyway, we didnt have too high of expectations for this. Or should I say, I didnt have high expectations, Jason is obsessed. I hate these damn crabs. First off, they are massive and wicked ugly. Secondly, these fuckers are fiesty and effing strong! Their claw can TAKE OFF A FINGER! No joke. So obvs I am scared of them. When they get stressed, they will drop a claw to get away - such as if they attack you. The claw will stay on you and the crab will drop it and run. You cant get the claw off! I am not interested in this...
Michie court is right built near the marina and just across the street are marshes - aka mud crab village. First day Jason threw the crab pot into the water, BAM he caught this friend!
Only thing is, we didn't know what the fuck to do with him. So we ended up just putting him back. And we are pretty sure he ended up dying because we saw a pretty big dead crab there the next day. Sorry little guy.
After that, no crabs for like a week. Jason was back and forth to the stupid trap 3 times a day and was getting depressed. Every time the bait was gone and there was no crab. I talked to a friend of mine here who catches these things and she said to keep the trap on the rocks. Ever since then, crabs. On Saturday, Jason went to the trap not "just for fun" not expecting anything and there was a huge crab in there! He comes running home to get his "tools" aka scissors and a cooler and hurries back to crab pot. 20 mins later, he shows up covered in mud and bleeding. "Is the crab in the cooler?" I ask. Nope, just one claw. After what he calls an "epic battle" the crab dropped its claw and ran away. LOLOLOL, obvs I laughed but he was less amused.
The next day, bam nother crab! This time instead of trying to remove the crab from the trap, he just brought the entire trap back to the house (awesome). This crab was also not coming out of the trap. After 20 mins of trying to get it out, we dumped ice on him and he "went to sleep."
As you know with shellfish, you have just 2 choices: cook them alive or kill them and then cook them immediately. We researched online, and the "humane" way to do it is to put the crab in the freezer for 45-60 mins and the crab goes unconscious. So next thing you know, there is a big ass crab in the freezer. You don't want to keep it in there too long or it will freeze to death. Next is the real fun part. You have to cut the crab in half, rip off the top shell, and clean out all the guts before you can cook it. Obvs were fighting about who was going to do this. I was scared shitless the fucker was going to wake up and start attacking me. Keep in mind, we were too scared to try to bind the claws. In the end, Jason was the unlucky one who had to cut the crab in half. I was less terrified after that and we both cleaned him out (talk about gross).
And here is the finished product! I cooked it "Asian style" (Gangnam style?) and cracked the shells open and cooked in the wok with garlic and chili peppers. Came out pretty nice, but was a ton of work! I am hoping no mud crabs come along for a while... Funniest part is, Jason -- after all that work -- didnt even like it!
And that is my life in Darwin. Pos next I will catch a croc.
Anyway, we didnt have too high of expectations for this. Or should I say, I didnt have high expectations, Jason is obsessed. I hate these damn crabs. First off, they are massive and wicked ugly. Secondly, these fuckers are fiesty and effing strong! Their claw can TAKE OFF A FINGER! No joke. So obvs I am scared of them. When they get stressed, they will drop a claw to get away - such as if they attack you. The claw will stay on you and the crab will drop it and run. You cant get the claw off! I am not interested in this...
Michie court is right built near the marina and just across the street are marshes - aka mud crab village. First day Jason threw the crab pot into the water, BAM he caught this friend!
After that, no crabs for like a week. Jason was back and forth to the stupid trap 3 times a day and was getting depressed. Every time the bait was gone and there was no crab. I talked to a friend of mine here who catches these things and she said to keep the trap on the rocks. Ever since then, crabs. On Saturday, Jason went to the trap not "just for fun" not expecting anything and there was a huge crab in there! He comes running home to get his "tools" aka scissors and a cooler and hurries back to crab pot. 20 mins later, he shows up covered in mud and bleeding. "Is the crab in the cooler?" I ask. Nope, just one claw. After what he calls an "epic battle" the crab dropped its claw and ran away. LOLOLOL, obvs I laughed but he was less amused.
As you know with shellfish, you have just 2 choices: cook them alive or kill them and then cook them immediately. We researched online, and the "humane" way to do it is to put the crab in the freezer for 45-60 mins and the crab goes unconscious. So next thing you know, there is a big ass crab in the freezer. You don't want to keep it in there too long or it will freeze to death. Next is the real fun part. You have to cut the crab in half, rip off the top shell, and clean out all the guts before you can cook it. Obvs were fighting about who was going to do this. I was scared shitless the fucker was going to wake up and start attacking me. Keep in mind, we were too scared to try to bind the claws. In the end, Jason was the unlucky one who had to cut the crab in half. I was less terrified after that and we both cleaned him out (talk about gross).
And that is my life in Darwin. Pos next I will catch a croc.
UPDATE: I was at a restaurant last night that had asian style mud crab on the menu for the cool price of $79 a plate!!!! OMFG!
ReplyDeleteLOL! You are killing me with this! Maybe get some zip ties?
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