How to Break Down a Steamed Snow Crab

Part of the Video Series How to Cook Lobster, Crab, & Shrimp

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Steps for breaking down a whole snow crab to prepare for cooking; learn this and more in this free online instructional cooking video about seafood taught by an expert.

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Video Transcript

How to Break Down a Steamed Snow Crab
Hello! Today we are going to show you how to break down a whole steamed snow crab and these are also referred to as a opilios and the snow crab is just a real nice delicacy and if you are in an area that can get them whole, they are a lot of fun to decorate plates with and things of that nature and make center pieces out of. So we've got a nice specimen here. This being the under side. You get a little bit better look at what you are usually served in restaurants and what usually happens is you are just given sections and they are broken off here and here on each side of the under flap there. These legs can be broken with your hands if you like. I've got some lobster shears here. They got stubby blades and they are not real broad but they are firm enough that you can use them to get in and around these guys. They are sturdy enough to get through that shell quite efficiently. What I usually try to do first is come around each side of the flap on the underneath side from the back end here and cut apart without going too deeply similar to the cuts that you seen in grocery stores and restaurants. So we've made two cuts going this direction. We'll separate this with our fingers, take off the under flap there. I am going to just kindly gently break those a little bit to get them separated. As you can see they are coming apart pretty easily. That is always a good sign that the crab itself has been steamed fully and chilled down as quickly as it needs to be when it separates real nice and easy like that. So there is one section there. There you go. There's right and left half and then here's the under side as well. Now along with the head and the body we could actually boil this again inside a seafood stock with shrimp shells and things of that nature and adds a real nice flavor to the seafood stock.

About the Expert

Expert: Louis Ortiz is a professional chef instructor at a culinary institute. He has been working in the culinary industry for 10 years. Read More