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A video that went viral online recently showed a woman preparing two blue crabs by putting them in an air fryer. It sparked anger among viewers who said the live crabs were being tortured.
The video’s comment section was full of viewers debating the ethics and style of cooking crabs that way.
“Don’t knock it until you try it,” the woman in the video said. “It was kind of sad watching them, you know… but these crabs came out so good and juicy.”
Yen Lee, the general manager at Bethesda Crab House in Maryland, said the most effective and humane way to dispatch a crab is to put them on ice so their metabolism slows and they become sluggish.
Then, before boiling them, flip them over and insert an ice pick or knife just to the right of the center flap, a process known as “spiking.” This process destroys the crustaceans’ central nervous system. And while it is not totally dead, it cannot feel any pain.
“They go in (to a pot), spice it up, fire it up — it’s good to go,” Lee told WTOP.
Lee said the quicker you kill the crab, the better the meat will be, as excessive stress produces a hormone that can spoil the taste of the meat.
“If you steam them live like that, and you cook them, all the limbs fall off,” Lee said.
At the crab house, they’re spiced then served alongside corn on the cob and coleslaw.
The website Blue Crab Info has frequently asked questions about how to handle and prepare blue crabs.