How to Remove Meat from a Crab with Brian Leitner

Published on Monday, February 23, 2009, by Meredith Arthur, Eric Slatkin, and Blake Smith / Edit Post

How to Remove Meat from a Crab with Brian Leitner

By Meredith Arthur, Eric Slatkin, and Blake Smith

Brian Leitner, co-owner of Nettie’s Crab Shack, shares the right and wrong ways to eat Dungeness crab. Leitner sees hundreds of crabs eaten at this time of year (it’s currently Dungeness Crab Week in San Francisco), and he’s watched customers do many wrong things: leave the best bits behind in the body, avoid the crab butter (a delicacy for some), and crack the shell into the meat. He wants us to do the right things: use the mallet to gently crack the body, use the tip of the claw as a digging tool, and always get the hidden meat out.

You’re Doing It All Wrong is constructive criticism. Don’t take it the wrong way: Just learn the right way.

ALLYou're Doing It All Wrong
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  • PRECOOKED CRABS?!?! Get out of here with that bull****. Also, you are trying to teach people about crabs from San Francisco... no come to Maryland to learn. This was unbelievable...

  • LOL Crabs are pretty easy to open. Don't know why people need to use a hammer or a mallet to open them o_o After seeing this vid, I wanna eat some crabs XD

  • I prefer my Dungeness crab served chilled, with mayo, either home made or seasoned, to dip it in. I also clean it before serving it, so we don't have to deal with removing the gills, etc. at table. My daughter's birthday is Christmas Eve, which is the onset of crab season. Her traditional birthday dinner is cracked crab, artichokes, garlic bread and cheesecake. A splurge in every way, but so...+READ

    I prefer my Dungeness crab served chilled, with mayo, either home made or seasoned, to dip it in. I also clean it before serving it, so we don't have to deal with removing the gills, etc. at table. My daughter's birthday is Christmas Eve, which is the onset of crab season. Her traditional birthday dinner is cracked crab, artichokes, garlic bread and cheesecake. A splurge in every way, but so worth every calorie and fat gram! It helps set her birthday apart from Christmas, as she opens her birthday gifts right after dinner. She invites her crab-loving friends, who are usually willing to give up part of their Christmas Eve festivities in exchange for that meal...LOL!-COLLAPSE

  • I'm so glad to have seen this video. Now I can actually prove to some people that I'm not a freak on how to shell & eat crab lol Having lived both in Alaska & Maryland, I would cringe at what I thought to be wasteful dining on good crab. Now I know of a website that will instruct them, just as I did, and perhaps have more credibility :)

  • Butcher Merle Ellis has a recipe for crab: remove the meat, and shred it, then saute it in butter and minced garlic. Serve with french bread. Oh, man!

  • GREAT!!! Now I won't be leary about buying crab to take home to eat. And since this is here, I can refer to it.