Stone crab claws are fully cooked when you receive them. Best served cold, their meat can also be gently steamed or sautéed for five minutes.
Cracking stone crab claws is simple, but should be done gently to protect the tender meat.
First, hold a claw in the palm of your hand on a kitchen towel. Then use the back of a large, heavy metal spoon to whack the back/rounded side of the two knuckles, then the claw. Start with less force than you think you need, increasing with each whack just until the shell cracks. You don’t want to bruise the meat or force shards of shell into it.
Remove the meat from the shell, and serve with lemon, melted butter (we recommend clarified butter) or mustard mixed with mayonnaise. There's a hard inedible membrane in the middle of the meat, so pull or scrape the meat off of it to consume.
You can also scrape the meat off the membrane and toss with a citrus vinaigrette (and optionally with greens) to make a crab salad.
Crab Recipes
Uncertain which crab to buy? Consult our guide →
