Seafood like crab is always the most delicious when it’s fresh, but it’s not always the easiest to find — or the most affordable to purchase. Then there’s the fact that many dishes, from crab cakes to crab dip,s are much easier to cook with a can or tub of the crustacean. As always with seafood, there are pros and cons of crab that’s packed in a can or a tub, so Tasting Table chatted with Chef Abram Bissell, Culinary Director of The Shelborne Proper, a newly opened hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.
“Canned crab is super convenient and has a long shelf life, which can be great depending on what you’re making. But it usually has a softer texture and the flavor’s a little more muted,” the chef says. “Tub crab meat is fresher, it’s handled more carefully, and you get a firmer, sweeter crab flavor — but it’s more perishable, so you have to use it quickly.”
Texture and freshness are certainly important because they impact the flavor and how it’s incorporated into various dishes, but there’s also another key difference. Tub meat is also of generally higher quality, according to Bissell. “The flavor’s cleaner, the texture’s better, and if you’re working on a dish where the crab really needs to shine, you’ll notice the difference right away,” he says. The chef is also partial to tubs as opposed to using canned crab meat for this reason, so it’s ideal to use it when you can.
When to use a can or tub of crab and when fresh is the best option
There are some instances where you can get away with using canned crab, even though a tub is preferred. “If you’re folding crab into something like a creamy dip, or maybe a bisque, canned can work just fine because it’s not all about the texture. But if you’re making crab cakes, a crab salad, crab cocktail, etc. tub it is,” says Chef Bissell. That means you can use the canned option in our cheesy crab rangoon dip or crab and corn chowder recipes and still achieve a flavorful dish. Other ways to use canned crab include risotto and grilled cheese, both of which lean on cheese and other ingredients. To use it in any of these dishes, drain off any excess liquid in the pan, break apart any large chunks, and fold them into the dish so that the meat doesn’t completely shred away.
While Bissell prefers tubs of crab for cooking, there are some recipes where it’s best to use a fresh version of the ingredient. “If you’re doing something really simple [like a] crab roll, crab cocktail, fresh-picked crab is best,” he says. “You just can’t replicate that sweetness and that texture with anything that’s been processed and packed.” Try fresh crab in our crab and shrimp cocktail recipe.
