Tasty Crab Dish Can Be Fit for King

There are more than 1,000 species of crab, one of which, king crab, is the largest. It is not unusual for a king crab to weigh up to 18 to 20 pounds and have an extended measurement of 5 to 6 feet from tip to tip.

The average commercially used male crab weighs about 10 pounds and its tip-to-tip measurement exceeds 4 feet. They are cleaned, cooked in stainless steel tanks, then chilled until ready to process as frozen or canned crab meat. The meat is extracted from the crab legs, washed, carefully inspected and packed into specially designed trays. It is then solidly frozen or the tendonless meat is packed into cans and processed.

Frozen king crab comes in a variety of packages--in a solid meat pack and in the shell pack. Both the solid meat pack and king crab legs in the shell are precooked and ready to eat as they are removed from the package and defrosted.