Amanda,
What recipe do you use?
Thanks
I’ve kept it for up to a year, but I also store it at the back of the freezer so it is less likely to be impacted than the items near the door. It comes in 8 oz. containers, so I can easily just take out what I need as I go.
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https://www.stonewallkitchen.com/legal-sea-foods-crab-cakes-R499.html
You can use whatever mayo floats your boat in the recipe, rather than the branded one called for. I also tend to skip the “seafood seasoning” and use a little paprika, cayenne, and Mrs. Dash’s Onion Seasoning. I like the oven baked method the recipe uses a lot.
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Well I’ll have 2 new things to try.
Fresh crab as opposed to canned
And baked instead of fried.
Thanks Amanda !
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This sounds like a challenge! 
I LOVE crab - my favorite food in the whole world. I tried US tinned varieties decades ago and was thoroughly disappointed. The Phillips lump crab meat that comes in the plastic tub, and usually in the refrigerated section, is marginally better, but still lacks the sweetness of fresh crab. If you had to choose, go with the Phillips (they are available at my local Costcos).
I usually buy fresh crab myself. I have an aversion to most tinned foods I’ve tried in the US. Foods and drinks pick up a slightly metallic taste that is off-putting for me. Unless the food is intended to be brined, the only tinned seafoods foods I’ve enjoyed are conservas from Spain or Portugual and the specialty canned “gift” foods in Japan. I brought home 2-3 cans of “gift” crab and that was incredible, but you can’t source this outside of Japan.
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Serious Eats has an opinion on why canned crab sucks (per J. Kenji Lopez-Alt):
The vast majority out there are made with canned, pasteurized crab meat which instantly takes them out of “sweet and succulent” territory and into “fishy and please god take that smell away from me” land.
There’s “cooked” and then there is “cooked to within an inch of its life at too high of a temperature for the protein and then jamming it into a can (more likely, actually, cooking it in the can)”. While nothing beats picking your own, I will take properly cooked and frozen every time over canned. 
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Totally agree with you, in fact I was going to state almost exactly your first paragraph! I too haven’t found any canned crab I like and was going to second the recommend for the Phillips pasteurized crab in the refrigerated section. I’ve made a couple different crab cake recipes with it, with great results. However, if anyone does buy and use it, it’s MUCH better to find a use for the whole container at once. Once open, it doesn’t fare well in the fridge, even for a few days.
I can see it working well in basques, chowders and dips too.
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So what is the deal with frozen? I look at the selection in my small town (several hours from the coast) Safeway and am bewildered. All of it at the seafood counter is cooked, “from previously frozen”. Was it cooked before or after being frozen? And why do I have to buy it after it’s been thawed, sitting on ice in their case for who knows how long?
I’m pretty sure “everything” up here (seafood wise) is/was frozen, so I don’t want to buy it thawed (and very rarely do - at least not without smelling it first).
But opposed to most other seafood, the selection of frozen crab is almost non-existent here, and most of it is a Surimi type fake.
I have even looked at the online alternatives (anywhere from $50-100/lb. - plus shipping!), and it is all pre-cooked! Is there something about freezing fresh, raw crab I don’t know about?
Sorry for the rant… I love crab… and with maybe the exception of abalone, it is probably my favorite seafood, but it has been way too long since I had any that was fresh. I am starting to feel like it is going the way of abalone… unobtainable for the average joe.
Crab is always cooked while still alive, due to the release of toxins when they die. Thus, when being processed, live crabs are cooked, and then flash frozen. When at the fish counter, you can usually always ask for still frozen seafoods. I don’t like buying the thawed stuff either.
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The frozen I buy is either frozen crab legs in the shell, or shelled and vaccuum-packed. It’s all cooked.
The frozen legs can be warmed in simmering water, or they can be shelled and used in cold dishes.
I have also bought cooked crab legs at the seafood counter, and used them in cooked dishes or cold dishes.
Thanks! I thought the same about lobster too, and that is why it is immediately flash frozen, but I can buy raw frozen lobster tails.
But that doesn’t apply to crab legs? It’s live or precooked frozen or the highway?
While I should, I don’t learn something new every day… but today I did!
(c;
Yes, in Alaska, the King and Snow crab harvests are often taken to a “tender” for processing - they are big operations, and basically just a floating cannery. There are also canneries located in various harbors; I’ve bought large boxes of frozen King Crab legs straight from the processing plant in Kodiak. OMG - heaven! And then of course freshly brought in from the crab pots and cooked outside in large kettles. If any crabs die before delivery to the factory or tenders, they are discarded. Kind of like if an oyster or clam doesn’t open during cooking, you don’t eat it. Hope that makes sense.
ETA: during crab season where you live, you may be able to find some freshly cooked, but UNFROZEN - I’m sure it’s a lucky occurrence very far inland, unless it’s a bigger city. I’m lucky enough to find fresh Dungeness where I am, but in season only.
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Thanks! Yeah, the online stuff is crazy (even for pre-cooked). Seems like it would be cheaper to just go to a restaurant.
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Indeed it does (same with mussels, and the body meat of lobster), just didn’t know it applied to crab legs and claws. Are you really sure about just legs and claws?
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It is in season here until July. Guess I may need to dust off my old SCUBA gear and head for the coast as the daily limit is 10 crabs! But then how do I keep all these critters alive until I can cook them?
Who am I kidding? Never gonna happen. Pre-cooked, frozen it is (when/if it is ever in stock at the local Safeway). (c;
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I think it applies to any edible meat on the crab anywhere. From what I read, and know from experience is that it’s not just a matter of spoilage, but the release of the toxins that make people sick. There may be a variety or so I’m not aware of, as in the post to you above, where they don’t produce the toxin. OR, possibly they are killed and the meat picked right away and then frozen, although I don’t see that as practical on a large scale. And I’m not a biologist LOL 
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I think Spanner crabs are subject to the same laws of nature. I wonder if the crabbers have something on the boats that blast freezes the raw meat? I couldn’t find anything in a quick Google search (although lots of stuff out there from the Australian government about how they are controlling the harvest to try and curb depletion of crab stock).
I am left with questions though about raw crab - for example, raw soy marinated crab is a dish I see often in food publications and travel shows. Is there something in the marinade that keeps you from being affected by toxins?
Back on topic - I hope the OP can find a source for a good tasting crab that falls within his budget. Maybe a place like Catalina Off Shore Products has something that would meet his needs?
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When I think about it, the only time I ever see uncooked crabs on the east coast is in two forms. Live in season hardshell and then dead cleaned softshell. All other crab is cooked.
I’m originally from FL and grew up on stone crab. That is my all time favorite. Its an amazing creature. Catch it. Break one claw off, toss it back into the sea. Wait for it to grow back. I have imagined what a stone crab that’s been caught multiple times is thinking.
Oh No! Not again! I just grew that damn claw back!
Catalina OP is a great mail order source. I buy from them all the time. Usually for making sushi. But they have crab right now at the bargain price of $45 a pound. Nothing there is cheap but the quality I get is great.
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I had drunken crab in a Cantonese restaurant years ago, which was raw and dead and soaked in sake or something similar. The waiter didn’t want to let me order it, and I insisted. I probably should have listened. It tasted like a jello shot at low tide.
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