What Do You Use to Crack and Pick Crab and Lobster?

Cracking: A hammer? Nutcracker? Kitchen shears? Your teeth? A Rock? Your fist?

Picking: Seafood fork? Nut pick? Claw tip? Paring knife?

I used to use just my teeth to crack, but now a rock is my weapon of choice. For picking crab, I favor a leg tip.

Cracking: lobster/crab crackers
Picking: seafood fork

If you eat crab and lobster a lot, dedicated tools are your best bet.

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What kind of crab? I use a nut cracker sort of like this
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, scissors, and fondue forks for dungeness.

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I have, for 65 years. Iā€™ve tried every cracking tool Iā€™ve been around, and I still prefer a rock. I think most manufactured cracking tools apply too-localized pressure. Blunt force works better for me.

Good to know you are respecting your ancient ancestors

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This is what I use:
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And then my fingers or a chopstick.

That said, I also tend to eat my lobster in the kitchen, over the sink. But, I can apply as much or as little force as the particular lobster part needs.

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For lobster, kitchen shears for cutting the underside of the tail and Shrinkrapā€™s nutcracker doohickey for the claws.

For king crab, kitchen shears cutting down the length of the entire leg, then spread it open (like opening a book) by hand. Nutcracker doohickey for knuckles/claws, then usually a nutpick to get any small crevice-wedged nuggets.

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Not any significant pohaku. I look for rocks that fit well in the palm, egg-shaped, but kinda flattened. I keep a basket of different, interesting ones at the beach house for crab feeds. My version of wine glass charms, I guessā€¦

My teeth to crack, my hands to pick!

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I crack with a smallish meat pounder (itā€™s really too small to pound meat effectively, but perfect for cracking crabs). To pick, I use the pointy end of on of the crabā€™s many legs. I have no experience cracking or picking lobsters.

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I donā€™t need anything but my hands and teeth for most lobsters. If those fail, lobster cracker and a chopstick.

Iā€™ve never bought lobster (and only very, very rarely seen it on a restaurant menu). Itā€™s just too much of a premium product here, with a price to match. This is very much rich peopleā€™s food - and not stocked by any of my three local fishmongers.

As for crab, I always buy them ready dressed at the fishmongers. Iā€™m a big fan of other people doing the work.

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two different crustaceans - different tools are advised . . .
the crab body is finger opened and picked, the claws need a gentle touch so something like the nutcracker design works well. but, of course, a (wooden) mallet also worksā€¦ bit more ā€˜finesseā€™ needed - but mallets work.

lobster tails - I snip both sides of the underside with kitchen shears - so the tail meat comes out cleanly. the claws/et al are broader and a mallet works best, for me . . . anywayā€¦

As a child I watched my father use a heavy (skinny end) butter knife for eating Maryland Blue Crabs. He would use the heavy handle end to break the crab shell and other semi-pointed end to dig out the meat. So that is what I used, as well.
Eating blue crabs with my Dadā€¦ good memories!!

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Do you have local lobster there? I donā€™t see lobster here in California nearly as much as I see crab, I assume because it is not local. ETA looks like there are ā€œspiny lobsterā€ here.

Not to mention different species! I donā€™t think you can crack and pick a Maryland blue crab with the same stuff as a Dungeness

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I use a small sharp knife on crabs, no cracking or pounding. Itā€™s the Baltimore way.

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For blue crabs or similar size and shell hardness, generally my hands and teeth. For a bit bigger crabs, or if I ever get to indulge on King crab legs, I use a seafood cracker. Looks kind of like a nut cracker, but with an indentation better fitting a crab claw. To pick, I use chopsticks.

For King crab legs, I have occasionally used my meat pounder to crack the harder shell too. If Iā€™m really such, you Iā€™ve also used the back of a chef knife, or tried to cut off a part of the shell.

Yes. But I only in small quantities. Even the online seafood specialists tend to be selling North American lobster. For example, I see a cooked & frozen American lobster, weighing 500g, is being sold at Ā£24.70 (28.05 USD). A British one of about the same size would be Ā£46.70 (56.14 USD)

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For Dungeness crab; nutcracker and seafood fork for claws; fingers and seafood fork for body.