If you live in Florida or are visiting Florida, then you must have heard of the popular Florida stone crab claw delicacy. The unique crustacean dish is usually served with a delicious dipping mustard sauce for stone crab. Together, this classic pairing creates an irresistible tantalizing meal.
Luckily for you, we have prepared a recipe for mustard sauce for stone crabs that you can use to make your own homemade source and prepare a delicious crustacean meal for your family. Check out the recipe below.
How To Make Mustard Sauce For Stone Crabs?
The recipe for mustard sauce for stone crabs will help you serve plump tender stone crab claws with a thick sauce rich in lemon juice, Dijon mustard, hot sauce, and horseradish. This mustard sauce for stone crab is incredibly easy to make because the ingredients are easy to come by and the stone crab claws are usually sold pre-cooked. All you have to do is crack the crab shells using a hammer, a claw cracker, or a butter knife’s spine.
Alternatively, you can ask the fishmonger to crack the claws for you when buying them in order to save more time. We recommend cracking the crabs the same day you plan to eat them. If you are planning to eat the claws two or three days later, ensure that you store them in the refrigerator to dry out so that they crack more easily.
In case you do not have the appropriate tools to crack the crab claws, you can use common household items to crack the crab in the following way:
- Step 1: Place an old clean dishtowel in your hand, preferably the non-dominant one.
- Step 2: Take a claw and place it in the towel to absorb and drain any juices within the claw.
- Step 3: Take a firm spoon and whack its back against the claw firmly until the claw breaks.
- Step 4: Turn the crab claw to the other side and whack it with the spoon again until it cracks.
- Step 5: Continue cracking the knuckles and other parts of the claw until the flesh separates from the shell.
- Step 6: Avoid pulverizing the shell in order to prevent shards from getting into the meat. All you have to do is create enough cracks that will reveal the meat within.
- Step 7: Remove large pieces of the shell and throw them away.
- Step 8: Place the cracked crab claw on a plate and serve it with mustard sauce for the stone crab.
The best season to get fresh crab claws is between mid-October and April, which means that this is the perfect time to prepare the dish using the recipe for mustard sauce for stone crabs. Moreover, stone crab claws are considered one of the most sustainable kinds of seafood because the crabs can re-grow their plucked claws over time.
Best Stone Crab Mustard Sauce Recipe
The following mustard sauce for the stone crab recipe takes only 10 minutes to prepare and produces about 6 servings. Have a look below:
Ingredients for the mustard sauce for stone crab
- 1 cup of mayonnaise (about 7 ¾ ounces or 220 grams)
- ¼ cup of prepared horseradish (about 2 ¼ ounces or 65 grams)
- ¼ cup of Dijon mustard (about 2 ¼ ounces or 65 grams)
- 1 teaspoon of hot sauce (about 5 ml)
- 1 ½ teaspoon of fresh lemon juice (about 8 ml)
- ½ cup of salt
- 4 pounds of chilled stone crab claws (about 1.8 kg or 25 medium-large claws)
Directions for preparing the mustard sauce for stone crab
Mix the mayonnaise, lemon juice, hot sauce, horseradish, and Dijon mustard into a bowl and stir until a smooth mixture is formed.
Step 1
Add salt to the mixture to make it tasty. Alternatively, you can use ¼ cup of heavy cream instead of salt to give the mustard sauce for the stone crab more flavor.
Step 2
Leave the sauce to chill for about 30 minutes and then serve it with the crab claws. Nutrition facts about this recipe for mustard sauce for stone crabs.
This mustard sauce for stone crab has the following ingredient database:
- Calories: 468
- Carbs: 2g
- Fat: 30g
- Protein: 46g
If you desire to create the ultimate dipping sauce for stone crabs, then this recipe for mustard sauce stone crabs is what you need.
Stone Crabs Facts
As you get ready to use the above recipe for mustard sauce for stone crabs, here are some fun facts about stone crabs that you didn’t know:
“Crab Mustard” Concept
For some people, the crab mustard refers to the yellow substance that is found in the middle part of the inner crab and is considered a delicacy by some. However, research shows that the crab mustard is not made of fat but is instead a body organ known as the hepatopancrease. The function of the hepatopancrease is to filter impurities from the blood, making it unhealthy to eat because it is full of toxins from the crab’s body.
Stone Crabs Molt Into Soft-Shell Crabs
Stone crabs go through a molting stage whereby they shed off their hard shell in order to continue growing. When the stone crabs shed off their hard exterior, the soft inner shell becomes exposed for a while.
However, stone crabs have a short molting process that lasts for about two to three hours before the crabs begin growing back to their hard outer shells.
Florida Provides About 98% of Stone Crabs In The Market
Each year, the stone crab industry in Florida contributes about $30 million to Florida’s economy. This is because 98% of stone crabs in the United States are caught in Florida. Although the stone crab habitat is found throughout the Florida waters, most of the stone crab harvest takes place in Southeast Florida, Southwest Florida, and along the Florida Keys.
There are many well-managed fisheries along Florida which help to ensure that healthy population stocks of stone crabs are maintained to prevent scarcity and extinction.
Only The Claw of The Stone Crab is Harvested
During harvesting, the fishmongers pluck a single claw from each stone crab that they catch. In order for the claw to regenerate, it must be plucked at the joint. If a stone crab’s claw is plucked wrongly, it will not regenerate its claw, thereby lowering its rate of survival.
Also, there are strict fishing regulations in place that prohibit fishmongers from harvesting claws smaller than 2 ¾ inches in length. If the claw is too small, the law requires that the stone crab should be thrown back into the water unharmed.
Pregnant Stone Crabs Are Not Harvested
Another fishing regulation for stone crabs that must be followed is that pregnant stone crabs should not be harvested. If pregnant stone crabs are trapped during fishing, they should be thrown back into the waters in one piece. This is because harvesting a stone crab’s claw lowers its survival rate because it has to rely on its remaining claw to protect itself from predators.
Decreasing the survival rate of pregnant stone crabs will have negative effects in the future because the population of stone crabs will decrease; hence the law was put in place to prevent this from happening.
Female Stone Crabs Lay Many Eggs
One of the reasons why pregnant female stone crabs are strictly protected by fishing regulations is because a female stone crab can lay about 1 million eggs at once. The eggs are laid in four to six sacks of eggs known as sponges.
In addition to laying colonies of stone crabs, female stone crabs live longer than their male counterparts. The average lifespan of a male stone crab is about 7 years while the average lifespan of a female stone crab is 8 years.
Stone Crabs Have Powerful Claws
The claw of a stone crab can crush up to about 19,000 pounds for each square inch. This means that you would most likely lose a thumb war to a stone crab.
Stone Crabs Have A Short Shelf Life
If you are planning to go to the market to buy stone crabs and follow the recipe for mustard sauce for stone crabs, ensure that you buy fresh stone crabs. The best technique to use when buying stone crabs at the market is the touch-and-smell technique. This means you should touch and smell the stone crabs before purchasing them to ensure they are fresh.
If you realize that the stone crabs have a faint ammonia smell or they feel slimy or sticky, do not buy them.
ORDER YOUR STONE CRABS HERE
Are you ready to make your own mustard sauce for stone crab? If this article has left you craving some fresh stone crab claws, we at Stone Crab Wholesale got what you need. Visit our online store and order your stone crab claws today!
Delivered right to your door. Place your stone crab order and craft your loved ones the perfect dinner.