quote:

Originally posted by holdem

Can you just put them in the fridge over night to thaw?

Definately! If it was me, I’d remove the shells so the guests do not have to get messy.

They should be fine. The only times I’ve had soft ones were when they were questionable to start with. Quite often, even if I do serve them chilled, I go ahead and put them, frozen, into boiling water or steam them, with salt and/or seasoning added and chill them afterward. This way, in my mind, whatever processing they’ve been through will have "boiled/steamed" off. I’m just fickle that way.

Some warm drawn butter and fresh lemon on the side would still be nice with chilled crab and shrimp. A lot of people also like them with cocktail sauce. I tend not to use cocktail sauce with crab myself, but I certainly love it with most other shellfish. I like butter and lemon with all seafood.

I agree with Matilda now that I know they are snow crabs.King crab legs would be another story…[:)]

Snow crab legs are easily cracked by hand. The only parts that need crackers are the pincher claws and those, quite often, are already cracked from the precooking and processing they go through. Depending upon the situation of the party, casual versus formal, for instance, presentation would work either way.

If you’re only going to do chilled pincher claw tips on a tray, it probably would be nice just to use the pincher claw tips and have the tops precracked and pulled away so that the people can take the tips of the claws by the fingers and bite the meat off with their teeth.

If you were to just lay single, whole legs, or clusters out for people to eat the whole claw knuckle-to-knuckle, it would work particularly well in a more casual environment just to let them crack them by hand with a few crab crackers that they can share. It can be fun. Like an oyster roast where you supply the oysters and knives and let the guests dig in themselves.

What will the atmosphere of the party be? Casual, formal? There are other options, as well, it all depends on the crowd you’re planning to have and the type of party. Make sense? I hope that helps a bit. With a little more info from you I may be able to make better suggestions, if you’re interested.

What kind of crab are you serving?

Let the do the work,Maybe they wont eat so many.

If you are wanting to keep the shell for presentation, then I would pre-split them.

If you’re going to serve them chilled, why would you not remove the meat from the shells first?