Crab meat is the ultimate embellishment to a variety of dishes, such as any sushi concoctions or any soup combinations.
Just upon hearing the word imitation, it’s safe to say crab meat is not, well crab.
So what exactly is it?
Crab meats or crab sticks are processed meat or seafood that highly resembles a crab. It contains starch and white fish or surimi.
In this article, I shall guide you on how to cook imitation crab meat.
If you’re all ready, then let’s get started, then.
For Deep Frying
Deep Fryer
This is a special type of kitchen appliance used specifically for deep frying.
They often come with parts such as timers or devices that automatically lowers or raise the basket into oil and ventilation feature that can aid in reducing odors.
Vegetable Oil
There is a variety of available oils in the market today — vegetable oil is just one of them.
They are gathered from plants with oil content.
Due to this, they contain a lot of health benefits such as Vitamin E.
For Deep Frying
Saute Pan
Saute pan or cooking pan, a kitchen appliance use to fry food — different sizes are available in the market today.
You can pretty much choose any, so long as its size can perfectly accommodate your crab meats.
Garlic
This is one of the most common herb used when sauteing dishes.
It can be the ready minced in bottles you can buy in supermarkets or you can do-it-yourself and crush it using a mortar and pestle.
Butter
Butter is a dairy product often used as a spread or a condiment, both in baking and in cooking.
It is also frequently made from a cow, but can also he derived from other mammals, as well.
Any is fine for sauteing your crab meats.
For Steaming
Steamer
This a kitchen appliance that cooks food with the method of steaming.
It has multiple mainly the vessel above which contains food and the base where the water is place.
Steaming is done by boiling the water, resulting into water vapor that carries heat into the food above through the holes of the vessel.
How to Cook Immitation Crab Meat
In cooking crab meat, there are absolute three ways to do this.
One is by steaming, second is by deep frying and the other is by sauteeing.
Your choice or preference will depend on a number of things such as if you’re health conscious, then the most probable way you’d want to cook crab meat is by steaming.
It can also depend on what dish you’re planning to make.
Cooking crab meats is generally and relatively easy.
Since there are numerous packaged pre sculpted crab meat or crab sticks available in the supermarkets, no other ingredients are needed.
That said, let us now proceed to the different ways in which we can cook crab meats
Cook Imitation Crab Meat By Deep Frying
- From your nearest supermarket or grocery stores, get yourself some pre sculpted packaged crab meats.
There are often already in slices, but you can get ones in much larger proportions if you want to cut them in smaller slices, on your own. - Prepare your deep fryer, make sure it has been properly cleaned.
Pour vegetable oil to your pan or deep fryer.
Then bring it to a temperature of about 350 degrees. Bringing the heat up first is a good step as this will also season your pan and prep for the next step. - This is most certainly an optional step so it is not mandatory.
However, preparing or making a homemade batter can add a crispy flavourful taste to your crab meat.
Do this by creating a concoction or mixture of corn starch, some flour, a glass of milk, baking soda, some salt, and of course water, and mix well.
From there, you can dip your individual pieces in before putting them in the deep fryer. - After all those, you can now begin deep frying your crab sticks or crab meat.
If you bought them in large proportions, you can cut them into your desired slices or if you have bought them in ready to cook packaging, then you can jump right ahead to deep frying them.
Sauteing Imitation Crab Meat
- Just like any dishes cooked by sauteing, start by prepping or seasoning your pan.
You do this by pre heating your pan over medium heat.
This is always done before starting to place your ingredients on your pan.
To assure that it is hot enough, you can lightly hover your palm above the pan. - Next step to prepping your pan is by seasoning it with some melted butter or even just plain butter.
It’s going to eventually melt once spreaded around the pan.
You can spread the butter around the pan or the base of the pan by using a spatula or by swirling your pan to get the base evenly coated by the butter. - Next, you start by crushing your garlic using a mortar and pestle or gathering minced garlic, if that is your preference.
Stir them onto your frying pan until they turn to a golden brown shade. - After cutting your crab sticks into your desired slices, you can now start placing them onto your cooking pan.
Saute them for about five minutes.
Once done, serve and enjoy.
Steaming Imitation Crab Meat
- The first step of course is to prepare your steamer.
For the process of steaming, of course you would be needing clean water.
A cup or two will be enough for cooking crab meat.
Add these cups of water reservoir to the base unit of your steam cooker. - Next, place your crab stick onto the strainer or the vessel of your steam cooker that contains the food.
Plug your steamer in and wait for your crab stick to cook.
If it was frozen beforehand, this will usually take ten minutes but it can take less if it was already cooled down to room temperature. - Then, you’re done. You may now begin to serve.
Helpful Tips
Avoid overcooking or oversteaming.
This can happen when when prepping your pan with butter or sauteing your galic.
You can also end up oversteaming your crab meats so make sure you are taking watch thoroughly.
If you choose deep frying as your method of cooking, it is better to cook or deep fry your crab meat in batches rather than all at once.
This is to ensure that they will be cooked evenly all throughout.
To enjoy your crab meat more, you can season them even after cooking.
You can spritz a light amount of vinegar, lime, or lemon onto your crab stick for an added robust flavor.
You also have the option to sprinkle your crabstick with some salt and pepper for some flavourful kick.
Final Thoughts
Whether it is by sauteing, steaming or deep frying, crab sticks are, indeed, the perfect added kick to any of your dishes.
Your preference of method can highly depend on a numerous factors such as availability of materials or if you’re health conscious.
Rest assured though that any of the method works equally perfect.
If you have any suggestions or comments regarding imitation crab meat, please don’t hesitate to leave them down below!
Share this article also with your friends and family.