Let’s find out more about the different types of crab meat.
Crab meat is delicious, and a favorite summertime meal for many Marylanders. However, even though you’ve had fun at all the crab feasts you attended growing up, drinking your favorite drinks and playing cornhole, you might not recognize the different types of crab meat. This can make deciding how to cook each of them more complicated since they don’t always behave the same under heat and pressure. Let’s find out more about the different types of crab meat.
Jumbo Lump
The muscles from the swimmer fins provide this type of lump meat. Many crabs must be harvested to form the jumbo lump, which is part of the reason why finding this item at the grocery store will give you sticker shock: it is quite expensive. However, when it comes to taste, it can’t be beaten. That’s because it is sturdy and sweet.
Lump
The regular lump meat is taken from the crab’s body. Although there is less meat quantity than in the jumbo lump, it is still just as sturdy. That means it won’t be easy to turn into a pile of mashed crab. The chunk is most often used in crab cakes, so if you consider yourself a crab cake aficionado, then you probably already have an idea of how to use it, and what it tastes like when you try it.
Backfin
Bits and pieces of meat from the body and other parts of meat from the rest of the crab’s body are mixed to create backfin crab meat. Although this meat tends to be flakier than the different types, it’s still tasty and considered high-grade enough for use in crab cakes.
Claw
If you’ve ever sat down to eat crab and had the most fun punching through the claws to extract the meat from inside with claw crackers, then you already know what claw meat tastes like. It’s far darker than the other types of meat, but at the same time, it’s much less sweet. Because it is much more flavorful, it’s a better choice for making soups, crab puffs, crabby fries, or other dishes where you want the crab flavor to dominate the palate.
YOUR SEAFOOD DESTINATION
Costas Inn has been a Baltimore tradition since 1971. You may recognize our restaurant, which was recently featured on the Food Network with Michael Symon on Burgers, Brew, and ‘Que! We were also voted the 2015 #1 Baltimore Seafood Restaurant by USA Today, as well as #1 Crab Restaurant 2014 in the Baltimore Business Journal. You may have also spotted Costas Inn during one of our 9 appearances on the Today Show or heard one of our many interviews on WJZ TV Channel 13 with Ron Matz and Marty Bass.
You can enjoy our famous crab cakes in-house or order them online for any time eating. We also provide some of the best seafood catering in the Baltimore area! You can also get your fill from Costas even when you’re not in our dining room: follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube!