Acrid taste on King Crab Legs
I bought some crab legs on Monday night. I steamed them on Tuesday night.
I couldn't have more than a bite; the taste and aroma was that of ammonia, although the taste itself did not taste poisonous. (My wife says she didn't notice and went happily along)
I am wondering if this could have been because the legs were bad. Also, I stored them in the fridge for 24 hours instead of keeping them in the freezer. A friend thought this shouldn't have mattered.
Any definitive thoughts as to what caused this effect?
Best Answer
Fresh seafood should smell briny, like the sea. It generally should not smell strongly in any way--not in a "fishy" way, and not like ammonia.
According to the US FDA, you should not eat seafood that has even a fleeting, minor smell of ammonia:
Uncooked spoiled seafood can have sour, rancid, fishy, or ammonia odors. These odors become stronger after cooking. If you smell sour, rancid, or fishy odors in raw or cooked seafood, do not eat it. If you smell either a fleeting or persistent ammonia odor in cooked seafood, do not eat it.
The scent of ammonia in shellfish is a strong indicator that it's gone bad. When the crab meat begins to decompose, the byproducts create the scent of ammonia. Even thought the scent was minor (you could smell it, but not your wife), this would still indicate that the crab legs had begun to rot.
Crab legs are generally flash-frozen immediately upon harvest, and kept frozen until you buy them and bring them home. This keeps them "fresh" because they spend very little time in the danger zone.
Likely, in transit between the dock and your home, the crab legs thawed, spent excessive time (more than 2 hours) in the danger zone, and have spoiled. I would not expect the refrigerator storage to have caused this alone, unless there was also additional non-frozen time before you purchased them.
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Quick Answer about "Acrid taste on King Crab Legs"
The scent of ammonia in shellfish is a strong indicator that it's gone bad. When the crab meat begins to decompose, the byproducts create the scent of ammonia. Even thought the scent was minor (you could smell it, but not your wife), this would still indicate that the crab legs had begun to rot.Why do my crab legs taste like ammonia?
Older crabs have worse meat and give off a pungent smell. Living longer means being exposed to pollutants and other wastes for a longer period of time, giving the crab an ammonia scent. It may not mean the crab has exactly gone bad, but it isn't the best quality meat out there.How do you know if crab legs are spoiled?
Crab meat should smell a bit sweet; if it has a strong, fishy, sour odor\u2013\u2013it's time to toss it. The shelf-life in a fridge is 3 to 5 days and in the freezer is 6 to 9 months.Why is crab bitter?
If you have, it might have been crab meat infected with a species of Hematodinium, a parasitic dinoflagellate that is the cause of Bitter Crab Disease in cold-water crab species. This parasite lowers the \u201ctasty factor\u201d of commercially important cold-water crabs around the world.Why does cooked crab smell like ammonia?
Crabs host a ton of critters (bacteria) and they are completely harmless/killed during cooking. however if the crab dies before cooking, that bacteria breaks down the meat and generates the ammonia smell.⚠️ MESSY EATING • 🧀 CHEESY SAUCE w/ ALASKAN KING CRAB LEGS 🦀 + BBQ RIBS • mukbang • LESS TALKING
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