TikTok's Crab Leg Hack Will Leave No Seafood Wasted

Crabs — the juicy, delightful crustaceans we love to pull apart with our bare hands and devour like the animals we are. There are all kinds of delicious types of crabs to eat, and all different ways to eat them. Some folks prefer the more civilized crab cakes, others soup or salads, and many love to eat crabs whole, without all the fuss. Like in a Cajun crab boil recipe, the sea dwellers are usually boiled and seasoned to perfection and then bagged, ready to be manhandled, and eventually consumed at your leisure.

Just like a lot of other seafood (we're looking at you lobster), eating a whole crab is a lot of work and not to mention messy. Sometimes, even with your tools and patience, you don't get every bit of delicate, savory crab meat. Instead, those morsels remain encased in what's left of their legs or pincers. However, there is a solution to this conundrum. Enter TikTok user @orlandoqueen, who demonstrates a "hack" for making sure no precious crab meat goes to waste. Using a bit of preparation, by first nipping off the bottom of the leg and then peeling around the opening to make sure it's wide enough, she then slaps the leg against her wrist to force out the rest of the meat. Surprisingly, a perfect piece of crab meat slides out!

Under the sea more crab to for we

The TikTok video was actually a response to a previous user questioning the effectiveness of the method, as the video is tagged "Replying to @tiddy_goblin tutorial for my doubters that it doesn't work xo." This came from a comment on an earlier video where @orlandoqueen tried this same "hack" as demonstrated by Chef influencer, Joshua Weissman. Still, despite the method being explained step by step, other users had questions. One asked, "does it hurt?" @orlandoqueen answered and said it didn't but "to make sure it's opened enough before you start trying." Sound advice, as you don't want to be slamming a crab leg against your wrist for too long, who knows what'll happen! (Nothing, you'll just be irritated and hungry.)

@orlandoqueen

Replying to @tiddy_goblin tutorial for my doubters that it doesnt work xo😂 #seafoodboil #crabboil #crabhack #crablegs #orlandoqueen #foodie #mukbang @flakeysalt @orlandoqueen

♬ Flowers – Miley Cyrus

There were also comments remarking on the crab and how much they wanted to try out the "hack" themselves, and we couldn't agree more. There's no better time than now with crab boil season upon us. Even if it's messy, it's worth it to get the most out of a boil. But we've got to agree with user @stompedout who said, "my wrists gon be red sore asf after a sea food boil." This is probably true but there is no reward without sacrifice — hopefully, your wrists and bellies are ready.