How to defrost crabsticks fast

Becoming an essential attribute of the New Year table, crab sticks are winning more and more hearts every year, replacing the caloric sausage. We add them to salads, meet them in appetizing rolls, and sometimes even eat them stick by stick, snacking on the go. It is increasingly rare to find a refrigerator that does not contain this seafood - it is either chilled, ready for its journey to the salad, or lies in the freezer, waiting for its moment of stardom. But how not to spoil it in the process of defrosting? After all, the wrong method or failure to follow certain conditions can lead to a loss of flavor, juiciness and other qualities we appreciate so much in crab sticks. And to understand what tricks to apply, let's look at the product from all sides - from the composition to the useful properties that are important not to lose during defrosting.

What are crab sticks?

The first crabsticks originated in Japan in the early '70s and quickly gained popularity, gaining a place of honor in the global market. Few people think about the composition of crab sticks when they first meet them. It is enough to try the salad with the same name during a visit, and the next day we are in the store with a basket, and there are already a few packs of favorite product. And we still like them even in spite of the fact that under the alluring name "crab" they hide an ordinary fish stuffing, which is a cunning imitation of the crab meat, - surimi. It is also actively used in the production of breaded fish products, and it can also be found in the famous California roll.

Surimi is produced from the fillets of white fish such as hake, pollock, mackerel and others. It is cleaned of bones, well washed, free of fats and ground into a fine paste, which is mixed with other ingredients and pressed into molds. The result is "crab meat."

The smell typical of crab meat in the product comes from the added crab extract (this is the only crab ingredient in the composition). Although recently it too has been replaced by flavorings with the same deceptive name "Crab". The most widespread ingredient is monosodium glutamate, without which almost every product on the shelf is now available.

How to choose crab sticks

Since many manufacturers sometimes abuse food additives and, in addition to flavor enhancers, may add stabilizers and thickeners (so that the product holds its shape better and does not fall apart), replacing natural ingredients and making the product cheaper, before buying always read the composition. Try to choose a product appropriate in price, quality, and natural composition. Although you have to try a lot of sticks from different manufacturers, but a healthy diet is necessary in this age. Quality crabsticks will contain many health benefits - like all fish products, they are rich in fluoride and iodine.

Surimi minced meat should come first among all the ingredients on the label, because the rules of the regulatory documents require that all the ingredients be arranged from a higher percentage to a lower one.

The best sticks will be those that have minced surimi in the first place, followed by starch and then everything else. Crab sticks, which have soy protein in them, are better not to give their preference. Therefore, the first thing you should pay attention to when buying:

Composition .

We buy a product with our eyes - if it's attractive, our hands reach for it. But how many of us know what crab sticks should look like? It seems more beautiful on the shelf sticks with a bright red back, but the coloring of the natural product is not so intense - it is more of a delicate pink. In the production of such "crab meat" less dyes were used. The inside of the minced meat should be white, but not yellow or even gray. The presence of a pink core again hints at the large amount of dyes in the product.

The consistency should be elastic, even flexible, and the sticks themselves should be smooth, without "burrs" and excesses. The absence of such parameters indicates either spoiled products, or about the cheapness of its components - perhaps minced surimi there is very little or not at all.

Appearance

So, the second thing we will pay attention to. Taking a frozen product in your hands, look at its packaging. If you notice ice in the prepackaged sealed package (it can be between the sticks or on the sides of the pack), then most likely the storage conditions were violated. Perhaps the product was already beginning to melt, deform, but it was placed back in the freezer. Clearly, the quality suffered.

Packaging

The third factor that affects the quality. Also pay attention to the type of packaging - it can be a vacuum environment or a gas atmosphere. Usually in stores we meet crab sticks in a vacuum - the film fits tightly to the product, leaving no room for air anywhere. This method of storage increases the shelf life of the product and preserves its quality.

Avoid sticks that are sold loose. You'll never know what their production date or real composition is.

Price

The last thing we also pay attention to. Don't go for the cheap stuff. It's a well-known fact that the cheaper the product, the less natural ingredients it contains. Take care of yourself and your family - it's better to splurge, but to be sure that you have not bought an imitation product, which is already imitation.

Perhaps the best choice is to make crab sticks at home. The ingredients for them can be purchased at almost any store are fish fillets of pollock and cod (or hake fillets), potato starch, egg and water. If desired, you can add soy sauce and spices. Mix all the ingredients together and thoroughly beat in a blender until a smooth emulsion is formed. After stuffing tightly wrapped in clingfilm and boiled in boiling water for 8-10 minutes (homemade crab sticks better subjected to a slight heat treatment, so that the product fully complies with hygiene standards). When the boiled sticks cooled, the back can be tinted with beet juice. You get a delicious product from natural ingredients.

How to properly defrost crab sticks

Many people like crab sticks not only for their taste, but also for their tender, juicy consistency, and because of the wrong defrosting, there is a risk of turning the product into a rubbery, tasteless mass. But there are a few options that will not spoil the crab sticks.

As a rule, defrosting products takes several hours, so take into account the time spent in advance to have time to serve the salad with chilled sticks, not small pieces of ice. The best way to defrost imitation crab meat is to leave it overnight.

In the microwave.

If you want to defrost crab sticks quickly, it's best to use a microwave oven. Today's equipment allows you to not only turn on the "Defrost" mode, but even determine the necessary time by the weight of the product. If your oven does not have this function, you need to focus on 7 minutes. For even defrosting in the middle of the process it is important to turn the sticks.

At the end of all the manipulations done, the product should not be defrosted to the end, because the microwave can simply dry out and even cook it. And this will lead to what we are trying hard to avoid - the sticks will lose juice, shrivel a little, become rubbery, and all the flavor and aroma of crabs will escape with the steam.

Defrost in the microwave only if you plan to use the crab sticks at once. Even slight heating shortens the shelf life.

In the refrigerator

Choosing this method, it is possible to leave the product in the package, making only a small hole (sticks then will not "suffocate" and will not spoil). By defrosting them in a package we will save them from chaffing, loss of juiciness and from premature spoiling, because the product will always be in optimal conditions for it at 0 ... 4 degrees Celsius.

By the way, this is the best way to preserve the organoleptic properties of crab sticks.

In cold water

Also one of the ways when it is better to leave the crab sticks in the factory packaging. You need to fill a bowl with cold water, submerge the sticks in it and leave them that way at room temperature. Defrosting in cold water is similar to the method using a refrigerator - all the same conditions are created, the product is not dried out and does not lose a large percentage of weight.

Crab sticks can be placed under a stream of cold water, making do without additional containers, but a standard package weighs at most 500 grams, so spending a liter of water on that amount is an unaffordable luxury. It is better to make a choice on the side of economy.

You should not defrost fish products in hot water, no matter how great the temptation. Undoubtedly, defrosting will go faster, but the taste and pleasant texture will also be quickly lost. Moreover, this creates a favorable environment for the development of bacteria, which will lead to the unsuitability of the product for consumption.

At room temperature

If possible, you should try to avoid this method of defrosting, because, like any fish product, crab sticks do not like to stay in warm conditions for a long time. The best solution is to start defrosting at room temperature, see when they become slightly frozen, and send them to the refrigerator to complete the process. This way we protect the delicate structure of the product and prevent the possible growth of bacteria.

What are the benefits of crab sticks

Of course, the nutritional properties of the sticks are inferior to the real crab meat, but they can make you happy. Maintaining a diet, you should not be afraid of getting fat and gaining extra pounds by eating them. As described earlier, in the production of minced meat surimi is washed of fat. The output is a molded product that is low in fat and high in protein and carbohydrates. These sticks are also low in calories, just like the Kamchatka crab. Choosing low-fat, low-fat products, we are taking a step towards our health - protecting the body from chronic diseases, especially heart disease.

Any fish product is rich in phosphorus, which plays an important role in the health of our teeth, strong bones and the proper functioning of muscles and organs (especially the kidneys). Less than 100 grams of crab sticks can supply a third of the daily dose we need.

Since no heat treatment is used in the production of crab sticks, all vitamins are preserved in the product. Ground surimi is rich in vitamins A, E, D and the B group. Each carries its own benefits, from strengthening the immune system to the proper functioning of the body.

What you can make with crab sticks

The most popular dish made with crab sticks is, of course, a salad. Already every family has its own tricks and peculiarities in its preparation, and the composition flies off the teeth. So here we will try to describe something new, interesting and equally delicious.

Crabstick Bites

Bites are usually prepared from chicken fillet, but no one forbade experimentation, thanks to which on the expanses of the Internet there are often pictures of cooked balls of seafood. Sliced crab sticks are enveloped in a special dough and then fried in boiling oil. The appetizer is quick and easy to prepare, and the pleasure remains for a long time.

Ingredients:

• Crab sticks - 300 g.
• Potato starch - 150 gr.
• Wheat/rice flour - 150 gr.
• Egg - 3 units.
• Ice water - half a glass.
• Salt, spices - to taste.
• Oil - for frying.

For simplicity, in order not to prepare the batter yourself, you can use already prepared tempura mixture and follow the instructions for its dilution. This will significantly reduce the cooking time of the dish.

Stages of cooking tempura:

1. Sift the flour in a small bowl a couple of times to make it soft and light and remove lumps.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the egg until the yolk is mixed with the egg white, then pour the mixture with ice water.
3. We add the flour to the mixed components and whip until a thick sour cream consistency - it is best to do this with a fork, as with a mixer there is a risk of whipping more than necessary.

Steps in making the whites:

1. Pour the butter into a saucepan and heat it to 150 degrees F.
2. Cut the crab sticks into several pieces (preferably 3, so that the pieces are not small), then dip them in tempura and drop them into the boiling oil. Fry until the dough becomes dark golden in color.
3. Place the bites on paper towels to let the oil drain off. Serve with a warm sauce, such as tartar.

Secrets of using dough:

1. The liquid batter will hold up better if the crab sticks are sprinkled with plain wheat flour beforehand.
2. Try to distribute the batter evenly over the slices, without thick layers. The bites should be crispy on the outside as well as the inside. If you make this mistake, the slices will not fry inside and will remain soft.
3. The temperature must be high, otherwise the dough will absorb the oil and will not be crispy.

Crab stick cutlets

How about surprising your guests with crab meat cutlets? Okay, even if it's not quite crab meat, but we can keep it a secret and have a high-end product on the table, after all. Tender, juicy, and most importantly - very easy and fast to prepare.

We will need:

• Crab sticks - 200 gr.
• Chicken eggs - 2 pcs.
• Hard cheese - 150 gr.
• Garlic - 2 cloves.
• Wheat flour - 4 tablespoons.
• Oil - for frying.
• Greens, salt, pepper - to taste.

Stages of cooking cutlets:

1. Do not forget to defrost the crab sticks in advance - this is very important, since the frozen product is very difficult to grind in a blender.
2. Peeled from the foil, cut the sticks into small pieces, put them in a blender and grind them to a fine shavings.
3. Grate the cheese on a large grater and mix it with the shredded crab sticks, adding the chicken eggs on top. Stir and throw in the pressed garlic. Salt, pepper and stir everything again until homogeneous.
4. The mixture should be thick and sticky. If you can not make patties out of such a dough, add a spoonful of mayonnaise to the filling.
5. Form the round cutlets, roll them on both sides in wheat flour and start frying in a pan with warmed vegetable oil. Fry them until they are golden on both sides.

Tuna and Crab Sandwiches

Make your pets happy with new flavors for breakfast to get the day started "on the right foot." A pasta of juicy tuna and tender crab sticks is already drooling.

We'll need:

• Crabsticks - 400 g.
• Tinned tuna - 200 g.
• Red onion - half.
• Garlic - 1 clove
• Mayonnaise - 250 g (you can replace it with fat sour cream).
• Greens, salt, pepper to taste.
• Toasts - 6 pieces.

Preparation Step:

1. We chop the onion, garlic and crab sticks with tuna - we should get an almost mushy mass.
2. After chopping, we mix these components, pour them with mayonnaise and stir again to distribute them evenly.
3. The finished pasta is spread on slices of bread and served to the table. You can add a leaf of fresh lettuce to the sandwiches - it is great for fish products, giving the dish a summery freshness.

Photo of crab sticks