How Old is Too Old?

[BunnyDo]

O.K., first of all hubby and I primarily big game hunt and fish...not crabbers so do forgive me if this is a stupid question.  I feel stupid asking it so I'm pretty sure it is.  Last summer we went crabbing in FL.  I have some family that live in Baltimore and they steam the crabs live...guts and all.  I cleaned mine first and I know this is just "wrong" for some people but guts and all is just not for me.  Just my personal taste.  Each night when we came in I threw the live crabs in ice water, "shocked them", and cleaned them.  We put them in zip lock bags and froze them.  I put them in the freezer when I returned home and well...forgot about them.  My question is, are they too old to cook now...they've been in the freezer since last season (about 11-12 months).  I know the meat is not the same as when cooked fresh and will get mushy, but my intent was to use it for sauce or in gumbo.  I've heard some people say it is simply not good after about 6 months.  Is this true?  Since we have no trouble freezing red meat and fish for up to a year I was just curious.  Should I just toss the crabs?

[dfran]

I never cooked raw crab before, but I wouldn't have a lot of faith in the outcome. 11 months is way too long for seafood.

[jack1747]

I never cooked raw crab before, but I wouldn't have a lot of faith in the outcome. 11 months is way too long for seafood.

That's about the limit that we have kept them, vacuum packed, and they were ok.  I don't know about just being in a ziplock bag..  

PS: Welcome to the BCA... 

[BunnyDo]

Kind of what I was thinking. Thanks!

[BunnyDo]

Is it O.K. to clean them like this and freeze for a short time before cooking...like a few days later when we get home?  Or should I still vacum pack?  Reason I ask, we usually go crabbing in Destin and we simply don't catch enough in one night to cook.  We usually go with several people so it takes 3 or 4 nights to really get enough of them to cook....maybe I'm not going in the right places though or doing it right.  We just use the nets/bait and crab off the pier.  Would probably do better if we baited traps and left them out overnight.....  It's way fun though!