@τεσττεστ-υ5θ well if all those ingredients doesn't appeal to someone It's disgusting it has so many fillers everything but not even a little bit of crab to each his own palette!
Imitation crab has a few drops of real crab juice. So, a person with a shellfish allergy can still have a serious allergic reaction. Voice of experience here.
Im a construction worker and years ago we were doing roofing on a fish plant in akutan alaska. The particular roof we were working on was over the surimi plant which is the paste they use to make imitation crab as well as many other products. The smell coming out of that place guaranteed I would never eat imitation crab again. We would be gagging constantly while trying to work. They basically grind the fish whole. Brains bones and all into a fine paste then mix it with coloring and flavoring to make it less disgusting.
I was thinking the same thing. If I had to guess, id say soy textured vegetable protein (TVP) it’s the same stuff at what cheap bacon bits are made from.
I love it, no hefty price and no cracking. I used to just eat it cold for years, but saw a recommendation to steam it for a few minutes and dip it in butter. That's actually very good too.
As a Chef, I remember when we first started seeing this. Back then (80s) it was pollock that was cooked in a crab stock to impart its crab flavor.IMO It sure tasted better than the more recent Krab products. Just saying. ✌️👍 EDIT: WOW!! Thanks for all of the likes, it's by far the most I've ever gotten. Guess I'll have to share more "good-ol-days" memories from my Chefing days in the 80s-2000s. I've got some interesting one that's for sure. ;)
Notice they don't say a word about what the other 50 to 70 percent that it's made of today is? This has happened to most food since the 80's, gen modified, more processed, more fake, more poison... They're making us more and more sick... Knowingly and deliberately. All the seed oils and sugars unnecessarily added to everything alone.
@@NotyouraveragewhiteguyI like real crab, but I also like the fake stuff too. The Krab is really low in calories and high in protein so it’s a filling snack or meal that isn’t crazy expensive
Yeah, when you can unroll it like a scroll, you get the impression there may have been some processing going on 😂😂 I am also a fan of these tasty little hotdogs
@@LycanKai14??? Do you know how much process american food goes through? Chemicals, additives like preservatives and pesticides, all of that while not constituting an enormous portion of the food are present in enough doses to cause health defects and is a very high topic of debate, has been for decades but hopefully something will soon be done about it with rfk jr and his aides in office. Bernie sanders is also vocal about wanting to decrease additives and restrict shortcuts producers use in our foods to make it healthier to eat. American cheese is not even a cheese it is a cheesy product which fda regulations state it can't be listed as 'cheese' Tldr: read the ingredients list of the next packaged item you eat and see if you recognize all of it
@@haveachocobarignore that guy, I'm sure he's content with not knowing what he eats and continue to enjoy his vegetable oil and carcinogenic diet 😅 most of these worms bury their head in the sand and are so brainwashed, they insult anyone that doesn't blindly swallow everything the government puts out. He's a good little pion :D
The fish fillets go through a meat separator to remove the flesh from the skin. Then run through a refiner to remove remaining skin. Then mixed in huge mixing bowls with sorbitol and a couple other ingredients. Then froze into blocks. Then customers thaw the blocks and add sugar, crab juice and coloring to make final product. It's just the flesh of the fish fillets. I was a surimi technician on a factory trawler for 15 years
As far as taste, it works ok when used in some kind of seafood pasta/casserole/salad, but not for carnivore/Keto, as it's pretty high in sugar/carbs per serving.
"What Imitation Crab Meat Is Actually Made Of May Surprise You" You had me going for a second there, I thought the surprise was going to be actual crab meat.
@@Lemony123 there's a massive difference between what people are buying and I'm sure the vast majority would NOT be happy to be eating whole bugs grounded up. That's what. They deserve to know
This is actually not as processed or unhealthy as people think. It’s just ground pollock with something to keep it together. The most processed thing in imitation crab is actually the food colouring.
I see this stuff made at sea for a living. It's fillets that are minced, washed, refined, mixed with cryo or real sugar, then out the extruder into 20 lb blocks. It's just sugar, and fish. Or cryo, and fish. It also comes in different grades, ra, a, b, ka, fa, sa Ra being the lowest and sa being the highest. Ra is made with the scalps and frames of the fish basically. The other stuff is made with fillets. Reject fillets and regular fillets with no defects I should edit and say that we make the surimi, then other companies buy that and turn it into imitation crab, how they make the imitation crab idk, I only make the surimi
Don’t stop the show! It’s the best discussion of old school content out there. How about a new monthly show highlighting the best Dungeon and Dragon magazine adventures? It doesn’t need to be a countdown. Just five adventures that you two agree in advance to discuss for an hour every month. There’s a lot of gems in those pages besides Mud Sorcerer’s Tomb that would be great to highlight for the community. Please consider it guys 🙏
I'm in the UK and here it hasn't been called crab stick for over 30 years, because we have laws against misleading names on food. Here it's known as seafood sticks or surimi. It's not as good as unadulterated fish fillets or other seafood of course but at least the filler ingredients are not chemical. It's fine either as a snack (dip it in ponzu sauce, yum) or as an ingredient in a Japanese udon soup for example. If you get into the habit of snacking on seafood like this or pre-cooked tinned mussels for example instead of eating cheetohs or whatever between meals then it's comparatively healthy.
@@UzziHD I thought uric acid was prevalent in prawns/shrimps a lot? Surimi is made from white fish - usually coley i.e. pollock. Yes mussels may have uric acid but I don't overindulge, same goes for prawn, squid etc. as I live in the UK and it's very expensive. Also looking at foods that are good against gout I seem to be on the right track, plenty of citrus fruits, coffee (!), and wholemeal not white bread.
@@Mikhail-Tkachenkoa couple thousand pages on Google disagree. With nothing to support your claims. 5 of the first 10 are from pretty reputable sources
@@Mikhail-Tkachenko I grew up poor, and in New England no less. I actually looked a bit, more then your dumbass ignorant comment warranted. Just admit you're wrong, and we can both move along
Thats supply and demand for you, this happens to everything that is plentiful at the beginning but slow to restock like cod was. Cod was a common mans fish but as the global population was reduced it cost more and more to harvest.
one popular brand= Ingredients: Fish Protein, Water, Egg Whites, Pea Starch, Sugar, Sorbitol, Potato Starch, Contains 2% Or Less Of: Golden King Crab Meat, Natural And Artificial Flavor (Extracts Of Blue Crab, Snow Crab, Lobster, And Alaska Pollock), Refined Fish Oil* (Alaska Pollock), Rice Wine (Water, Rice, Koji), Modified Tapioca Starch, Sea Salt, Carrageenan, Yam Flour, Potassium Chloride, Disodium Inosinate, Sodium Pyrophosphate, Carmine, Paprika, Color Added. *adds A Trivial Amount Of Fat.
I live in South China's Guangdong province, in the Pearl River Delta Area, fresh seafood is abundant, we have wet markets everywhere and a cuisine based on the idea of freshness being top priority especially in seafood which makes up the bulk of it. It's the most influential Chinese cuisine globally.
@LinaLeBlanc-l1v I saw a documentary one time and it had some ppl who lived in what looked like a 3rd world sh*thole somewhere along the coastline or lakes of the Louisiana/Texas border where everyone was living in stilled houses with no roads and only boats to go from place to place but they invited the presenter and his crew to a gathering and cooked a whole load of seafood and had so much they have to carry some in buckets and wheel barrows, they had crabs n corn cooked in some red seafood broth 🤤🤤🤤 😋 😋 😋
For people with shellfish allergies there is a brand called “simply surimi” that is shellfish free and gives you the feeling of eating “crab”. It’s made from Alaskan pollock.
@@pettynettie5514because they’re still curious about the taste and wanna try it, so they need to get creative with alternatives. It’s why veggie burgers exist, as well as to have a sense of “fitting in.”!
@@AmbersTurdbut the people of the Pearl River Delta say otherwise because you can't have spectacularly fresh imitation crab, it has to be alive in the tank before it begins the process of being made into dinner
No offense, but making it in a dip for crackers and “I can tell the difference” is funny in the same comment. At least to me it seems a waste of crab meat.
I live right by the Chesapeake Bay. Blue crab country. We still eat that stuff all the time around here. I just bought a pack today. Around here we usually just mix it with mayonnaise and sometimes tiny shrimp and make sandwiches with it. People around here love it.
Originally from the east coast but been in the rocky mountain west for years, and I love surimi! A bit of mayo and imitation crab on a Hawaiian roll or bread reminds me of the wonderful crab and lobster rolls i could still afford to enjoy in Maine back in the 70s. I'm sure that between luncheon meats, hot dogs and sausage, I've eaten worse things in my life!
Yep and I just have it as a snack between meals - dipped into Japanese Ponzu sauce for example (but you could just use soy with a dash of lemon and/or vinegar) which is obviously healthier than grabbing a bag of cheetohs or whatever. Or as an ingredient in a Japanese udon soup, had that the other day made from dashi, soy and mirin as a soup base, threw in some wakame, chopped spring onion and surimi/fish sticks (here in the UK it's illegal to sell it as crab sticks now) plus the noodles, with tempura fried prawns on the top.
Growing up on the Delmarva Peninsula, bushels of crabs were ever-present at every seasonal gathering & I learned how to eat, & loved them from about age 4. Our fondness was such that we'd pay the outrageous, out-of-season rates for Gulf Coast jumbo & colossal blueclaws. I married a guy from Cape May NJ who was a chef. He always referred to the imitation product as "sea legs," & basically avoided it always. Nothing beats the sweetness & texture of genuine crabmeat, be it Blue Claw or Alaskan King.
I love Alaskan gold red blue - I love crab meat and Alaska has the absolute best in the world. Same for fish. Can’t beat those icy waters for fresh delicious foods from the sea. Spectacular. Golden - is wow
I just used two whole packs of these in my shrimp ceviché. Man it took it to another level. The sweetness of the meaty imitation crab topped on the juicy lime cooked shrimp and cucumbers cilantro onions n tomato WHEW! Man I threw down. But the imitation crab pulled it all together. ❤
Imitation crab is delicious. In fact there are certain dishes that I prefer the imitation crab. I'll get a pack and some angel hair pasta, make a butter and lemon sauce and everyone loves it. Literally just warm it up with some fresh garlic it's incredible. I would love to hear more about this ceviche though because it sounds delicious.
@@ashleydodd9145 we usually put tapatio on ours and some limon or lime 😋 soooo good, we put imitation crab, cilantro, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, a lil salt and it is soooo good! OP has good taste !
Fun fact:crab, lobster, and oysters used to be peasant food. These were the low-brow, low-class sea bugs the upper-crusters would dare eat, and were this plentiful and cheap. Now they are considered almost delicacies and will cost you a pretty penny.
And like many things we assume to be largely American -- not. It's actually a variation on a traditional Japanese family of fish cakes, but they were able to market them in the US as "imitation crab." It's a bit like how Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was animated in its entirety in Japan.
Im honestly impressed how they made it taste like actual crab. I was convinced it was actual crab meat until i saw packaging my parents left out after cooking 😂
It's good in salads, rolls (like fake lobster rolls), and in mac n cheese. But no, not nearly close to tasting and feeling like real blue or king crab.
I know a guy who would buy a pack of these and just eat them out the pack as is... I thought they were supposed to be cooked and served as actual crab, as in, they were made with raw fish/shellfish but he politely educated me and said "No, they are basically like a fishcake dough after cooking, you use them however you like" and continued to chow down on a packet of lukewarm saran wrapped imitation crab sticks. I put my hands in the air like "I am defeated, you win".
Bro😂 I chow down on them too. They are delicious. Yes you can eat them right out of the package. This is what they put in many types of sushi rolls. : 🍣
Will always remember Gordon Ramsey screaming at a restaurant owner for using Krab without actually explaining it’s imitation crab, he was like “why did you spell crab with a k?” and the owner was like “well we get it frozen from a store, it’s not real crab it’s imitation”, he was soooooo pissed off 😂
I eat kosher & there is a vegan one bc this substitute fish isn’t kosher. When I tell uuu it’s soooo good. My friends who don’t keep kosher say it taste just like real crab. & I’m glad it exists bc I’ve been so tempted to try the real thing 😋😁😊
It usually contains at least a few drops of real crab juice. That means that if you're allergic to shell fish, you'll still have an allergic reaction. Learned that the hard way...in ER
In the UK these are now sold as "fish sticks" or "surimi sticks" they taste exactly the same as the crab sticks I remember from my childhood. They're one of the cheapest options in the meat and fish fridge section in terms of cost per gram of protein.
You make it out to be a really bad thing… I think it’s an amazing and versatile product. For us who are ( or suddenly became in my case) allergic to crab it’s wonderful . It does not taste the exact same, but can satisfy the craving 😊
@@mirzamaythat reminds me one year at a family cookout, I was eating a hotdog with relish and one of my uncles comes up to me and says "you're eating the floor sweepings from both the slaughterhouse and the pickle factory" and I lost it 😂
They’re absolutely delicious. Quite popular here in the UK. Ate them all my life then a few years ago I actually read the ingredients and haven’t had them since 😅 Not a terrible food choice, compared to fast foods or other ultra processed stuff, but not that healthy, either.
it has flavorings whatever that even means, sugar , more sugar . starch ( and this is for all the caucasians that insist, oh we don't eat african food well its in it )
I LOVE cold imitation crab and cocktail sauce - delicious. When my dad was alive we would chow down on it while watching TV until we were almost sick. It doesn’t bother me that it’s fake or hotdog like - it’s actually fairly healthy unless you have a gluten allergy. I saw a How It’s Made that was reposted with captions claiming how gross the process is but it was some of the cleanest machinery I’ve ever seen in a factory and it didn’t change my opinion at all!
In fact crab have a lot of population after breeding it mean that was easy to get it, and they're easy to repopulate a colony of crabs Now... Why it expensive?
I used to get this a lot during lunch breaks at work. Super cheap but a tasty snack. Even if it is unhealthy and a much worse version from the real thing. Still good. Literally could buy an entire tray of them for less than $2
@@BoHorn It would, imitation crab is pumped full of filler ingredients and nitrates that turn it into a solid cohesive fish log. It’s ultra processed additives can cause digestion issues and spike blood sugar. Of course real crab meat is healthier. Butter is also health as long as you don’t over consume it every day.
While actual crab’s pricing isn’t what’s deterring me from eating it, it’s actually the effort of having to break the shell and pick out the fragments off the meat that’s the tedious part. Oh and also cleaning the mess afterwards is a chore and a half.
This is one thing of many I love about the UK. The UK bans misleading and harmful things in their food supply (and even body care and make-up products) ACTUALLY protecting their citizens. Meanwhile, over here in the U.S. we hear constantly how we should look for the the Food and Drug Administration’s “seal of approval” on things we use (namely, it seems, to discourage us from using natural products they can’t control) but the FDA approves SO MANY THINGS for us that other sane countries like the UK and many others will reject from this country bc it’s deceptive or risks human health (as well as that of our animals or earth itself). Anytime someone says “but it’s FDA approved”, I’m like 🙄
@@jamieknight7366 Ye man, they're sold everywhere in europe because guess what, it's cheap and not bad for you (eaten moderately at least), i don't get why he had to make that comment
@@Tardsmat morning in it seems particularly harmful, although the seed oil is not great, but the way it is packaged can often be misleading which is often probably more important. I do think we need to be more strict about how food is presented to people so they can make more informed decisions.
I use fake crab when I do my crusted cedar-planked salmon on the grill. I chop it fine in my food processor. and spread seasoned mayo on the filet to act as a glue to hold the chopped krab in place. Makes a great crunchy crust.
Oh man, I remember eating real crab for the first time, and I was so shocked at how delicious it was. I mainly had imitation crab, which was also good, but I knew it didn't have much actual crab in it. But man, eating actual crab meat is so good.
While we largely know it as imitation crab in the US and Europe, it's actually a surimi product that originated in Japan and is similar to those spiral fish cakes (narutomaki) that you occasionally have with udon or such.
Here in the U.K., those "crab" sticks are called _fish_ sticks which must make sense. And yes, crab is in fact quite rare to get and the prices are quite dear to buy it, but it's still not a bit bad when you want a crab salad sandwich from your local baker.
I actually enjoy imitation crab meat. It goes great in salad's with Italian dressing. And being from South Louisiana, that makes me weird to the rest of the people down here, including my wife. But I do enjoy boiled crabs as well
I think it depends how you use it. I used to hate it too. But I found I like it in sushi rolls,with sriracha, umnai and Kewpie mayo …full of flavor and the rice balances it out.
I actually like the taste of it😂. Had some in seafood salad from the poppy store and I usually don’t eat the salads because of onions and peppers but it was good. Three days in a row
Homemade crab salad: Diced onions (optional grilled), diced celery, tzatziki sauce with dill, shredded mozzarella, a small cheap container of real crab meat, and 2 lbs of imitation crab sticks - chopped up. It's great and tastes legit like crab because of the real crab meat, but you can make A LOT since the imitation meat fills it up.
INGREDIENTS:
Surimi (45%) [Alaska Pollock (Fish), and/or Hake (Fish), Sugar], Water, Wheat Starch, Potato Starch, Rapeseed Oil, Pea Starch, Sugar, Salt, Dried Egg White, Flavourings (contains Crustacean), Dried Egg, Colours (Carmine, Paprika Extract).
Absolutely disgusting
@@GG-yn6jw ...it is basically fish, eggs,flour,natural colors and flavorings. how is it disgusting?
@@GG-yn6jwyou must only eat plant base then lol
@τεσττεστ-υ5θ well if all those ingredients doesn't appeal to someone It's disgusting it has so many fillers everything but not even a little bit of crab to each his own palette!
🤢🤢🤢🤮
So it’s a sea hotdog
It’s a colddog
its a hotfish
fishdog
Hot fish cold dog lol
@@silverfang1158 I hate you!!
Imitation crab has a few drops of real crab juice. So, a person with a shellfish allergy can still have a serious allergic reaction. Voice of experience here.
I have a severe shellfish allergy and imitation crab in small amounts like inside sushi doesn’t bother me.
Good info.i hope a lot of people that eat this is aware of this.thanks
Actually Not all imitation crab has crab juice in it so important to read ingredients.
I have a shellfish allergy but can eat most kinds of imitation crab. You just gotta look at the ingredients list.
Why bother to eat fake shell fish food. Don’t take the risk 👎
Im a construction worker and years ago we were doing roofing on a fish plant in akutan alaska. The particular roof we were working on was over the surimi plant which is the paste they use to make imitation crab as well as many other products. The smell coming out of that place guaranteed I would never eat imitation crab again. We would be gagging constantly while trying to work. They basically grind the fish whole. Brains bones and all into a fine paste then mix it with coloring and flavoring to make it less disgusting.
Yeah, modern fish mongering is disgusting business
Yuk, nasty stuff
Sounds highly nutritious. At least you won't eat ze bugs
@@dayoonman3264 Frankly bugs are more nutritious than white fish
Rather bugs than this shit @@dayoonman3264
I thought imitation krab was just Plankton in a metal Krab suit
Take the rest of the day off, Mr. Squidward.
It’s the chum bucket specialty
😂😂😂😂😂
RAVIOLI RAVIOLI GIVE ME THE FORMUOLI
Shut your mouth, you mediocre clarinet player!
Good thing the video didn’t bother to mention what was in the other half of the product.
I was thinking the same thing.
If I had to guess, id say soy textured vegetable protein (TVP) it’s the same stuff at what cheap bacon bits are made from.
vegetable oils or some mixture there of
@@kfaf1611 Def not TVP. I am allergic to soy, and imitation crab is AOK for me
@@kfaf1611 no wonder bacon bits suck
"natural flavoring"
This reminds me of the SpongeBob episode called "Imitation Krabs".
Or olde Simpson's street vendor's delightful Crab Juice 😅
same
Ravioli ravioli 😂
@@SdragnastyWhat even is that?
@@juliusnepos6013Thanks for agreeing.
I love it, no hefty price and no cracking. I used to just eat it cold for years, but saw a recommendation to steam it for a few minutes and dip it in butter. That's actually very good too.
Here in Australia you're expected to eat it cold. It is quite cheap
Flake it up, mix into some bacon ranch dressing, sit in the fridge for a couple hours and eat on a big roll
lmao had some in my kitchen and decided to try this and it was awesome, gonna do that from now on. thanks, man! 😂
@@OffGridInvestor Anyone expecting to determine if I eat my food warm or cold better be paying for it all 😊
I have to try that. I may put it on a toasted brioche to see if it taste like a lobster roll.
As a Chef, I remember when we first started seeing this. Back then (80s) it was pollock that was cooked in a crab stock to impart its crab flavor.IMO It sure tasted better than the more recent Krab products. Just saying. ✌️👍
EDIT: WOW!! Thanks for all of the likes, it's by far the most I've ever gotten. Guess I'll have to share more "good-ol-days" memories from my Chefing days in the 80s-2000s. I've got some interesting one that's for sure. ;)
I enjoy alot I get a bag from Sam's for 10 bucks. I make krab tacos, pasta, dips, sushi bowls.
Notice they don't say a word about what the other 50 to 70 percent that it's made of today is?
This has happened to most food since the 80's, gen modified, more processed, more fake, more poison... They're making us more and more sick... Knowingly and deliberately. All the seed oils and sugars unnecessarily added to everything alone.
@@NotyouraveragewhiteguyI like real crab, but I also like the fake stuff too. The Krab is really low in calories and high in protein so it’s a filling snack or meal that isn’t crazy expensive
They didn't say what the other 50% is made of? Do you know what is in it??
I really like it also, just hope it is nothing crazy in it😂😂😂😂
I used to love imitation cream when I was a kid, but now I don't like it anymore. I knew something changed
So seafood spam.
To be fair, Spam is basically 100% pork shoulder with some preservatives added.
@@rifleshooterchannel208 fair
Surimi has sorbitol in it. Not too bad for you. I made it for 15 years.
More of a hot dog
Half is made from fish meat. What is the other half made of what? Sawdust, plastic, and tofu. Gross.
I'm addicted to these lmao. Cheap and really tasty while also being convenient. Nothing beats freshly caught fish, though.
It's poison! I used to make it! This will give you a heart attack
It's like spam but its a fish cake lol
Haha i love these do. Gorge myself on them whenever i get the chance
@@TheHarrisontemple exactly. Fish hot dogs
contains some chemicals that are in silly putty 😅
I like it…..and had no illusions of it being even distantly related to crab….a guilty pleasure…
Yeah, when you can unroll it like a scroll, you get the impression there may have been some processing going on 😂😂 I am also a fan of these tasty little hotdogs
Ah the classic “ there’s food in there somewhere” line
Are you trying to imply that it's not food because it's fish instead of crab??? You people are a joke lol
Its fish with flour you drama queen
@@LycanKai14??? Do you know how much process american food goes through? Chemicals, additives like preservatives and pesticides, all of that while not constituting an enormous portion of the food are present in enough doses to cause health defects and is a very high topic of debate, has been for decades but hopefully something will soon be done about it with rfk jr and his aides in office. Bernie sanders is also vocal about wanting to decrease additives and restrict shortcuts producers use in our foods to make it healthier to eat. American cheese is not even a cheese it is a cheesy product which fda regulations state it can't be listed as 'cheese'
Tldr: read the ingredients list of the next packaged item you eat and see if you recognize all of it
@@haveachocobarignore that guy, I'm sure he's content with not knowing what he eats and continue to enjoy his vegetable oil and carcinogenic diet 😅 most of these worms bury their head in the sand and are so brainwashed, they insult anyone that doesn't blindly swallow everything the government puts out. He's a good little pion :D
Read the ingredients of an orange and see if you recognize all of them. 😂 Most people dont even know the names of very commonly used substances
So basically it's the hot dog of seafood; we don't know what they're made of, we don't wanna know what they're made of, but they're still delicious
hewwo fellow furry owo
:3 @@legocreator768
Idk about delicious lol
The fish fillets go through a meat separator to remove the flesh from the skin. Then run through a refiner to remove remaining skin. Then mixed in huge mixing bowls with sorbitol and a couple other ingredients. Then froze into blocks. Then customers thaw the blocks and add sugar, crab juice and coloring to make final product. It's just the flesh of the fish fillets. I was a surimi technician on a factory trawler for 15 years
Cold crab 😅
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
😂😂😂
"-that mediocrity can pay to greatness"
🏆
Well, no sh1t.
This is "peasant-trying-to-imitate-rich-people" food. 😂😂😂
@@dereenaldoambun9158 imagine unironically calling people "peasants" like it's the 1800s
As far as taste, it works ok when used in some kind of seafood pasta/casserole/salad, but not for carnivore/Keto, as it's pretty high in sugar/carbs per serving.
"What Imitation Crab Meat Is Actually Made Of May Surprise You"
You had me going for a second there, I thought the surprise was going to be actual crab meat.
😂😂
No the surprise is bugs. Carmine look it up 🫢
@@XxKakashiTCGxX Yeah, so what?
@@XxKakashiTCGxXthere's already a gigantic sea bug in the form of crustaceans. Are insects supposed to be some spooky thing? 😅
@@Lemony123 there's a massive difference between what people are buying and I'm sure the vast majority would NOT be happy to be eating whole bugs grounded up. That's what. They deserve to know
I thought imitation was a kind of crab until I turned 13.
We all have a story.
❤
Im gonna ask what part of the ocean imitation is
😂that’s awesome
☠️
This is actually not as processed or unhealthy as people think. It’s just ground pollock with something to keep it together. The most processed thing in imitation crab is actually the food colouring.
That is the definition of processed my dude. When did we get so far removed from real food that imitation crab isn't considered processed?
@@Leo9ine ya know, not processed, aside from the starches, the oils, processed sugar, and artificial coloring 😂
It's effectively the seafood version of a sausage. Definitely processed.
I don't think you know what processed means lol
I see this stuff made at sea for a living. It's fillets that are minced, washed, refined, mixed with cryo or real sugar, then out the extruder into 20 lb blocks. It's just sugar, and fish. Or cryo, and fish.
It also comes in different grades, ra, a, b, ka, fa, sa
Ra being the lowest and sa being the highest. Ra is made with the scalps and frames of the fish basically. The other stuff is made with fillets. Reject fillets and regular fillets with no defects
I should edit and say that we make the surimi, then other companies buy that and turn it into imitation crab, how they make the imitation crab idk, I only make the surimi
Don’t stop the show! It’s the best discussion of old school content out there. How about a new monthly show highlighting the best Dungeon and Dragon magazine adventures? It doesn’t need to be a countdown. Just five adventures that you two agree in advance to discuss for an hour every month. There’s a lot of gems in those pages besides Mud Sorcerer’s Tomb that would be great to highlight for the community. Please consider it guys 🙏
Crab REALLY shouldn't be expensive, at least along the coast.
Go to Anchorage , Alaska where the King Crab is harvested, it's more expensive than Seattle where the crabbing/fishing fleets are ported from.
Neither should taxes. But here we are.
The main reasons it's so expensive are its low yield and very short shelf life.
@@Shifsabreit was actually peasant food that became popular by tourists who wanted it delivered where it wasn’t plentiful
@@mrmedallis The reason it was peasant food was they didn't realize how quickly it went bad back then, and they lacked refrigeration.
I'm in the UK and here it hasn't been called crab stick for over 30 years, because we have laws against misleading names on food. Here it's known as seafood sticks or surimi. It's not as good as unadulterated fish fillets or other seafood of course but at least the filler ingredients are not chemical. It's fine either as a snack (dip it in ponzu sauce, yum) or as an ingredient in a Japanese udon soup for example. If you get into the habit of snacking on seafood like this or pre-cooked tinned mussels for example instead of eating cheetohs or whatever between meals then it's comparatively healthy.
This
What are you a ghoul? You are going to get gout eating all of those purine rich foods!
@@UzziHD I thought uric acid was prevalent in prawns/shrimps a lot? Surimi is made from white fish - usually coley i.e. pollock. Yes mussels may have uric acid but I don't overindulge, same goes for prawn, squid etc. as I live in the UK and it's very expensive. Also looking at foods that are good against gout I seem to be on the right track, plenty of citrus fruits, coffee (!), and wholemeal not white bread.
@@simonh6371 So isn’t Hot Dog kinda misleading? 🙆♂️
@@simonh6371 purine rich “foods.”
And to think, that crab and lobster used to be trash food for the poor
@@Mikhail-Tkachenkoa couple thousand pages on Google disagree. With nothing to support your claims. 5 of the first 10 are from pretty reputable sources
@@Mikhail-Tkachenko I grew up poor, and in New England no less. I actually looked a bit, more then your dumbass ignorant comment warranted. Just admit you're wrong, and we can both move along
Thats supply and demand for you, this happens to everything that is plentiful at the beginning but slow to restock like cod was. Cod was a common mans fish but as the global population was reduced it cost more and more to harvest.
people make delicacies, wealthier people try them, the demand goes up, the price goes up. Oxtails, ribs. its all the same story
Back then they don't know how to cook it.
So it's essentially the hotdogs of the sea.
What is imitation crab made of?
“Maybe half of something”
“Goodbye”
one popular brand= Ingredients: Fish Protein, Water, Egg Whites, Pea Starch, Sugar, Sorbitol, Potato Starch, Contains 2% Or Less Of: Golden King Crab Meat, Natural And Artificial Flavor (Extracts Of Blue Crab, Snow Crab, Lobster, And Alaska Pollock), Refined Fish Oil* (Alaska Pollock), Rice Wine (Water, Rice, Koji), Modified Tapioca Starch, Sea Salt, Carrageenan, Yam Flour, Potassium Chloride, Disodium Inosinate, Sodium Pyrophosphate, Carmine, Paprika, Color Added. *adds A Trivial Amount Of Fat.
And then there’s a mushroom that looks and tastes like a lobster, it’s never a dull day learning something new about food. 🍴
What is it called?
@@dandagerman6604 I heard a mushroom called Chicken of the Forest tastes like chicken.
I heard dulse algae tastes like bacon.
@@dandagerman6604 Lion's mane mushroom is supposed to taste like crab/lobster. It also has cognitive benefits.
What?! I have never heard of this mushroom 😮
@@_Sakina_1It's been getting popular over the last 10 years or so, mainly in brain supplements and supplements for energy
I'm so glad I live in South Louisiana and fresh Gulf seafood is plentiful ❤😊
I would live in Louisiana if it wasn't so darn hot.
I lived in Fort Myers Florida and we ALWAYS had fresh crab shrimps and spiny lobster😀
I live in South China's Guangdong province, in the Pearl River Delta Area, fresh seafood is abundant, we have wet markets everywhere and a cuisine based on the idea of freshness being top priority especially in seafood which makes up the bulk of it. It's the most influential Chinese cuisine globally.
@LinaLeBlanc-l1v I saw a documentary one time and it had some ppl who lived in what looked like a 3rd world sh*thole somewhere along the coastline or lakes of the Louisiana/Texas border where everyone was living in stilled houses with no roads and only boats to go from place to place but they invited the presenter and his crew to a gathering and cooked a whole load of seafood and had so much they have to carry some in buckets and wheel barrows, they had crabs n corn cooked in some red seafood broth 🤤🤤🤤 😋 😋 😋
Except for that oil spill several years ago. 😢
This is actually way better than I had expected. I thought they were chicken eggs.
For people with shellfish allergies there is a brand called “simply surimi” that is shellfish free and gives you the feeling of eating “crab”. It’s made from Alaskan pollock.
Thank you. I didn’t realize you had to get certain ones to get them shellfish free.
Who would want to "pretend" they're eating something that could kill them? What's the allure?
@@pettynettie5514because they’re still curious about the taste and wanna try it, so they need to get creative with alternatives. It’s why veggie burgers exist, as well as to have a sense of “fitting in.”!
@@Snakeofwrath
Smart.🤩
🎉
I can tell the difference immediately between a real crab cracker dip vs an imitation.
Real crab is worth every penny 🙌🏻🦀
I think crabs would disagree. Im sure crabs push for the imitation crab.
Meh, I can tell the difference. But is it "Worth every penny" for the real deal? Definitely not for me.
As a Cantonese chef I agree
@@AmbersTurdbut the people of the Pearl River Delta say otherwise because you can't have spectacularly fresh imitation crab, it has to be alive in the tank before it begins the process of being made into dinner
No offense, but making it in a dip for crackers and “I can tell the difference” is funny in the same comment. At least to me it seems a waste of crab meat.
I live right by the Chesapeake Bay. Blue crab country. We still eat that stuff all the time around here. I just bought a pack today. Around here we usually just mix it with mayonnaise and sometimes tiny shrimp and make sandwiches with it. People around here love it.
Not this Bay resident.
Sounds like a po boy
Originally from the east coast but been in the rocky mountain west for years, and I love surimi! A bit of mayo and imitation crab on a Hawaiian roll or bread reminds me of the wonderful crab and lobster rolls i could still afford to enjoy in Maine back in the 70s. I'm sure that between luncheon meats, hot dogs and sausage, I've eaten worse things in my life!
………mayonnaise…😢
Love it, hubs hates it. ~Ak
Imitation crab is like my snack of choice. Lol love it!
Hey man. Its 1/10 the price and its actually pretty good if prepared and paired appropriately
Yep and I just have it as a snack between meals - dipped into Japanese Ponzu sauce for example (but you could just use soy with a dash of lemon and/or vinegar) which is obviously healthier than grabbing a bag of cheetohs or whatever. Or as an ingredient in a Japanese udon soup, had that the other day made from dashi, soy and mirin as a soup base, threw in some wakame, chopped spring onion and surimi/fish sticks (here in the UK it's illegal to sell it as crab sticks now) plus the noodles, with tempura fried prawns on the top.
Crab is one of the most abundant crustaceans on the planet. It's not expensive. Only certain kinds of crab are expensive.
Namely King
Crabs that have the big meats are expensive. Edible crabs I should say as well.
The tasty ones
Where I live literally all crab available is expensive, the cheapest being canned crab at 20 dollars a pound
Going to literally any grocery proves you wrong
Imitation crab is still kinda good with cocktail sauce
Yes it is!
Truth!!
Everything is good with cocktail sauce, even peanut butter and Ovaltine.
Yes, Facts💯💯🎯
@@erikmonroe8087 .
As someone that is allergic to shellfish I support imitation crab that has no shellfish in it.
That raises more questions than answers!
If fish paste is only ⅓-½ of the stick, then what's the other ⅔-½ made of?
Flour or starch
Chemical s. It’s TRASH . I don’t eat it.
Human
@@Tsukuyomi500 imitation grey smurf.
YES! That’s what I was thinking! What’s the rest made of?!
This is in all California rolls, it’s just surimi and mayo
Also pretty much all kani (crab) salad, at least here in the US.
And not particularly good.
What?!! I'm allergic to fish but ate this??
And sesame seed oil
@@Bwapapobviously not really allergic.....or if you are your reaction is such small potatoes
Growing up on the Delmarva Peninsula, bushels of crabs were ever-present at every seasonal gathering & I learned how to eat, & loved them from about age 4. Our fondness was such that we'd pay the outrageous, out-of-season rates for Gulf Coast jumbo & colossal blueclaws.
I married a guy from Cape May NJ who was a chef.
He always referred to the imitation product as "sea legs," & basically avoided it always.
Nothing beats the sweetness & texture of genuine crabmeat, be it Blue Claw or Alaskan King.
You did well to avoid this poison. 👍
@@srb4722 what poison? 😂
I love Alaskan gold red blue - I love crab meat and Alaska has the absolute best in the world. Same for fish. Can’t beat those icy waters for fresh delicious foods from the sea. Spectacular. Golden - is wow
Same…grew up in Salisbury spent many summer days crabbing in Chesapeake and area rivers.
Cape May is beautiful. I hope he's taken you around town.
if you thought imitation crab wasn’t heavily processed then i really don’t know what to say
I just used two whole packs of these in my shrimp ceviché. Man it took it to another level. The sweetness of the meaty imitation crab topped on the juicy lime cooked shrimp and cucumbers cilantro onions n tomato WHEW! Man I threw down. But the imitation crab pulled it all together. ❤
That sounds good
Imitation crab is delicious. In fact there are certain dishes that I prefer the imitation crab.
I'll get a pack and some angel hair pasta, make a butter and lemon sauce and everyone loves it.
Literally just warm it up with some fresh garlic it's incredible. I would love to hear more about this ceviche though because it sounds delicious.
that sounds great! i love imitation crab 🦀 in several recipes. gotta try that
Wow that sounds actually delicious I’ve never tried it 😂
@@ashleydodd9145 we usually put tapatio on ours and some limon or lime 😋 soooo good, we put imitation crab, cilantro, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, a lil salt and it is soooo good! OP has good taste !
Fun fact:crab, lobster, and oysters used to be peasant food. These were the low-brow, low-class sea bugs the upper-crusters would dare eat, and were this plentiful and cheap. Now they are considered almost delicacies and will cost you a pretty penny.
Same thing has happened with cuts of beef, like tongue and oxtail.
The Bible says crustaceans should not be eaten. And I believe this is the reason why....
I love how this is probably one of the most truthful food products sold in America.
Yeah american would complain about these being highly processed food and proceed to eat fast food, cereal or buy lunchable and eat.
The best food sticker I've ever read was " Genuine imitation crabmeat"
And like many things we assume to be largely American -- not. It's actually a variation on a traditional Japanese family of fish cakes, but they were able to market them in the US as "imitation crab."
It's a bit like how Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was animated in its entirety in Japan.
Im honestly impressed how they made it taste like actual crab. I was convinced it was actual crab meat until i saw packaging my parents left out after cooking 😂
Oh Bikini Bottom, we pledge our hearts to you
AS FAITHFUL, AS DEEP, AS TRUE AS BLUE. OH BIKINI BOTTOM WE LOVE YOU
Watching SpongeBob now 😂
I used to like imitation crab. I haven't had it for a long time and i don't think i could stomach it anymore
Too much sugar
Im not gonna lie... Imitation tastes pretty good, good snack, and its cheep
Howard likes HUM so he’s cool in my book. He appreciated underrated bands, indie rock and metal
It's good in salads, rolls (like fake lobster rolls), and in mac n cheese. But no, not nearly close to tasting and feeling like real blue or king crab.
I know a guy who would buy a pack of these and just eat them out the pack as is... I thought they were supposed to be cooked and served as actual crab, as in, they were made with raw fish/shellfish but he politely educated me and said "No, they are basically like a fishcake dough after cooking, you use them however you like" and continued to chow down on a packet of lukewarm saran wrapped imitation crab sticks.
I put my hands in the air like "I am defeated, you win".
Bro😂 I chow down on them too. They are delicious. Yes you can eat them right out of the package. This is what they put in many types of sushi rolls. : 🍣
I think it is cooked u can eat it raw . They even put it in imitation crab sushi straight from the plastic
I think it is cooked u can eat it . They even put it in imitation crab sushi straight from the plastic
Ahhhh eewwe 😅
It's totally fine to eat straight out of the package. Cooked and convenient🎉
"WhAt Is ImMiTaTiOn CrAb MaDe FrOm" -immitation crab probably
Actually, there isn't any actual real crab in imitation crab. Imitation crab meat is random fish made to look like crab
@@mynamegoeshere9754 bro you found the truth
@@mynamegoeshere9754….imitation
@@mynamegoeshere9754... yeah that's the point of this comment
@@mynamegoeshere9754 the joke is that the imitation crab is imitating the title of the video
Will always remember Gordon Ramsey screaming at a restaurant owner for using Krab without actually explaining it’s imitation crab, he was like “why did you spell crab with a k?” and the owner was like “well we get it frozen from a store, it’s not real crab it’s imitation”, he was soooooo pissed off 😂
😂😂😂
I eat kosher & there is a vegan one bc this substitute fish isn’t kosher. When I tell uuu it’s soooo good. My friends who don’t keep kosher say it taste just like real crab. & I’m glad it exists bc I’ve been so tempted to try the real thing 😋😁😊
Kosher surimi is made out of several types of fish. It is not vegan.
Glad to see Charlie owning up to his mistakes and admit his wrongs. A sign of a truly humble person.
It usually contains at
least a few drops of real crab juice. That means that if you're allergic to shell fish, you'll still have an allergic reaction. Learned that the hard way...in ER
In the UK these are now sold as "fish sticks" or "surimi sticks" they taste exactly the same as the crab sticks I remember from my childhood. They're one of the cheapest options in the meat and fish fridge section in terms of cost per gram of protein.
You make it out to be a really bad thing…
I think it’s an amazing and versatile product. For us who are ( or suddenly became in my case) allergic to crab it’s wonderful .
It does not taste the exact same, but can satisfy the craving 😊
take care, someone commented here that some use a bit of crab and made them have an allergic reaction (Sorry not my main language)
Be careful, some brands add crab juice to the slurry for flavor.
so it's the hot dog of seafood
😂
No, fish sausages are the hot dogs of seafood.
@@pwabd2784 Lobster Sausages too
Yes. If hot dogs were good. And were made of fish meat and starch instead of beaks, feet and buttholes swept up from a factory floor. 😉
@@mirzamaythat reminds me one year at a family cookout, I was eating a hotdog with relish and one of my uncles comes up to me and says "you're eating the floor sweepings from both the slaughterhouse and the pickle factory" and I lost it 😂
it's like chicken nuggets, hella processed but we'll still eat it cause it tastes good
They’re absolutely delicious. Quite popular here in the UK. Ate them all my life then a few years ago I actually read the ingredients and haven’t had them since 😅
Not a terrible food choice, compared to fast foods or other ultra processed stuff, but not that healthy, either.
it has flavorings whatever that even means, sugar , more sugar . starch ( and this is for all the caucasians that insist, oh we don't eat african food well its in it )
@ yeah I couldn’t believe how much glucose I saw on the label. That’s the main thing that put me off tbh
Some people here in Russia call it "krabochki" - "KRABovie palOCHKI" - "crab sticks"
I LOVE cold imitation crab and cocktail sauce - delicious. When my dad was alive we would chow down on it while watching TV until we were almost sick. It doesn’t bother me that it’s fake or hotdog like - it’s actually fairly healthy unless you have a gluten allergy. I saw a How It’s Made that was reposted with captions claiming how gross the process is but it was some of the cleanest machinery I’ve ever seen in a factory and it didn’t change my opinion at all!
In fact crab have a lot of population after breeding it mean that was easy to get it, and they're easy to repopulate a colony of crabs
Now... Why it expensive?
Why do I feel like she explained what it is without explaining what it is
WAIT WAIT WAIT!!!! so you mean to tell me imitation crab meat... IS AN IMITATION!??!
I AM SHOCKED!!!!!!
I don’t care if my crabs are real or not: If the food is good, eat what you’re given as you should!
Right
Indeed! And be grateful😌
It can be important for people with shellfish allergies.
There's a few crab stick companies that put more fish compared to others and that product is like gold when it comes to protein and health goals
Here in Mexico it’s not called “Imitation crab” it’s just “Surimi”
I used to get this a lot during lunch breaks at work. Super cheap but a tasty snack. Even if it is unhealthy and a much worse version from the real thing. Still good.
Literally could buy an entire tray of them for less than $2
It’s not at all unhealthy. 18 cal per stick.
@@RoanRantsLow calories are not the sole indicator of health … lol
@@CrystalRose1111 And what ingredient in them makes them unhealthy?
@@CrystalRose1111ye bc if it was real crab slathered in butter itd be better. What a joke
@@BoHorn It would, imitation crab is pumped full of filler ingredients and nitrates that turn it into a solid cohesive fish log. It’s ultra processed additives can cause digestion issues and spike blood sugar. Of course real crab meat is healthier. Butter is also health as long as you don’t over consume it every day.
We've always called it fake crab in our household
While actual crab’s pricing isn’t what’s deterring me from eating it, it’s actually the effort of having to break the shell and pick out the fragments off the meat that’s the tedious part.
Oh and also cleaning the mess afterwards is a chore and a half.
Its the hot dog of sea food 😄
This is one thing of many I love about the UK. The UK bans misleading and harmful things in their food supply (and even body care and make-up products) ACTUALLY protecting their citizens. Meanwhile, over here in the U.S. we hear constantly how we should look for the the Food and Drug Administration’s “seal of approval” on things we use (namely, it seems, to discourage us from using natural products they can’t control) but the FDA approves SO MANY THINGS for us that other sane countries like the UK and many others will reject from this country bc it’s deceptive or risks human health (as well as that of our animals or earth itself). Anytime someone says “but it’s FDA approved”, I’m like 🙄
I don't think this stuff is dangerous, it's just a different seafood dressed up as crab
we literally have these in every uk supermarket
@@jamieknight7366 Ye man, they're sold everywhere in europe because guess what, it's cheap and not bad for you (eaten moderately at least), i don't get why he had to make that comment
@@Tardsmat morning in it seems particularly harmful, although the seed oil is not great, but the way it is packaged can often be misleading which is often probably more important. I do think we need to be more strict about how food is presented to people so they can make more informed decisions.
@@evancombs5159can we stop with the nanny state attitude and you can just buy whatever you want to eat lmao
I use fake crab when I do my crusted cedar-planked salmon on the grill. I chop it fine in my food processor. and spread seasoned mayo on the filet to act as a glue to hold the chopped krab in place. Makes a great crunchy crust.
Gross, that's like grinding up a hot dog and topping a hunk of prime rib.
Oh man, I remember eating real crab for the first time, and I was so shocked at how delicious it was. I mainly had imitation crab, which was also good, but I knew it didn't have much actual crab in it. But man, eating actual crab meat is so good.
Nothing can beat the Original Period 💯💯👊
idk, original period tastes a lot more bloody and metallic
@@0prahTVgross 😂
@@0prahTV Crab doesn't have Red blood in it 😑😂
While we largely know it as imitation crab in the US and Europe, it's actually a surimi product that originated in Japan and is similar to those spiral fish cakes (narutomaki) that you occasionally have with udon or such.
@n8pls543 yeah I know fishcakes but...... When you eat a crab, it must be real. Coz there's a different kick in it.
Here in the U.K., those "crab" sticks are called _fish_ sticks which must make sense. And yes, crab is in fact quite rare to get and the prices are quite dear to buy it, but it's still not a bit bad when you want a crab salad sandwich from your local baker.
Yet it makes fish fingers not make sense. Those are the legit fish sticks...
I actually enjoy imitation crab meat. It goes great in salad's with Italian dressing. And being from South Louisiana, that makes me weird to the rest of the people down here, including my wife. But I do enjoy boiled crabs as well
Me too! In Japan its called surimi and its just like fish paste to fish cakes; both are used in many dishes.
I love putting it in salads instead of chicken. So good!
OMG every once in a while I love a good "seafood" salad and crackers. Sorry, not sorry.
What about shrimp? 🍤
I love how this video does nothing to help it sound appetizing, but I still want some
I really don't like how it tastes, it taste like if ketchup was a meat. Awful. Real crab tastes way better.
I think it depends how you use it. I used to hate it too. But I found I like it in sushi rolls,with sriracha, umnai and Kewpie mayo …full of flavor and the rice balances it out.
I actually like the taste of it😂. Had some in seafood salad from the poppy store and I usually don’t eat the salads because of onions and peppers but it was good. Three days in a row
I thought this was going to tell me something new beyond what I've read off the ingredient list for this food for years. lol
I was surprised to find I enjoyed eating actual crab after hating the taste of crab stick for years. This all makes sense now.
Bologna of the sea ⛵
Bologna is expensive 😂
Quit laying it's more soja beens than anything
It's good in bacon pasta salad
Fun fact, in Australia we call it “seafood highlighter” 😂
Or seafood extender ahaha. My local Woolies recently changed the labels to "surimi mix"- my family has always called it fake crab lol
Or crab stick at the fish and chip shop!
Lmfao! That’s like buying an imitation hot dog 😂
Umm, every hot dog is imitation unless u case it yourself....
Its great shredded on a house or chef salad.
Homemade crab salad: Diced onions (optional
grilled), diced celery, tzatziki sauce with dill, shredded mozzarella, a small cheap container of real crab meat, and 2 lbs of imitation crab sticks - chopped up.
It's great and tastes legit like crab because of the real crab meat, but you can make A LOT since the imitation meat fills it up.
Thanks for recipe
I sure hope Soylent Green remains just a movie😮
That explains why my stomach feels slightly upset after eating imitation crab
Imitation crab is actually super tasty
Pollock is tasty tho
Been quite a while since I eat one, now I crave....
What if there is lab grown crab 🦀 meat then it could be a perfect substitute of imitation crab meat since it would be made out of actual crab cells.
Honestly I just want yummy tastes lol
What’s in the other 50 percent?
That shit is genuinely disgusting
I love this stuff more than the actual crab, unironically.
Here is the list of ingredients for Costco imitation crab:
• Alaska Pollock (MSC Certified)
• Water
• Egg Whites
• Corn Starch
• Sugar
• Sorbitol
• Contains 2% or less of:
• King Crab Meat
• Natural and Artificial Flavor Extracts of Blue Crab, Snow Crab, Lobster, and Alaska Pollock
• Refined Fish Oil (Alaska Pollock)
• Rice Wine (Water, Rice, Koji)
• Modified Tapioca Starch
• Sea Salt
• Carrageenan
• Yam Flour
• Potassium Chloride
• Disodium Inosinate
• Sodium Pyrophosphate
• Carmine
• Paprika
• Color Added
Contains:
• Fish (Alaska Pollock)
• Crustacean Shellfish (King Crab, Blue Crab, Snow Crab, Lobster)
• Egg
Wow, poison our pity party with facts. Shame.
They don’t have this at our Costco here in S Florida 🤔