Preparing Crab Sticks
Go out and buy some imitation crab. Contrary to what you may think at first, crab sticks are actually often made with imitation crab after crab proper. The safest bet is to buy a pack of pre-sculpted crab sticks from the supermarket. If you're much more the DIY type, you can get bigger slabs to cut into the pieces yourself. Outside of a deep-frying oil, you thankfully won't need anything else to get this recipe started. You can of course, however, add spices and garnishes to your personal preference.
Heat a vegetable oil to 350 °F (177 °C). Getting your deep fryer up to this temperature and bringing the heat up to a standard cooking level is a good thing to do first. This may be even easier if you have a specialized fry cooker handy in your kitchen; you can cook crab sticks in much the same way as you would fries. As with a lot of cooking, it's good to get your elements heated up while you're getting the other preparations looked after.
Make a batter. Although it's optional, the crispy taste for crab sticks goes wonderfully together with a good homemade batter. Make a thick fix of corn starch, flour, milk, salt, baking soda, and water, and mix thoroughly. From there, you can dip your pieces in before putting them in the deep fryer. Tempura batters also work well when it comes to crab sticks.
Chop your crab sticks. You can cut your crab sticks however it suits you. You may find that cutting them into long sticks (like fries) makes them easier to eat generally speaking. Keep in mind that bigger pieces will also incur a longer average cooking time.
Put your crab sticks in the deep fryer. Once you've got everything ready, it's time to put it all in the deep fryer. It's better to cook crab sticks in batches rather than all at once. This will help ensure even cooking throughout. Wait until they're generally golden-brown, then take them out and insert a new batch. Repeat this process until you've made as many you prefer.
Serving Crab Sticks
Build a meal around them. Crab sticks have a pleasant, distinctive taste, and they're used quite often in Oriental cuisine. If you're not satisfied with simply having them as a snack, you should experiment with how to incorporate them into larger recipes. For something simple, you might try adding them to a bowl of seasoned rice. Udon noodles are also a popular combination with crab sticks. While most of the crab stick recipes you'll find are based on oriental cuisine, you shouldn't be afraid to experiment with combining it with other types of food. After all, part of the food of cooking is being creative and original!
Spritz your crab sticks with lemon, lime, or vinegar. Whether battered or not, crab sticks tend to taste better when they're spritzed with a strong flavor. Much like battered fish, crab sticks taste amazing with some lemon. Vinegar makes for a stronger, more distinctive punch in the flavor.
Serve crab sticks with your favorite dip. Crab sticks are ultimately a snack food at heart, so it stands to reason they would work so well with snack dips. If you have any favorite kinds of dip, you might try serving it with them. Sriracha and soy sauces are great crab stick companions. In the end, however, the sky's the limit, and there's no harm in trying a combination if you're curious.
Give your crab sticks seasoning. The rule for a lot of recipes is to add a little salt and pepper if you think your food is too bland. A small dash of each adds an appropriate kick to just about anything. The same is true for crab sticks. The taste and texture of crab sticks are complimented by some light salt and pepper. If for whatever reason you're not interested in the more complex techniques,
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