Steam or boil crabs

[jyl]

Dungeness crabs. Steam, or boil? why and how?

[scottmandue]

Microwave! Not the best method but the kiddos love it when they explode!

I'm no expert but I do watch a lot of food network and I vote for steam... I would think boiling may make the carb watery.

YMMV

[Craig T]

Married to a woman from Johns Island, South Carolina, I get my share of crab feasts. We use blue crabs, not Dungeness, but ALWAYS prefer steaming.

The only reason to boil is if you want to add a lot of spice or seasoning. Adding spice to the water seams to embed the flavor of the spices better.

We have a crab steamer, but I suppose you could set some ceramic bowls in the bottom of a pot with a good lid and a inch or two of water. The bowls will keep the crabs dry.

[vash]

i steam.

my stepdad told me it preserves the flavor by not washing any of it into the water. i have a basket that elevates them about 3 inches up.

dont know about the flavor, but the steam is hot as heck, and the cold crab does very little to bring down the temps..right or wrong, i kinda like how fast they go.

downside. you pull out the crab and they can look kinda messy with all that crab-leakage. in a water bath it gets washed about. cleaner.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Craig T

Married to a woman from Johns Island, South Carolina, I get my share of crab feasts. We use blue crabs, not Dungeness, but ALWAYS prefer steaming.

The only reason to boil is if you want to add a lot of spice or seasoning. Adding spice to the water seams to embed the flavor of the spices better.

We have a crab steamer, but I suppose you could set some ceramic bowls in the bottom of a pot with a good lid and a inch or two of water. The bowls will keep the crabs dry.

I steam, like Craig, blue crab. I catch my on. You can also control how well the crab is "cooked" better with steam.

Some folks do both - semi boil with spices to flavor the crab, steam to finish preparing and serve.

It all depends. For dungeness, I would steam because I prefer the way the heat gets into the meat.

[aigel]

I boil. I have never tried to steam. I have baked before too, which is more hearty and a nice change.

I catch them when I can - usually end up with rock crabs here but I also have gotten a sheep crab once. That was great. So big I had to hack it up to fit a large pot.

G

[ossiblue]

Use the shampoo and small comb. Doesn't hurt as much.

[porsche4life]

We always steam dungeoness. Amazing crab! Tasty stuff. Thuy cracks the body open and gets all that yummy meat in there too. And yes we have a pot with a perforated insert that holds it about 3" off the bottom. Just fill to the bottom of that and steam away!

[John Rogers]

I was raised on the east coast and caught blue crabs also and we always boiled the crabs in a huge pot with crab boil and most times they were alive when they went in and when the scratching stopped, there was a time to wait and then pull them out. I forget the time but it is probably on the internet somewhere.

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by ossiblue

Use the shampoo and small comb. Doesn't hurt as much.

[ted]

California's Dungeness crab declared not safe for Christmas - SFGate

so local lobster and Alaskan king crab legs tonight

[jyl]

I ended up boiling them. Turns out my large stock pots are out on loan (which was news to me) and my largest available pot will only comfortably hold two crabs. I had ten to do. So the faster boiling (10 min per pair, then into a warm oven for some residual heat cooking) was more appealing than slower steaming.

[yellowperil]

Originally Posted by ossiblue

Use the shampoo and small comb. Doesn't hurt as much.

Makes sense, good advice.

[gshase]

I think my wife had them in High School....I will ask her

[billybek]

Originally Posted by vash

i steam.
..... but the steam is hot as heck....

It is almost like 212 deg F.!

Crab is good.
Nothing like a good messy feast of tasty sea creatures!

[vash]

Originally Posted by billybek

It is almost like 212 deg F.!



Crab is good.

Nothing like a good messy feast of tasty sea creatures!

Okay professor


Sent via Jedi mind trick.

[Don Ro]

Now that you're done and I'm late for the train...
are/were they pre-cooked?...makes the difference, I'd guess.
I steam either way.
Yum.

[Gretch]

Steam in vermouth.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by aigel

I boil. I have never tried to steam. I have baked before too, which is more hearty and a nice change.

I catch them when I can - usually end up with rock crabs here but I also have gotten a sheep crab once. That was great. So big I had to hack it up to fit a large pot.

G

We used to go crabbing, dragnet for shiners and try to catch eels when we lived on the shore, but I don't think there is anything like this in Long Island Sound. Whoa!

[gtc]

Used to boil them whole.
Now days I kill them (basically bash their face off on a pointy rock) pull the shell off, break them in half, pull the gills and rinse out the guts before steaming. Much easier than trying to clean a hot crab.
I dont know anybody who eats the tomalley, though.