How To Cook Crab
There are several different ways of how to cook crab. Some people will have nothing but a fresh crab, so they need to boil or steam a live crab. Most crab’s legs come from the store already cooked and frozen, so they just need to be heated up. If you have a whole crab that has been pre-cooked and frozen, you will need to defrost it before heating. You can place it in the refrigerator overnight or in pot of cold water. Hot water shouldn’t be used. A crab weighing around two pounds can thaw in one hour.
To boil a live crab, first place five quarts of water into a pot with five tablespoons of sea salt and bring it to a boil. Although there is no indication that lobsters or crabs feel pain, it is considered to be the most humane thing to put them to sleep before cooking them. This can be done by placing them in the freezer for five minutes. Their bodies slow down and they fall asleep. They are used to very cold water on the bottom of the ocean, so it does not kill them.
Drop your crab or crabs into the boiling water. Most people grab them by their back legs and drop them in the water headfirst. Then bring the water back to boiling and start your timer. Large, two-pound crabs should boil for fifteen to twenty minutes, while smaller ones will be done in approximately ten minutes. If you are just learning how to cook crab, you can tell a crab is cooked when its shell turns a bright orange.
Drop your crabs into cold water so that the process of cooking is stopped. Most people serve the crabs immediately with hot, melted butter. You can also cool off the crabs, remove the meat, and save them for a later time.
Steaming live crabs is also an easy and excellent method of how to cook crab. Use a large pot or steamer, and fill it with a liquid brine mixture. This can be made by combining two tablespoons of sea salt with one cup vinegar, and two cups of water or beer. You should have around four inches of liquid in the bottom of the pot. Bring this mixture to a full boil.
In the meantime, soothe your crabs to sleep by placing them in the freezer for five minutes or in a bowl of ice water. When the water is boiling nicely, place the crabs on the steaming rack and then set the steaming rack into the pot. It should be above and not touching the liquid. If you wish, sprinkle some seasoning onto the crabs, then cover the pot. Crabs should be steamed for around twenty minutes depending on their size. Don’t start counting the time until the liquid again reaches boiling.
As with boiled crabs, steamed crabs turn a bright red when they are cooked. Drop them into cold water to stop the cooking process. If this is not done, the crabs can continue cooking inside and be overdone. Then just enjoy eating your crabs!