Steamed Crabs

steamed crabs in pot

Steamed crabs are a seafood lovers delight. Just about any crustacean is delicious when steamed and dipped in warm melted butter. Wow, it is simply delicious. When I say, just about any crab (crustacean), I am talking about maryland style blue crabs, king crab legs, snow crab legs, dungeness crabs, jonah crab and stone crabs.

The traditional method of steaming crabs is to put a pot on the heat with just a little bit of water and vinegar. Depending upon the crab steam pot you use, you may try putting in about 3 to 4 inches of water and a couple cups of vinegar into the pot. Then you could insert a steamer insert. If you do not have a steamer insert, do not worry, you can prepare delicious steamed crabs without it anyway. Learning how to steam crabs is not difficult. You will be an expert at it in not time. Just experiment with the cooking process a time or two and you will be comfortable at steaming and cooking just about any type of crab using this cooking and preparation technique.

How to Cook Steamed Crabs

If you have never cooked crabs this way, do not worry, it is not hard. This is how to steam crabs or crab legs and it will be delicious. You can cook various crab species this way such as Maryland blue crabs, snow crab legs, king crab legs, dungeness crabs and stone crabs. This is one technique to be learned, but after you see how, you can experiment with your own cooking or crab steaming variations to suit your tastes. It is hard to mess it up. First, after you have placed some water into the steaming pot, you can start placing in your crabs. The easiest technique is to layer in your crabs. Place in the first layer of crabs, then spread seasoning onto the layers of crabs and repeat until the pot is full or you run out of crabs to steam.

Seasoning for Steamed Crabs  

You can make up your own crab seasoning or you could just use Old Bay Seasoning. Old Bay is one of the most popular seasonings that is used when steaming crabs and when cooking other types of seafood dishes. While other crab seasonings for steaming can be used and will probably taste good, it is hard to improve upon Old Bay.

Steaming your Pot of Crabs    

Once your pot is full you can turn up the heat and let the water get hot and start steaming. Place a lid on top and just the crabs cook. You will know when the crab is done, as they will turn bright red. When the crab is done, serve it hot on plate with drawn butter and you are good to go. Enjoy the delicious meat.

Video: The video shows that steaming crabs is fun along with great tasting eats.



Image credit: Steamed crabs in pot by Bien Stephenson.

Also see:
• How to make crab cakes    

Resources:
• Blue crab information.
• Steamed crabs recipe: www.cooksrecipes.com/seafood/maryland_steamed_crabs_recipe.html