Crab Steamer and Alternatives
To cook up those crab legs you'll want to look into getting a crab steamer. If you are cooking up Alaska King Crab Legs or Snow Crab Legs, you will want to find one that is fairly deep as you will want to be sure to get the lid on over the long-legged creatures. You'll want to put the lid on them tight to let the fumes from herbs and spices, (if any added), flow through the legs, as well as, be able to heat the legs thoroughly.
You may ask, "why not just put them in a big pan and boil them?" Well, if you bought your crab legs at the local store, they have already been boiled. You don't want to over-cook the crab legs. You simply just need to steam them. The meat is already cooked. If you boil them again they will be over cooked.
Notice in the photo above, a smaller pot with holes in it fits into a larger hole. That way the crab legs can just steam and not boil water through the crab leg portions again.
Notice in this photo the crab legs are not being boiled again. They are simply being steamed to warm the crab meat through enough to eat.
To use the steamer, simply, start filling the pan with the steamer pan (the one with the holes) with water just until it barely over-flows into the steamer pan. If you want to add herbs and spices, take out the steamer pan and add them to the water. Next, place steamer back in and bring the water to a boil, then add your crab legs and cover for about 10-12 minutes. This should be enough time to let the aroma of the herbs and spices flow through the crab legs and plenty of time to heat the crab legs thoroughly.
You can also keep turn down the heat to simmer to keep the unused crab legs nice and warm till you get to them. Enjoy your crab legs while they're hot!
Crab Steamer Alternative
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There is always an alternative to anything, right? If you don't have a crab steamer at home, you can certainly use a colander inside of a Dutch oven pan like we have demonstrated above.
It works great! So, don't think you have to use something fancy, this is a great alternative.
If you are looking to purchase a new steamer, you may want to consider one of the ones we display below from our CrabOLicious Store....
Go Crab-O-Licious.com Homepage
Find more steamers in our Crab-O-Licious Store!
Go back up to the top of Crab Steamer
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Catch 'em! Clean 'em! Cook 'em! Eat 'em!
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"A crab provides little food, so he is not so easy to eat. But the little food he does offer is the best food under the sky. To eat crab you must work, which makes you appreciate him more. He is the blessing, the remembrance. And no man or woman ever ate enough." — James A. Michener, Chesapeake
