How to Cook Crab Legs
Warm days and a pleasant breeze mark the unofficial opening for crab season and outdoor crab feasts. Some folks will tell you there isn't much meat in crab legs. For the most part that is true, but when we sit down to eat crab legs, it's not about how much meat you find, it's the whole ritual of cleaning, dipping, drinking and enjoying the feast. Some folks like to boil crab legs and then dip them in drawn butter. However, for those that love to cook and experiment with various recipes, here is one you won't soon forget.
Living in the South teaches you that there are various types of crabs, (Blue Crabs, Spider Crabs, Green Crabs, and Soft Shell Crabs. However, for the sake of this article, let's discuss the most popular crab we all know and love: Alaskan King Crab.
Most of us don't know how to cook them, and we often will overcook them. Keep in mind that anything you cook will continue cooking once you remove it from the heat, unless you give it what cooks call an ice bath. When I had my restaurant, I blanched all my vegetables in the morning and gave them an ice bath. Put them in the walk and pulled them out for lunch. Basically, they were partially cooked. Therefore, when I would get an order for a vegetable, it would only take 3 minutes to saute' it in order to serve it hot with the rest of the food. This is the basic concept of cooking crab legs.
Here is a Cajun variation you may not have thought of. Get a Huge pot of water put it on the stove, then start making your pouch. You have to place the following seasoning in the pouch. Basically, you use a cheesecloth and add all the ingredients inside. Tie it off with either a twistee or a knot. You want to be sure that none of the stuffing gets inside your crab legs. You just want this pouch to float in the boiling pot of water where you will add whole onions, 2 to 3 pieces of corn along with the potatoes, the sausage and the whole garlic. The rest will go inside the pouch. Therefore, make sure you have enough room to place all the ingredients inside and enough extra to make a knot.
- Lemons. (2 cut into quarters)
- Sage. (2-3 springs)
- Basil (preferably dried leaves)
- Garlic (whole, do not peel or clean)
- Corn on the cob (cut into smaller pieces these are delicious with all the seasoning you add in the water)
- Sausage. (In Louisiana and Mississippi you use sausage in all the crab shrimp or crawfish boil, spicy sausage would be best, but if you use enough Zatarain's seasoning, then you can use regular polish sausage instead.)
- Zatarain's Crab boil. (An absolute must, 2 large tablespoons in the water. This would also depend on your taste. If you want these crabs to have a bite to them, then add an extra spoon)
- Cheesecloth. (You will need this to make your seasoning pouch)
- Potatoes. (1 lb of small red potatoes are best as you can pop them in your mouth if things get too spicy and the starch will take the heat off your tongue)
Once you water starts boiling, add all the ingredients. Start with the 2 large tablespoons of Zatarain's then the corn, potatoes, sausage, onions, including your pouch etc. Let it boil for about 20 to 30 minutes. Now add your crab legs. Once they start turning red or a deep pink, turn the flame off and let them sit in the hot water for about 5 minutes. Then, pull all your vegetables out of the pot (potatoes, corn,) and the sausage. Then pour the rest into a colander. Spread some newspapers on a huge table sit down to eat.
