Question:
Hi there. I have recently purchased King crab legs.
What is the best way to cook them? Boil? And how would I go about doing
this?
Answers:
King crab Legs are already cooked when you purchase
them. The
majority of Alaska's crab is cooked and blast frozen to secure it's prized
taste. They need only to be adequately heated before eating.
Amount To Purchase: Purchase 8
ounces to 1 pound per person.
Frozen Crab
Legs:
It is recommended that crab legs thaw overnight in your refrigerator.
If
you're in a big hurry, king crab can be thawed under cold running
water to speed this up. If you place them on a rack in a
watertight container, they can drain as they are defrosting.
Preparing king
crab is usually just a matter of using your preferred reheating
method:
Steam Preparation - Let the water in the bottom of the steamer
pot come to a boil, then I add the crab legs in the steamer and cover. The
crabs will be heated through when you can smell them. I also pick one up
with a tong and touch the meaty part just to be sure that it is indeed warm.
The best way to get at the meat is to use scissors. I use the kitchen shears
that come with knife sets but you can buy one at any kitchen supply store by
itself. Just break the crab apart at the obvious places and then cut down
the middle. I also have but is not necessary a glove in case the crab is
really hot or if it is very spiny.
Oven Preparation - Arrange in shallow baking pan. Add hot water to
fill pan 1/8 inch deep. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees F. until just heated through (7
to 10 minutes).
Microwave Preparation - Add crab legs to a microwave safe
container. Add 1 tbsp. water per 8 oz. of crab legs. Microwave on high 3-4
minutes per 8 oz. of crab legs. Serve with lemon wedges, clarified butter
and use nutcrackers to open shells.
Serving Cold - Defrost at room temperature for a crab salad or
serve cold with mustard/hollandaise sauce.
Clarified butter -
Clarified butter is also called
drawn butter. Simply defined, clarified butter is unsalted
butter that has the milk solids and water removed so all that
remains is pure liquid golden-yellow butterfat. The advantages
of this type of butter is its long keeping quality (several
months refrigerated) and its high smoke point (can be used in
frying without burning). The disadvantage is that it doesn't
have that same wonderful rich flavor of regular unsalted butter
(since the milk solids have been removed) but it does have a
more buttery taste than other oils.
Melt the butter then let it sit for a couple of
minutes, then pour the clear butter, (it will come out first from the pan)
into a serving dish or butter dishes and STOP pouring when you see the milky
stuff at the bottom of the pan. Clarified butter can be heated hotter than
regular butter and will not burn as easily as regular butter does so you can
use it to saute fish or chicken and it imparts a real buttery flavor to the
food.
Storage: Thawed crab legs can be maintained in the
refrigerator for two days, but they should really be cooked as soon as they
have been defrosted if possible.