Question:

Hi there. I have recently purchased King crab legs. What is the best way to cook them? Do I 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 of King Crab Legs to Purchase:  Purchase 8 ounces to 1 pound per person.

Frozen King 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.

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.
 

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 - To learn how to make clarified butter, check out Butter Ghee and Clarified Butter. Clarified butter is also called drawn butter. Simply defined, clarified butter and ghee are translucent golden butterfat left over after the milk solids and water are removed. In short, clarified butter is just butter that contains only pure butterfat. It has a higher smoke point than regular butter, thus allowing you to be able to cook at higher temperatures, and won't spoil as quickly. 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.