Steam or boil?

BTW, anybody here steam in seawater.  That's how I was taught and that's what I do, whenever practical.

-Allen

I thought seawater was important when you are boiling crabs not steaming crabs and the purpose was to prevent excess water from entering the meat. When water boils, only H2O becomes vapor, the salt stays in the liquid. Adding salt does change the boiling temperature.

They why do you add Old Bay to your steaming water?   

-Allen

You are right, it makes no difference. I used to put it on the outside of the crab like it says on the can but it gets washed off. The liquid aromatics get vaporized.

BTW, anybody here steam in seawater.  That's how I was taught and that's what I do, whenever practical.

-Allen

I thought seawater was important when you are boiling crabs not steaming crabs and the purpose was to prevent excess water from entering the meat. When water boils, only H2O becomes vapor, the salt stays in the liquid. Adding salt does change the boiling temperature.

I'll use seawater only if I bring it in from outside the harbor; not fond of diesel taste in my crab. My alternative is using Rock Salt....

Using Old Bay tends to  over power the taste of the crab meat..... I jsut want enough flavor to compliment the sweet taste of the crab....

I believe that if you clean them before you steam them then they lose flavor and moisture. I boil them whole like they do at fishermans wharf and every other professional operation i have seen. Name me one commercial operation that steams their crab.

Scoma's Restaurant steams their crab.

Name me one commercial operation that steams their crab.

its because boiling crab is alot easier... 

I believe that if you clean them before you steam them then they lose flavor and moisture.

They actually taste sweeter when steamed; and if you don't properly store cleaned crab (boiled or steamed) they loose moisture.. Ziplock bag on ice, will stay moist just as well as whole crab on ice......

If you guys are hardcore you can even ferment them with Kimchi and eat them raw.  Some of the best tasting crabs I had when stationed in Korea.  Just to add 1 more to the recipe

I sense a crab cook off in the near future....

I wanna be one of the judges for that hell yes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk because I'm one of the cool kids.

A few yrs back we did a chowder cook off...O2B and I locked horns in a fight to the death....empty bowls littered the battle field.

A few yrs back we did a chowder cook off...O2B and I locked horns in a fight to the death....empty bowls littered the battle field.

Eric, that was a fun camp out....yours was the superior chowder but I am in for a rematch...

A few yrs back we did a chowder cook off...O2B and I locked horns in a fight to the death....empty bowls littered the battle field.

Eric, that was a fun camp out....yours was the superior chowder but I am in for a rematch...

It was a draw.....I need to catch some rock crab so I can make my stock first!

Try the hog wash as a dipping sauce for crab. The family favorite for crab or oysters.

http://hogislandoysters.com/kitchen/hog-wash

+1.  We use rice wine vinegar straight and it is fantastic.

I made some vinegar sauce when I got home and it was great...

Rice Vinegar
Red pepper flake
minced garlic
diced onion
pinch o salt and some pepper

Tossed it in a old (cleaned) hot sauce shaker bottle good stuff. My guess it it will get better with age.

Think I got to try most of these various methods at Doran over the last week.    I too have always boiled crab, and enjoy adding stuff to the boil like potato's, corn, shrimp, etc to make a one meal pot or even stew.  Personally I like seasoning the crab with things like Zatarans or Crabboil most of the time, but also found that seasoning after steaming wasn't much different to me.  I will say that steaming is now my favorite way to do the Rockcrab, which seemed a bit salty to begin with, so adding no seasoning or salt at all to them during the steaming and they tasted just right to me.  Sweet chili sauce and Siracha make a killer dipping sauce for late at night snacking 

I never boil a crab unles you I wanna make it soup!  . I always steam the crab and just make a dipping sauce on the side. 

Apple Cider Vinegar
Grated ginger
Corn Pepper but you have to smashed it.
Chopped Red Thai Pepper
Sea salt
Sugar ( Sweeter is better )

Mixed all the ingredients in a little bowl and there you go! 



Kiel