Steam or boil?

+1 on steam.

How about fried?! Looking at that pic wants me to load up the yak this weekend!

Tried steaming this last time I got some crab and I did notice a differance in taste.
Don't get me wrong. Boiling taste good too but steaming It just seemed to perserve the flavor. I put old bay in the steaming water.

Had BBQ'd crab for the first time ever and thought it was waaaay better than steamed or boiled crab.   

I usually steam, tastes and freezes better to me, I also employ the clean live, then steam, soooooo much easier and cleaner, I use a 5 gallon bucket with a little water for weight to knock the head/shell into. I always microwave a big pyrex measuring cup full of water in case I run out of water when steaming, its happened on large batches and smoked crab not so good.

Matt (4x4 yak) got me to boil in seawater last time out, and the dungees were delicious, and red rock crab even better their legs were soft and you could suck the meat right outta the reds. I did not think the dungees froze and thawed all that well from being boiled in seawater though seemed more mushy, but I dont usu boils so maybe just a result of the method.

I've always eaten my crab boiled in plain old salt water, I've had them steamed before but wasn't thrilled about the result.  After reading this thread and seeing all the hype over steaming recipes I decided to experiment with some of my new years crab.  I got my crab sauna steamin with a broth of beer and seasonings.

I cooked up the first crab and determined the hype is just hype and tossed the rest of my crabs into the salt bath crab jacuzzi. 


I have a question for the die hard steamers, I threw in a bunch of spices and seasoning....how exactly does that flavor transfer to the crab meat through steam?  It tasted like dry bland crab meat, did I miss something?