How many minutes to cook a crab in a shell. Culinary secrets and different ways to cook delicious crab. How long does it take to cook crab

desserts
10.04.2022

Our tips apply to any type of crab on our site: Kamchatka, Opilio, Volosatik and others.

Your crab is ready, immediately after being caught, it is boiled in sea water on the ship and frozen by shock freezing. To enjoy the taste and get all the benefits of crab meat, you just need to defrost it.
Preferably smoothly:
In the refrigerator for 10 hours
At room temperature - 4 hours

Cook together:

hot crab lovers

Immerse the crab in a deep pot of cold water, lay down with a rose. A large crab can be divided into parts at the folds. Add salt - 1 tablespoon per 2 liters of water, you can add spices - black pepper, bay leaf, fresh dill.

Wait for the first signs of boiling with the lid off. Do not let it boil, otherwise the protein will curdle! Remove the limbs from the pan with the rose down (the rose is the junction of the limb and the body of the crab) and let the water drain.

Large limbs (sizeL5) can be heated in the oven: pour a little water into a baking sheet and salt, lay the crab limbs. Place the crab tray in a preheated oven at 150 degrees for 10 minutes. Be sure to use protective gloves and take out the tray with both hands.

For an effective presentationcut the shell along the limbs with scissors and remove the upper part.

Don't Make Mistakes When Cooking Crab

  • Don't use the microwave! With emergency defrosting, crab meat will lose its taste, benefit and become dry.
  • If the crab is red, then it is already boiled - when re-cooked, the protein will curl up, the crab meat will become “rubber”.
  • Crab meat is incompatible with eggplant, tangerines and pears

Any seafood dish gives the table a festive look. These are very beautiful, colorful and useful products. Most of them cook quickly, although they require careful processing. There are many ways to cook crab claws. Their m

You will need:

For the marinade of 2.5 kg crab claws:
100 g celery, 100 g green onion,
50 g parsley, 10 g tarragon,
10 g garlic, 0.2 l olive oil,
0.1 l balsamic vinegar, 1 lemon,
10 g Tabasco sauce, salt, ground black pepper, white pepper.
for 1.5 kg of baked crabs:
50 ml soy sauce, 30 ml lime juice, 150 g ginger root, 200 ml sherry.
For the sauce: 150 g butter, 50 ml lemon juice, 30 g parsley.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

    to free the meat from the shell, you should use tongs for cutting and a special fork. The two sharp cloves at the end of the fork are designed to separate the meat from the shell. The tongs are similar to pliers, the inner ribbed surface is convenient for breaking the shell.

    • Crab claws for a couple. Pour water into a double boiler, pour 50 grams of sea salt and 70 grams of sugar per 1 liter. Sugar, when the water evaporates, will give the meat friability and juiciness. When the water boils, put the claws in the steamer basket, after defrosting and rinsing them. After 8 - 9 minutes, the claws are ready. Serve with melted butter.

      You can surprise your guests by serving them marinated crab claws.
      Prepare raw materials as usual, i.e. rinse, let drain. Prepare the marinade: chop the parsley, celery, tarragon, green onion, 2 cloves of garlic and the zest of one lemon. Mix 1 cup of olive oil with 0.5 cup of balsamic vinegar, add 2 tablespoons of Tabasco sauce. Mix with chopped herbs and zest. Salt, white and black ground pepper add to taste. Place the crab claws in boiling water for two minutes. Take it out, let it cool down a bit. It is not necessary to cook until fully cooked, because. in the marinade, this will make them tough. Then cut the shell and carefully remove the meat and dip in the marinade. Place in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours. Do not throw out the claws themselves, they will be needed to decorate the dish. Before serving, remove the crab meat from the refrigerator, remove from the marinade and place on the halves of the claws. Garnish with tarragon sprigs and lemon wedges.

      Crab claws baked in the oven. Washed claws make a longitudinal incision of the chitinous shell. Put on a small baking sheet, pour into the cut hole, mixed before this sweet soy sauce and lime juice with salt. Cut the ginger root and lay over the claws. Pour sherry into a baking sheet, one to one diluted with water, so that the claws are 1/3 in the liquid. Preheat the oven to 200 * C, put a baking sheet with food in it for 13 - 15 minutes. Serve with butter sauce, which is easy and quick to prepare. Fry the butter over low heat until it turns brown, add lemon juice and parsley to it.

Can be cooked whole or sliced. The cutting process is carried out by tearing off the claws and extracting meat and viscera from the belly of the seafood in the form of mucus. Crab claws are easily opened with a knife, after which meat is pulled out of them. The cut crab cooks much faster than the whole one.

The nuances of cooking crab in a conventional pan:

  • the readiness of the crab can be recognized by the change in color of its shell (the color turns red);
  • the most common additions used in cooking crab are bay leaves, lemon juice, garlic, pepper, and cloves (salt is added as in cooking other foods);
  • crabs should only be placed in boiling water (salt and spices must first be added to the liquid);
  • it is not recommended to cook crab longer than the standard time (otherwise the meat will acquire a rubber structure);
  • it is recommended to cook crabs using sea water (if this is not possible, then you can replace ordinary salt with a sea option);
  • if the crab was cooked whole, then it is better to wait for the moment of cooling by placing it belly up (so the juiciness of the crab is better preserved);
  • the amount of water when cooking crab plays a special role, the liquid must be taken in the proportion “for 500 g of crab - 2.5 liters of water” (adding water after boiling is not recommended, so it is better to initially prepare the required amount of liquid);
  • chopped crab can be cooked in a microwave, pressure cooker, double boiler or slow cooker.

You can steam crab not only in a double boiler, but with the help of an ordinary pan and a metal colander. Water should be poured into the pan in such an amount that its surface barely touches the bottom of the colander. The crab is laid out in a colander and then placed in a pan. In this design, the crab cooks quickly, and the final dish is juicy and tender. Spices and salt in this case must be added to the water. Readiness can be determined by the appearance of a rich aroma and red color of the shell.

Crab cooking in the microwave:

  • before cooking the crab in the microwave, its surface must be abundantly moistened with water so that steam is formed during the cooking process (this is done with a damp towel, the crab must be wrapped and slightly squeezed in a damp cloth several times);
  • before placing in the microwave, each part of the crab must be wrapped with plastic wrap;
  • cooking crab as a whole using a microwave will not work, this method is suitable for cooking its individual parts;
  • the readiness of the crab will be signaled by a rich aroma (the microwave timer must be set for 2-3 minutes, and if necessary, repeat the cooking process);
  • if the crab is placed in the microwave without plastic wrap, it may explode.

How long to cook crabs

Cooking time depends primarily on its size. Crabs up to 1.5 kg are cooked for 20-25 minutes, individuals over 1.5 kg reach readiness in 30-40 minutes. The countdown of the cooking time starts from the moment the water boils.

Crab meat (store-bought or self-extracted from crab) is cooked for 10-15 minutes. The longer it cooks, the more its taste characteristics will be violated. With prolonged cooking, it will become hard, and the consistency will resemble rubber.

Crab cooking time depending on the method:

  • in a double boiler, small crabs reach readiness within 15-20 minutes, and its individual parts must be cooked for 5-7 minutes;
  • the total cooking time of individual parts of the crab in the microwave will be 5-7 minutes;
  • in a pressure cooker and a slow cooker, crab cooks for 15-20 minutes.

Before cooking frozen crab, it must be thawed. This can be done quickly with ordinary cold water. If you rinse the crab under the tap, it will defrost within a few minutes.

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For a long time, crabs were considered a restaurant dish, accessible only to a small circle of people. Now intermediaries can deliver crabs to almost anywhere in the world. Moreover, the choice of such seafood is quite large. Of course, not everyone can afford huge Far Eastern or English king crabs. However, you can opt for more affordable options. And if a significant event became the reason for the meal, you should not skimp. In this gourmet dish, not only the excellent taste is valuable, but also its benefits for the body.


How to choose

Depending on the region of residence, they can be purchased live or frozen. Of course, the first option is preferable, since it is easier to determine freshness this way. A good live crab should be:

  • mobile (it is better to refuse to buy inactive, sleeping copies);
  • with a hard shell, without chips, cracks, strange spots (to reduce the risk of pathogens);
  • heavy (if the individual is large, but light, then perhaps there is practically no meat in it);
  • male (females have fatter meat, they can be distinguished by the tail);
  • medium size (in them the quantity and quality of meat is optimal);
  • no pungent odor;
  • with shining black eyes.

A soft, thin shell of small size may indicate a catch during a molt. This option is considered more valuable by connoisseurs. In this case, it is better not to boil it, but to fry it until golden brown. Fresh crab should be stored in an aquarium or wrapped in a damp cloth, but not more than twelve hours. For a frozen product, you must definitely look at the expiration date, check the appearance. Information about which species this marine inhabitant belonged to can also be useful - it can be hairy, brown, red, blue, iso-thorned. It will not affect the taste, but the cost - yes.

Some parts of the crab can also be sold ready-made - in this case, the first thing to pay attention to is the smell - it should not be pronounced, rather, sweetish, closer to neutral.


How to butcher

The next step after the selection is preparation for cooking. It is inconvenient to perform any manipulations with live crabs. But waiting for them to die is wrong. To immerse them in a sleepy state, it is enough to put them in fresh water or a freezer (literally for 10-15 minutes). After that, you can safely cook them. If the crab should be boiled as a whole, it is enough to rinse it under running water. But it is much faster and easier to cook it in parts. The shell of some crabs (for example, hairy crabs) opens itself during cooking. If you want to keep it whole, use a thread and remove it before serving.

Particular attention should be paid to frozen crabs - they cannot be re-frozen, as this will certainly affect the quality of the meat - it will become coarser, tougher. Yes, and the defrosting itself should take place by moving from the freezer to the shelf of the refrigerator. Defrost in the microwave, in water, or under the tap is fine, but this can also make the dish less tasty.

Getting meat is pretty easy. For this:

  • unscrew the limbs at the junctions with the body and separate them;
  • if it is necessary to extract the meat, then the body of the crab is turned over on its back, an incision is made, the shell is removed, the gills and intestines are removed;
  • claws are split with special tongs, a hammer or any heavy object (do not exert much effort, otherwise you can crush not only the hard part, but also other parts of the body);
  • large legs are cut lengthwise and the contents are taken out; in the case of thin limbs, you can use a special fork or any other thin object (skewer, needle, and so on).



Cooking methods

Cooking crab at home is quite simple. In order for its meat to be tender and moderately dense, it is necessary to monitor the time. There are two nuances here.

  • If it is digested, then the meat will be unpleasant in texture, viscous.
  • Any seafood is easy to get poisoned if it is not thermally processed enough. Therefore, try to observe the golden mean so as not to spoil the delicacy.

Cooking time for raw crab depends on its weight. You can buy them in specialized, some network and online stores. They are usually sorted immediately after being caught. Most often, crabs are on sale from about 1 to 5 kilograms. Smaller ones can also be purchased, but closer to the fishing grounds. But they look less impressive and therefore are not suitable for official feasts. The only drawback of large individuals is their price.

It takes 10 to 15 minutes to cook crabs weighing up to 2 kg. But a 5-kilogram one will have to cook for half an hour or a little more. And this is where difficulties can arise. In order for such a giant to cook evenly along its entire length, it is better to divide it into parts. Yes, and cooking utensils should be appropriate, given that 1 kg of weight should account for at least 5 liters of water.


During the cooking process, it is necessary to adhere to a certain sequence.

  • Choosing the right utensils We pour water, sea water is better.
  • After it boils, add salt and spices.
  • After boiling again, lay the seafood.
  • We are waiting for it to boil, reduce the fire a little. And now from this moment you should count the time.
  • The finished crab acquires a red hue and exudes a pleasant appetizing smell. After bringing to readiness, it should be removed and dipped in cold water for 2 minutes. So the chitinous shell will cool faster and the meat will not be too dense. And to make it juicy, turn the already boiled delicacy on its back.

The taste of crab meat in its pure form is slightly sweet. It can be simply salted or seasoned. There is no strict restriction in this, so you can focus on your taste. You can add to it:

  • parsley, basil, dill, mint, rosemary, coriander and thyme;
  • all types of pepper, including allspice;
  • ginger, bay leaf, cloves, lemon zest or juice.



To make the taste of spices complete, they are thrown at the very beginning of cooking. Spices with a rich smell are added at the end.

Gourmets believe that steamed crab tastes much better than cooked in water. A steamer will help simplify this process. If not, then you can use improvised materials.

  • Rinse the parts of the crab, dry, put in a metal sieve or colander.
  • Pour water into a saucepan of a suitable diameter so that it does not reach the mesh device installed on top.
  • Add seasonings to the water, wait for it to boil, reduce the heat a little. Cover the entire structure with a lid. The cooking time will increase in this case. Readiness can be determined by the density and smell of meat, or, if there is a shell, by changing its color to red.


What to serve with

Even if you are planning a small dinner at home, you should think about the right serving. If you have cooked the whole crab, take care of the cutlery, because it is inconvenient to clean the crab in the shell with ordinary cutlery. To facilitate the task, you can cut it in the kitchen or get the meat in advance. But the cleaning process itself is no less fun than the use of internal contents. In addition, the obligatory serving attributes are a bowl for rinsing fingers and napkins.

Crab meat is good on its own. Even before serving, you can decorate it with herbs, lemon slices, garlic, green onions, capers. In addition to this dish, there are various sauces:

  • the simplest of them is mayonnaise, but only homemade (it includes olive oil, raw eggs, sugar, citric acid or vinegar) with the addition of pepper, mustard or olives;

Crab claws are a delicacy that will decorate not only the festive table, but will also benefit if it is used all the time. Seafood has virtually no fat and contains a huge amount of protein. From juicy crab meat you can cook a huge number of savory and tender dishes.

You will need

  • For recipe #1:
  • - crab claws - 1 kg;
  • - water - 1 liter;
  • - sea salt;
  • - sugar - 70 g.
  • For recipe #2:
  • - crab claws - 2.5 kg;
  • - celery - 100 g;
  • - greenish onion - 1 bunch;
  • - parsley - 1 bunch;
  • - tarragon;
  • - garlic - 3 cloves;
  • - olive oil;
  • - balsamic vinegar - 100 ml;
  • - lemon - 1 pc;
  • - Tabasco sauce - 10 ml;
  • - salt;
  • - ground dark pepper;
  • - white pepper.
  • For recipe #3:
  • - crab claws - 1.5 kg;
  • - soy sauce - 50 ml;
  • - lime juice - 150 ml;
  • - ginger root - 150 g;
  • - sherry - 200 ml;
  • - butter - 150 g;
  • - lemon juice - 50 ml;
  • - parsley - 1 bunch.
  • Inventory:
  • - pot;
  • - enameled bowl;
  • - a flat dish of huge size;
  • - a spoon;
  • - a knife;
  • - cutting board;
  • - towel.

Recipe number 1. Steam crab claws. Pour water into a saucepan, add salt and sugar, mix. Freeze and wash the crab claws under water, put them in an enameled bowl, which you place on the pan, close the lid. Cook this way for about 10 minutes, then remove and cool a little. Serve on a large flat dish with melted butter. The crab comes out especially fragrant due to the addition of sugar. You can use a steamer for this recipe.

Recipe number 2. Marinate crab claws. Wash the seafood, dry it with a towel. Chop parsley, celery, tarragon, greenish onion, garlic, put in a bowl and stir. Remove the skin from the lemon in a thin layer and prepare the zest, mix with the rest of the marinade. Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Tabasco sauce. Salt, pepper.

Boil water, dip crab claws in, wait 2 minutes, then remove. Wait 20 minutes, cut the shell and carefully remove the meat and dip in the marinade. Place the bowl in a cool, dry place for at least 5 hours. Do not throw away the claws themselves, they will be useful for decorating the dish. Before serving the dish, spread the shell on a plate, and put the pulp inside, garnish with tarragon sprigs and lemon slices.

Recipe number 3. Crab claws can also be cooked in the oven. Wash the crab claws under water, make a longitudinal incision in the chitinous shell. Put on a baking sheet. Mix soy sauce and lime juice in a bowl, salt the mixture. Pour the acquired composition into the claws. Grind the ginger root and cover the seafood with it. Carefully study the date of packing of the crabs. The taste of a frozen product is slightly different from its chilled or freshly caught counterpart.

Divide the sherry with water in half, pour onto a baking sheet in such a way that they cover the claws by 1/3. Put in a previously heated to 170 degrees for 15 minutes. Serve with Butter Sauce: Melt butter over low heat until coffee-colored, add lemon juice and parsley. You can garnish with rice.