When buying seafood, it is preferable to choose live seafood, which guarantees that it is in perfect condition, but there are those who are afraid of not knowing how to cook it correctly. In the case of crabs, crabs, spiders or walkers, the task is very simple so now I tell you how to cook live crabs at home.
Another advantage of cooking the seafood ourselves is that we will be paying for its weight in meat and shell and We will not pay for the cooking water at the price of seafood as when we buy it already cooked.
Crabs are dark brown in color when raw, when they are alive and they change to a color that goes from orange to deep red when they are cooked. In the price, there are also differences because cooked ones are at a price between 18 to 30 euros per kilo, and live ones are usually found around 25 euros per kilo, although the proximity of the Christmas dates causes these prices to skyrocket.
To cook the crabs, we need a large pot or saucepan that we will fill with COLD water. It is important do not use hot water because if we did so, the crabs would lose their legs that would separate from the body.
With care, because live crabs move a lot and can pinch us with their tweezers, we put the crabs in cold water and we add a good handful of salt. Optionally you can add a bay leaf but this changes its natural flavor.
So we light the fire and wait for the water comes to a boil. At that time, we measure the time and let them cook for 7 to 9 minutes depending on the size. It’s time to take them out of the water and cool them in a pot with water and ice to cut cooking.
How to open and clean crabs
Once cooked, we can use the crabs to eat after opening and cleaning the disposable part inside. For this I recommend that you read this post about the easy way to clean and open the crabs that we made a long time ago in which you see the detailed process with photos of all the steps.
We can also use cooked crabs to make other recipes such as crab cream, an excellent spoon starter that tones and comforts everyone who tries it, such as carabineros cream or any other seafood cream.
If you don’t want to cook the crabs, another very interesting way to cook them is make them on the grill, starting from the live, and as we mentioned when publishing the recipe for grilled crabs, the result is similar to that of cooked crabs, but with an even more intense flavor. How do you like them best?
Directly to the Paladar | Easy way to clean crabs
Directly to the Paladar | How to make crab cream
