Crabs can be prepared in many different ways, all delicious. This month, LYNN BAIN keeps it simple and opts for a steaming process.
The ‘which one tastes better’ debate is a little lost on me. Boiled or steamed, I like my crabs cooked either way (and cooked by other methods as well — such as straight on the fire). More relevant for me is that I do like variety, and therefore if my preference was for boiled last week, then I’ll be opting for steamed this week.
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When steaming sand crab, I really am a ‘keep-it-simple’ type of person. This desire for simplicity extends all the way to the end of the process, where, rather than dunking the cooked crab in iced water, I’ll pull it off the heat a fraction early and eat some of the crab meat while it is still warm.
Here I use the steaming process to cook the crab ready for any recipe.
Handy hint: mud crabs and/or crayfish (including freshwater crayfish from the farm pond) are alternatives to sand crabs.
STEAMED SAND CRAB
INGREDIENTS
Sand Ccrab(s)
Old Bay seasoning
Water (for the steaming)
A steamer (in this case a bamboo steamer, one tier per crab)
Step 1: Place a steamer basket into your cooking utensil (either a wok or pot). Add water to the wok/pot such that the water level is below the rack in the steamer basket, then remove the steamer basket (for now). Add one teaspoon of Old Bay brand seasoning to about two litres of water in a wok and bring this mixture to a simmer on your kitchen hotplate (or any heat source of your choosing).
Step 2
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Step 2: This is the lower rack of a multi-basket bamboo steamer. As already mentioned, ensure that the water level is below the rack level in the basket (note that the water level in your cooking ‘bath’ is likely to rise due to the water bubbling away somewhere between a simmer and a rolling boil at times during the steaming process). The crab here is a mud crab that has been sectioned down into smaller pieces, including separating the legs and claws from the body, in order to fit it all into the one basket.
Step 3
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Step 3: Typically being smaller than a mud crab, the sand crab halves can be placed on the steamer rack without any further breaking down.
Step 4
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Step 4: Place the lid on to the top basket and let the crab steam away for up to eight minutes (depending on your preferred doneness). The idea is that the hot water/liquid does not touch the crab, while the steam rises and heats/cooks the crabs. This picture shows two steamer basket tiers, topped by a snug-fitting lid. The mud crabs are in the lower tier and closer to the heat source. The sand crab tier is above the mud crab tier.
Step 5
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Step 5: Once the sand crab has been cooked for five to seven minutes, you can remove it (in the individual basket) and start preparing or eating the meat as soon as it is cool enough to touch.
You can now eat the crab (or crayfish) meat straight from the shell, or mix it into a recipe.
