How do I prepare Crab Legs?

[randal]

Hey everyone, me and the roommates are settling down to make some good Sunday dinner and we have decided on Surf 'n Turf. I'm a good steak griller already, so we've got that part down. Only issue is how to prepare Crab Legs. We can go to the store and get King Crab legs and Snow Crab legs. I know that Snow Crab is cheaper, but King Crab tastes better. I do not know if they come frozen or thawed.

How do I prep them? Boil a huge pot of water and throw them in for 10-15 minutes? Bake them? I have no idea, as we've never done Crab before. I'm in Colorado -- I can make a wicked steak, but seafood scares me.

Help!
randal

 

[Schadenfreude]

You post this,

Originally posted by: randal
We're doing steak, crab legs and corn on the cob. mmmm, summer time.

And immediately, you post this topic . . .yeah, suuure you're going to have steak/corn on the cob and crab legs . . . done very, very well?

 

[m2kewl]

prepared frozen seafood sucks. go to the seafood section and get those. boiling is fine, crab legs cook real fast.

crab legs with butter....hmmm. hell, get couple of lobsters while you're at it

 

[conjur]

don't ask me...i tried grilling some fish one time and it came out fish jerky!

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: conjur
don't ask me...i tried grilling some fish one time and it came out fish jerky!

That's nothing! I tried to jerk some fish onc.... oh. I wasn't supposed to talk about that.

 

[randal]

actually, I posted this topic before I commented in the other thread. And indeed, the steaks are seasoning as we speak -- getting ready to go pick up the crab legs here in a minute ... hence the urgent need for "how the hell do we prep these things?"

randal

 

[silverpig]

BARBEQUE THEM!!!

Soak them in some melted garlic butter first, then put them on the 'cue. Wait until they change colour some, then test it. If if the meat is kinda runny, it's not done, if it sticks to the shell, it's overdone.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Step-by-step instructions:

Step 1) Buy 3 or 4 extra pounds of crab
Step 2) Buy some good beer
Step 3) Invite me over
Step 4) I'll cook the crab in exchange for a big meal and some beer
Step 5) Melt the butter and dig in

Or, if you're too cheap to buy extra crab and let me share, just boil it. 5-10 minutes in boiling water is fine for snow crab, give it a few more minutes if it's king crab since the legs are thicker. Crab is one of the all-time great idiot-proof meals, there's almost no way to screw it up.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Steam the suckers with some Old Bay. Serve with melted butter.

 

[nickdakick]

WILL YOU STOP ?
/me is getting hungry
It's 02:20 PM over here.... :beer:

 

[Justin218]

aren't they already cooked? You could just microwave them if you want. I think that's what the guy on that show good eats on foodtv did.

 

[BurnItDwn]

hmm ... probably too late now, but...

Snow crab legs you usually only have to boil for 3 to 5 minutes (most of the time when you buy them at the store, they are prekooked, and then flash frozen)
King crab legs take a bit longer, but not much, I'd say about 5 to 8 minutes