Boiled crabs technique?

Same seasoning amounts as crawfish.

Boil til they float, soak til they sink is what most say here. Probably 15 minutes or more soak.

Keep them on ice until you are ready to throw them in the boil else they will drop their claws.

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Old Bay

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People will give you grief but I boil a lot of crabs and its nice to mix it up now and then and steam them Maryland style.

I boil for maybe five minutes. You can let them soak pretty much forever.

ETA: You probably know this but when you pull them lay them topside down to keep all the "juice" in them.

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People will give you grief but I boil a lot of crabs and its nice to mix it up now and then and steam them Maryland style.

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I know, this is an LSU board. I married a Maryland girl and they know a thing or two about crabs. I actually prefer Wye River to Old Bay, but it's not that different.

Was down at Shell Beach on a fishing trip a couple years back. Watched some of the crabbers sorting their catch. Everything was going in boxes to Baltimore. The Chesapeake is a large bay and produces a lot of crabs, but not enough to satisfy their obsession with them.

I boil crabs weekly

Put the crabs to sleep in an ice bath before adding them to the boiling water so that they don't throw their claws when hitting the hot water.

Have water seasoned like you would for crawfish. Soon as water gets back to rolling boil, cut the fire.

Throw in the frozen corn if you'd like to cool them a little. Let them soak for 30-45 minutes. Taste before pulling out of soak.

I'll never understand for the life of me why people boil for 5 to 10 minutes. They are cooking during the soak. I've had neighbors over boil them and the meat gets mushy.

Thank you. I too think that the 5minute boil you see in the Zatarains box is too long. The crabs cook as soon as you put them in boiling water so when you bring it back to a boil they are already done.