How to cook crab
Clean and cook the crab
Cleaning and cooking the crab is important to make good recipes, the crab in fact requires attention during cooking and cleaning to extract the maximum of the pulp it contains. Once the crab is cooked you can use it for many recipes that see it as an ingredient, for example for a delicious crab risotto.
- Difficulty: Low
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 10 minutes
- Rest time: 10 minutes
- Cooking time: 15 minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking method: Boiling
Ingredients for 2 people:
- 500 g crabs
- 3 l water
Tools:
- 1 pot of 5 l
- 1 Knife
- 1 Cutting board
Preparation
Before we get started, here are some tips on how to choose crabs before buying. The best crabs are the males, to recognize them all you have to do is turn them on the back and check the abdominal wing (it looks like a small tail/fin folded over the crab’s stomach) the small and pointed ones are typical of males.
The last tip buys live crabs and consumes them in a very short time, it is the only way to be sure that the crab you are about to cook is fresh, its meat tends to deteriorate quickly after its death.
- Rinse the crabs under fresh tap water, this simple operation should also ensure that the crustacean dies without having to cook it alive.
- Put plenty of water to cook on high heat and when it boils cook the crabs for 5-6 minutes (for crabs of the size of 500 gr).
- The smaller crabs cook in 3 minutes, use the colour as an indicator, when they turn red, cooking is complete.
- Let them cool completely in the water until they are completely cold.
- After cooking, it’s time to dedicate yourself to cleaning the crabs, this operation is simpler than you might think, first remove the claws, just rotate them in the opposite direction to the one in which they are addressed, a bit like you does with screws.
- To remove the pulp present in the crab with the help of a knife, you will have to separate the upper shell from the lower one. Inside the crab, you will find the gills and entrails that you will need to eliminate. The actual pulp is white and crumbly, the soft and creamy one has the most intense flavour.
- You have learned how to clean and cook crab, you just have to collect the pulp in a container and keep it aside for your recipes. For example, you can cook excellent crab ravioli, crab soup, crab linguine or crab risotto.
