Cooking Snow Crab Legs

Truly speaking, there are a number of ways in which one can cook snow crab legs. They are largely available in the market frozen and pre-cooked, and so one can opt to bake, steam, boil, grill or broil, and serve it as the perfect hors d'oeuvre with some lip-smacking crab dips.

I believe that this is the easiest means of cooking snow crab legs. All you must do is take two sheets of aluminum foil and place them one on top of the other. Now use this double layered foil to properly wrap the crab legs. Remember to leave a small aperture at one end as a steam outlet. Heat your oven to 450° F and allow this arrangement to bake for at least 15 minutes.

You can boil these crab leg clusters in the oven. And for cooking them in an oven, one doesn't even have to thaw them. All you need to do is preheat your oven to a temperature of about 400° F.

Now in a roasting pan, pour like 2 cups of water, 3 pinches of kosher salt, minced onions, seasonings and a motley of herbs along with the crab legs and cover the pan properly with an aluminum foil. Now let this pan sit in the oven for 20 whole minutes and voila! Your flavored snow crab legs are all set to be devoured voraciously.

For this, the crab legs must be placed on a cookie sheet and broiled for like 8 minutes, given that the legs are at a minimum distance of 7 inches from the broiling element.

This again requires you to wrap the clusters in double layered aluminum foils and then grill the legs for 16 minutes. But this time, you need to allow the legs to thaw before enwrapping them. Also, leave no openings in the foil and place the enclosed crabs 7 inches away from the heat orifice.

For this, you need to have a steamer insert, which is nothing but a collapsible metallic basket, which is used to hold food items over steaming hot water. You will need about 4 pounds of crab legs to feed a group of four. Leave the frozen crab legs at room temperature about 30 minutes before you start to cook them & then put some water to heat on the stove.

Make sure the pot holding the water is big enough to accommodate the steamer insert and remember to throw in about 1 tablespoon of kosher salt. As the water comes to a boil, hold the crab legs under some running tap water. This will rid the legs of the ice bits. In another wok, melt a stick of butter and when it froths, add a minced garlic clove to it.

When the garlic butter smell surrounds you, remove the wok from flame, and squeeze the juice of a lemon in it. Check with the crab legs and when all the ice bits are gone, put these into the steamer insert and steam cook for a minimum of 7 - 8 minutes. If the legs stick out of the steamer, then bend them to sit properly.

After the legs are done, just remove the garlic pieces from the butter, pour it into four plates in a zigzag pattern and then place the crab legs onto these lined dishes.

As easy as it gets! You can also do the same in the microwave by wrapping the legs in a moistened towel and then cooking them on defrost for approximately 5 - 7 minutes. After that, you can rub some garlic butter on it and serve with some condiment.

Remember, snow crabs are flash frozen on fishing vessels themselves, as at room temperature their flavor quickly dissipates. So, if you are cooking crab legs for the first time, you mustn't thaw the legs for too long or the same predicament will become true for you, too! Now, here are two of my favorite recipes. Try them.

You'll need

• Frozen crab leg clusters, 5
• Lemon juice, ¼ cup
• White distilled vinegar, ¼ cup
• Celery, 1 bunch (heads only)
• Bay leaves, 6
• Sweet onion, ½ (hacked crudely)
• Crab boil spice, 3 tbsp.
• Garlic powder, 2 tbsp.
• Sea salt, to taste

Procedure
Fill ¾ of a crock pot with water and place it on the stove. As it simmers, add the celery, onion, lemon juice, vinegar, sea salt, garlic powder and the crab, boil spice one by one and keep stirring. Once the solution starts to boil, add the crab legs and let it boil for 3 minutes.

Then place a lid on the pot and let the preparation stand unperturbed for like 10 - 12 minutes. This helps to steep the legs with all the variant flavors. Serve with crab crackers and seasoned boiled potatoes and warmed butter.

Gather

• Snow crab legs, 2 lbs. (thawed)
• Tomatoes, 16 oz. (cubed)
• Dry white wine, 1 cup
• Parsley leaves, ¼ cup (shredded)
• Garlic, ¼ cup (roasted and minced)
• Unsalted butter, 2 tbsp.
• Worcestershire sauce, 2 tsp.
• Kosher salt, 1 tsp.

Procedure
In a Dutch oven, blend together all the ingredients, except the crab legs, by tossing well. Now slit the legs lengthwise and then place it with the tossed ingredients.

Use spatulas to commingle all too well and then cover and place in a preheated microwave for 15 minutes and bake at 400° F. Serve with rustic country bread slices and crab legs topped with the tomato mixture. You can also grill it some more by basting it with its juices, enwrapping it wholly in a foil and grilling for 10 minutes.

Make sure that you serve crab legs with a nut cracker and a lobster fork.

Even though you can always serve crab legs with just some warm, molten butter and lemon cuneuses, try these crab dips for an enhanced gustatory experience.

Just mix together 2 egg yolks, ½ a stick of butter, 3 dashes of cayenne pepper, salt to taste, 2 tablespoons each of lemon juice and cream in a cooking pan, over a low flame and stir till it boils. Your dips ready when it has reached a thick creamy consistency.

For this, you have to microwave 6 tablespoons of lemon juice, 3 tablespoons each of dill and olive oil, salt and pepper to taste for 10 - 15 seconds or just refrigerate the concoction for a cold dip.

Snow crabs are also known as 'queen crabs' in Canada. As is evident from above, cooking crab legs isn't really a cause for elaborate hullabaloo. All you need to do is choose the proper method of cooking and a good dip to tantalize the palates of your guests.

It is definitely not time-consuming and believe me, the result is bound to be good. But to understand what I am saying, you need to try the recipes first and so, don't tarry any longer!