STEAMED BLUE CRABS

Steamed Blue Crabs image

For steamed crabs, that beach-town summer standby, the Chesapeake catechism teaches plenty: buy more crabs than you think you need, use more spice, a larger pot. Get wooden mallets. Prepare to eat for a while. If you don't have a crab pot, and most of us don't, fiddle with the largest stockpot or pasta boiler you have. Set a few clean, empty metal cans upside down on the bottom or invert a colander in there, anything that allows you to have a boiling liquid at the bottom and crabs above it, with none of them swimming around in the soup.

Provided by Sam Sifton

Categories dinner, easy, quick, main course

Time 30m

Yield Serves 4

Number Of Ingredients 4

Ingredients

12 ounces beer
1 cup apple-cider vinegar
1 dozen large blue crabs
1/2 cup Chesapeake-style crab seasoning, preferably Old Bay

Steps:

Place a steamer pot or any large, heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid on the stove. (In the latter case, improvise a rack on the bottom of the pot that will keep crabs a few inches from the bottom.) Add the beer, vinegar and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil over high heat.
Put a layer of crabs on the rack in the pot. Sprinkle with a generous amount of seasoning, then repeat with another layer, and another, until all 12 crabs are in pot (and well seasoned). Cover and steam over medium-high heat until the crabs are bright red, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the crabs with tongs. Serve over newspaper, with mallets and picks.

Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 145, UnsaturatedFat 1 gram, Carbohydrate 9 grams, Fat 2 grams, Fiber 1 gram, Protein 15 grams, SaturatedFat 0 grams, Sodium 240 milligrams, Sugar 0 grams