King Crab Boil

The other day, Cheryl suggested we have a crab boil. Now, I’ve cooked crab legs before, but never gone full on crab boil. So, with the help of my friend, the internet, I found a bunch of recipes that were all basically the same, with minor alterations here or there, depending on whether the cook was from the east coast (Maine or Maryland) or the gulf coast (Louisiana). 

Here’s the thing. This is a very special treat, because king crab legs are really expensive. For a cheaper alternative, you can use snow crab clusters or make a shrimp boil. But frankly, nothing comes close to the large succulent pieces of crab you get from king crab legs. Anyway, this recipe is basically Old Bay’s own recipe, with a couple modifications that seem very common in other seafood boil recipes.

And if you don’t have a giant pot, you need one. Oh, and a spider strainer.

Spider strainer and large pot, duh

Ingredients

5 quarts (20 cups) water

1 can beer (optional)

½ cup Old Bay

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons salt

1 lemon, divided

1 ½ pounds of little potatoes (I like the Dynamic Duo)

2 large onions, cut into wedges, or 2 cups of thawed frozen pearl onions

12 oz package of smoked sausage (andouille preferred), cut into 2-inch pieces

5 ears fresh corn, shucked and halved crosswise

4 pounds of thawed frozen crab legs

Getting ready

Process

Bring water, beer, Old Bay, cayenne, salt, and half of the lemon (quartered) to rolling boil in a large stockpot (mine is 16 quarts) on high heat. I have a high BTU burner, and this still takes about twenty minutes. While this is going on, prep your vegetables, cut your sausage, and break down the crab legs at the joints (so they will fit in your pan).

Boiling broth, co-starring floating lemons

Add potatoes and onions. Cook 8 minutes. 

Add smoked sausage. Cook 5 minutes. 

Add corn. Cook 4 minutes.

Place the crab legs in the pot on a rack or colander over the boiling water. Cover with a lid and cook for 6 to 10 minutes, or until the crab is completely heated. When they are almost too hot to touch, they should be ready to eat.

Crabs getting a little steamed

Use your spider strainer to fish out all the vegetables. Dump everything on a large platter, like a 13 by 18 baking sheet, for instance. Sprinkle some Old Bay on the corn.

The gang’s all here!

Serve with remaining lemon, melted butter, some of the reserved cooking broth, Old Bay, whatever, and a nice warm baguette. A pair of kitchen shears couldn’t hurt. Oh, and lots of napkins.

Dig in.

The aftermath

And that’s your crab boil. I think we’ll make this about once a year, for a special occasion. It was just plain delicious.

Special thanks to Barbara for taking the pictures (I had my hands full)!