How to Cook and Eat Crabs

To properly view this site, javascript must be enabled and Flash version 9 or higher must be installed.
Get the latest Flash player

View Comments (Add Comment)

  • catsnjags Flag

    Great Job...
    the whole series is well done!!

  • parrtimecrabber Flag

    Great Crab Cooking Info!
    Now when my customers ask me how to cook their crabs I can just send them here. What a time saver for me! Thanks ;)

Alexandra VanCleve
Owner/Crab Cooker, Capt. Jack's Crab Shack and The Virginia Crab Cake Co
www.welovecrabs.com  
540-582-8868

Eight years ago my family stumbled into the crab business and never looked back.  I spent every summer working at the crab shack to save money for college and of course help out my family.  After graduating from UVa with a degree in biology, I was dazed and confused.  Like most kids with a degree in one hand and zero experience in the other, I prolonged real life for a bit by working yet another summer at the crab shack.  The business had grown so much and the need to expand presented a unique opportunity- for me to become a business owner.  One larger retail store and an on-line store that ships seafood across the country, www.crabpie.com, I am learning something new every day.  Maybe one day I'll go to grad school, but right now I'm having too much fun cooking crabs!

How to Cook and Eat Crabs

Watch as Ali VanCleve shows you the best way to cook crabs. She'll also demonstrate how to properly open and eat a crab.

This expert: 98,274 views

This series: 87,382 views

Print

How to Cook and Eat Crabs

Ingredients

1 beer
Vinegar
Water
2/3 cup Old Bay
Half a bushel of blue crabs

Instructions

1. Add 1/3 parts water, 1/3 parts beer and 1/3 parts vinegar to a pot. Use a pot with a basket so the crabs aren't touching the water. Pour the Old Bay in.


2. Cull the crabs, separating the live crabs from the dead crabs. Put the live crabs in the pot, put the lid on and boil them for 25-30 minutes.


3. When you put the crabs on a plate, add more Old Bay seasoning to them.

Print

Transcripts

Alexandra VanCleve: Hi! I am Alexandra VanCleve with Capt. Jack's Crab Shack and we are here in Spotsylvania, Virginia. Today we are going to show you how to cook and eat crabs. We are going to walk you through all the steps from choosing the crabs, culling the crabs, fixing the steamer, cooking and eating. The chosen ingredients we will be using today are a steamer with a basket, a propane burner, beer, vinegar, Old Bay and of course blue crabs.

While cooking crabs there are a couple of safety concerns. If you are not used to cooking crabs often like I am, you want to use gloves when handling them. Second, you want to make sure that your propane burner is on an even keel. You might have had too many beers; you want to make sure you don't bump it over. Here at Capt. Jack, our family earning operated business, have been serving up seafood for the past seven years. Our all-female crew -- just one best seafood in our area, we serve crabs year around. Let's get started, cooking and eating crabs.

Other Videos