**Baked Blue Crab: A Chesapeake Bay Delicacy**
Baked blue crab is a classic Chesapeake Bay dish that is enjoyed by seafood lovers all over the world. This succulent crab is steamed or boiled in a flavorful broth, then baked with butter, garlic, and a variety of herbs and spices. The result is a tender, juicy crab with a rich, savory flavor that is perfect for any occasion.
This article includes two delicious recipes for baked blue crab. The first recipe is for a traditional steamed crab, while the second recipe is for a baked crab with a creamy crab imperial filling. Both recipes are easy to follow and can be made with fresh or frozen blue crab.
**Steamed Blue Crab**
Ingredients:
* 1 dozen blue crabs
* 1 gallon water
* 1/2 cup salt
* 1/4 cup Old Bay seasoning
Instructions:
1. Bring the water, salt, and Old Bay seasoning to a boil in a large pot.
2. Add the crabs and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until the crabs are bright red.
3. Remove the crabs from the pot and let them cool slightly.
4. Serve the crabs with melted butter, lemon wedges, and your favorite sides.
**Baked Crab with Crab Imperial Filling**
Ingredients:
* 1 dozen blue crabs
* 1 cup cooked crab meat
* 1/2 cup mayonnaise
* 1/4 cup bread crumbs
* 1/4 cup chopped onion
* 1/4 cup chopped celery
* 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
* 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
* 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
* 1/4 cup melted butter
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Remove the meat from the crabs and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine the cooked crab meat, mayonnaise, bread crumbs, onion, celery, green bell pepper, parsley, Old Bay seasoning, salt, and black pepper.
4. Stuff the crab shells with the crab imperial mixture.
5. Place the crabs in a baking dish and drizzle with melted butter.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the crabs are heated through.
7. Serve the crabs with melted butter, lemon wedges, and your favorite sides.
JUMBO LUMP BLUE CRAB CAKES
Steps:
- Pick over the crabmeat to remove any shells. Be gentle, as the lumps of crab are delicate and will fall apart. Set aside. Mix together the mayonnaise, seafood seasoning, scallions, basil, eggs, and salt and pepper. Pour mixture over the crabmeat and with your hands gently mix together. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the crab mixture and continue to mix. Divide the mixture into 4 parts and mold the cakes with your hands (do not rinse off you hands between mixing and forming the cakes, as it is mixture on your hands that help the cakes stay together).
- Refrigerate the cakes for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Paint the crab cakes with a minuscule amount of oil and sear in a hot oven-safe skillet or on a griddle top until lightly golden brown on both sides. The cakes have such little binder that you need to be careful when flipping them over so that they don't fall apart. Place the pan in the oven for about 5 minutes, or to heat through.
- Serve with a red Cocktail Sauce and/or a flavored aioli.
- Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
HOW TO COOK BLUE CRABS
Blue crabs are common shellfish in the Atlantic Ocean named for their bright colors and are a popular coastal food. Crabs can be steamed, boiled, or baked whole either fresh or frozen to make a delicious meal. Impress your friends and...
Provided by wikiHow
Categories Crab
Number Of Ingredients 3
Steps:
- Fill the bottom of a steamer pot with water, salt, and other seasonings. Fill your steamer pot with 4 cups (950 ml) of water so it's surface is below where the rack sits. Stir in ½ cup (54 g) of seafood seasoning, 1 tablespoon (17 g) of salt, and whatever other spices you want to include with your crab. You can find steamer pots online or in specialty kitchenware stores. Try mixing other liquids into the water, such as lemon juice, light beer, or vinegar, to add more flavor.
- Put the rack inside the pot and bring the liquid to a rolling boil. Set the steamer rack on the lip inside the pot. Put the steamer pot onto your stove over high heat. Reduce your stove to medium heat once the water starts boiling. If the water level is above the rack, drain some of the liquid. If your steamer pot has a basket instead of a rack, set the basket inside so it's above the water.
- Set a layer of whole crabs on the rack and season them. Grab the crabs with a pair of tongs to transfer them into your steamer pot. Create a single layer of crabs before sprinkling each with 1 tablespoon (7 g) of extra seasoning. If you need to make more crabs, continue layering them on top of one another and seasoning them. Once you have all of your crabs in the steamer, put the lid on so they can cook. You can use either fresh or frozen blue crabs. Make sure frozen crabs are completely thawed before you cook them. You do not need to kill them or clean them beforehand.
- Cook the crabs for about 20 minutes or until they're bright orange. Leave your steamer over medium heat for at least 20 minutes. Remove the lid and check the color of the crabs' shells. The shell should change from a dark blue to a bright red or orange. Another way to check if the crabs are finished cooking is if the bottom of their bellies start to pop out and away from their body.Tip: Having more crabs in your steamer pot can affect the cooking time. If they aren't finished after the first 20 minutes have passed, check on your crabs every 5 minutes after to see if they're ready.
- Remove the crabs from the pot and serve them hot. Grab your crabs with a pair of tongs and set them on a clean baking sheet. Let the crabs cool for 5 minutes so they're easier to handle. Break apart the shell so you can eat the meat inside. Wear a bib or tuck a napkin into your shirt so you don't spill crab on yourself. Cooked crab lasts in the fridge for 3-5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
THE BEST CRAB CAKES
When we set out to make the "best" crab cakes, opinions in the test kitchen were strong and varied. But we could all agree on plenty of fresh, high-quality crabmeat with very little filler. After some tinkering, we created these decadent cakes-generously sized and highly seasoned-with plenty of lemon juice, fresh herbs and spices. The jumbo lump crabmeat is front and center, so splurge on the best and freshest you can find.
Provided by Food Network Kitchen
Categories appetizer
Time 1h10m
Yield 8 crab cakes
Number Of Ingredients 15
Steps:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- For the crab cakes: Gently fold together the crabmeat, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, chives, Dijon mustard, seafood seasoning, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper and the juice and zest of one lemon in a large bowl. Refrigerate the crab mixture for 15 minutes to firm up; this allows the breadcrumbs to absorb some of the liquid, helping the crab cakes bind together.
- Meanwhile, make the tartar sauce: Combine the mayonnaise, dill pickles, capers, chives, zest and juice of 1 lemon in a medium bowl and mix until combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Scoop heaping half cups of the crab mixture and pat into 2 1/2-inch wide patties. Lightly press them together so they do not fall apart while cooking. You should have 8 patties.
- Heat 3 tablespoons unsalted butter and 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the crab cakes to the pan and cook until golden, about 2 minutes, then flip using a flat metal spatula. Continue to cook until lightly golden, about 1 1/2 minutes then transfer the pan to the oven. Cook until the crab cakes are completely heated through, about 10 minutes.
- Serve the crab cakes with the tartar sauce and lemon wedges.
STEAMED BLUE CRABS
Atlantic Ocean Blue Crabs, steamed over a boil of Old Bay® seasoning and beer. Show your friends you have that certain craboir faire with this one.
Provided by Steve A
Categories Main Dish Recipes Seafood Main Dish Recipes Crab
Time 1h
Yield 6
Number Of Ingredients 6
Steps:
- Combine 1/2 cup seafood seasoning, salt, beer, and vinegar in a large stockpot over high heat. Bring to a strong simmer.
- Right before cooking, carefully place each crab upside down and stick a knife through the shell, just behind mouth.
- Fit a screen over the beer mixture and layer the crabs on the screen. Be sure that the crabs are above the simmering liquid. Cover.
- Steam crabs until they turn bright orange and all of the blue/green color is gone, 20 to 30 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup seafood seasoning before serving.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 183.3 calories, Carbohydrate 8.3 g, Cholesterol 98.3 mg, Fat 2.5 g, Fiber 3 g, Protein 21.5 g, SaturatedFat 0.3 g, Sodium 3548.2 mg, Sugar 0.3 g
OVEN-ROASTED DUNGENESS CRAB
Categories Citrus Garlic Shellfish Roast Valentine's Day Orange Crab Bon Appétit
Yield Makes 2 servings
Number Of Ingredients 10
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 500°F. Melt butter with oil in heavy large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in garlic, shallot, and dried crushed red pepper. Add crabs; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon chopped thyme and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley over crabs. Stir to combine. Place skillet in oven and roast crabs until heated through, stirring once, about 12 minutes.
- Using tongs, transfer crabs to platter. Add orange juice and peel to same skillet; boil until sauce is reduced by about half, about 5 minutes. Spoon sauce over crabs. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon thyme and 1 tablespoon parsley and serve.
BAKED BLUE CRAB
This recipe was developed by a neighbor of ours who would let us go crabbing of his dock every summer when we were kids. We could catch enough for a big low country crab boil. We couldn't eat them all, so this was always a leftover treat!
Provided by Morcash Sweat
Categories Seafood
Number Of Ingredients 3
Steps:
- 1. *Boiled crabs can be leftover and frozen in the body shell. The legs are pulled off first, and then the body is cleaned from the guts (yellow body fat) and "deadman" is what we called it. The deadman is the poisonous tentacles attached to the sides of the inner shell. They should be discarded and not eaten. After the shell body is clean, the body can be frozen.
- 2. After freezing, take the crabs and lay them on a cookie sheet with the open side up. Put a pat of butter and shake a sprinkle of Lawry's Seasoning Salt on the butter. Heat them in a medium oven to melt the butter and warm up the crab. It should take about 15 to 20 minutes, no more, because you're really re-heating the crab.
- 3. The butter and seasoning salt infuses into the crabmeat and tastes delicious. Just crack the shells and enjoy!
Tips:
- Choose the Right Crabs: Select live blue crabs with a heavy feel and no missing limbs.
- Proper Cleaning: Clean and gut the crabs thoroughly to ensure a flavorful dish.
- Generous Seasoning: Don't shy away from seasoning the crabs. Use a combination of herbs, spices, and butter for an aromatic and flavorful experience.
- Garlic Butter: Elevate the flavor by adding garlic butter to the crabs. The garlic and butter combination creates a rich and savory taste.
- Careful Baking: Bake the crabs at the right temperature and for the appropriate time to prevent overcooking and maintain their delicate texture.
- Serving Suggestions: Serve the baked blue crabs with melted butter, lemon wedges, and your favorite dipping sauce for an indulgent seafood feast.
- Seafood Accompaniments: Pair the baked blue crabs with other seafood dishes like grilled shrimp or steamed mussels for a complete seafood meal.
Conclusion:
Baked blue crab is a delectable seafood dish that showcases the natural flavors of the crab meat. By following these tips and tricks, you can prepare a succulent and flavorful baked blue crab that will impress your taste buds and leave you craving for more. So, gather your ingredients, preheat your oven, and embark on a culinary journey to create this delicious seafood masterpiece!
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