# Crab legs... quick! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 23, 2000, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-legs-quick/42473 "2000-11-23T20:59:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2000, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-legs-quick/42473/1 "2000-11-23T20:59:46Z")
Well, I decided that I’ll have king crab legs for Thanksgiving. So I went to the store and bought a couple, and now I need to know how to heat them (king crab apparently being cooked and frozen at sea). I don’t have a pot big enough to boil them, and I don’t have a barbeque grill. My options are to A) Microwave them; or B) Cook them in the oven; or C) Eat them cold. I plan to eat them with melted butter. What’s the best way to heat them without drying them out? ---
**Author:** ![Schieschkopf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Schieschkopf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schieschkopf)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2000, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-legs-quick/42473/2 "2000-11-23T21:26:54Z")
Why didn’t you ask the crab? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2000, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-legs-quick/42473/3 "2000-11-23T21:29:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Why didn’t you ask the crab? 😛 Because he’s dead. Anyway, I don’t know if a crab would want to tell a person how to cook him. ---
**Author:** ![midnite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@midnite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/midnite)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2000, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-legs-quick/42473/4 "2000-11-23T21:39:57Z")
Oh Yum…crablegs! It’s best to quickly steam them, they will usually do this at the store for you. Since you don’t have a large pot to boil or steam them…I usually just run the under the hot tap water…it only takes a minute. Since you will be eating them with the hot butter they don’t actually have to be really hot. I have had to use this method many times when traveling and it actually works just fine. Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2000, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-legs-quick/42473/5 "2000-11-23T21:42:02Z")
Thanks **midnite** , I’ll give that a try. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2000, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-legs-quick/42473/6 "2000-11-23T22:47:02Z")
Since crabs are not very picky eaters, as in cannibals and all that, the pointed little tip of one of the legs is very useful in extracting the meat from other sections. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2000, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-legs-quick/42473/7 "2000-11-23T22:49:22Z")
PS: If you wrap them in a bunch of wet paper towels, you can nuke them. Just do repeated blasts at a low setting until they are warm. Experiment with one leg before doing the rest. It should work just fine. Be sure to have some lemon handy as well. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2000, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-legs-quick/42473/8 "2000-11-24T01:20:39Z")
Heh heh. Frying pan! Yeah, by folding the legs at the “knees”, I was able to get the legs into a frying pan. I added a little water, a lid, and steamed them for a little bit. They were just okay. Not as good as the dungeness crab I had in a fishing town in Washington, but not bad. The dungeness had been cooked that day at Brady’s Oysters, and it was excellent. As was the fresh smoked salmon. I guess it’s just better eating fresh, never frozen seafood. Either that, or I’m not a good crab steamer. ---
**Author:** ![jovius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@jovius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovius)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2000, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-legs-quick/42473/9 "2000-11-24T02:00:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. \* > \*\*Heh heh. Frying pan! Yeah, by folding the legs at the “knees”, I was able to get the legs into a frying pan. I added a little water, a lid, and steamed them for a little bit. > > They were just okay. Not as good as the dungeness crab I \*\* Mmmm… Dungeness crabs (from BC), used to hunt these little guys on a pier in White Rock when I was kid - no more though. Anyways, I guess it’s too late to suggest that it’s okay to just cook 'em lightly in your fireplace (small fire of course and if you have one too). It’ll keep the juice inside the legs. Works very good with lobster tails too (Mmmmmm)… \ \ \ ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2000, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-legs-quick/42473/10 "2000-11-24T16:14:43Z")
**jovius** , as I mentioned int he coffee thread, I was just up in Vancouver. I didn’t get to the water though. If I don’t find a job in Seattle, I’ll probably move up to Bellingham, WA. Then Vancouver will just be an hour’s drive away! A long was from Hoquiam, though, and Brady’s Oysters! Oh… no fireplace here. Maybe I can get a boat like Democritus’s after I move up, get a crab pot, and find a sandy beach on which to dig a firepit to roast my prey…