How to Steam Crabs, According to Experts

For those of us lucky enough to grow up in the mid-Atlantic, the crab feast is a summertime rite of passage. Whether we’re in a wood-paneled crab house or piled around a backyard picnic table, these messy communal gatherings get kicked off by one moment: a pile of seasoning-crusted hard-shell crabs cascading onto the middle of the table.

But long before the main event, tons of prep goes into perfectly steaming a bushel of crabs. No, we’re not talking the potato- and corn-filled boils of the bayou (an experience unto itself) or the hissing steam of cooking lobsters in New England. Crabbers, chefs, and home cooks in the Delmarva area have steaming and seasoning traditions all their own. Here, they share their tips to ensure that every lump of meat is worth the work.

How do you source the highest-quality crabs?

The short answer is: Buy local. “Go as close to the source as possible,” says Damye Divine Hahn, who is carrying the fourth-generation torch at Faidley’s Seafood in Baltimore. “If you’re able to get down close to the shore and buy them from small purveyors, that’s wonderful.” Most places consider the peak season from August through October, with the crabs getting meatier as the months progress.

“We get all ours in live, fresh, and caught that morning,” says chef Bobby Jones of the Point in Arnold, Maryland, who estimates the restaurant goes through 200 bushels every August. “As far as quality, sometimes crabbers will have a light day and you’re yielding 80 percent of the total bushel. It’s totally different than buying produce, and I have such respect for these watermen. They’re hustling, and we try to get as much as we can out of every catch.”

An easy way to tell quality off the bat, Jones says, is by measuring the width from point to point on the crab shell, or carapace. Male crabs that measure more than 5.5 inches across are considered a “1” and crabs that measure between 5 and 5.5 inches across are considered a “2.” (Crabs under 5 inches should not be harvested from the water.)

What’s the best way to set up the steamer?

Before you get started, put the live crabs on plenty of ice, which helps keep them fresh and also calms them down. “We always use ice baths to cool them or you can shove an ice pick by the backfin before you steam them,” advises Andy Gardner, who just took over ownership of his family’s crabhouse, LP Steamers, in Baltimore. “This keeps them from fighting in the pot.”

As for the steaming setup itself, it’s a fairly simple backyard configuration of a huge pot (which can be found at most restaurant supply stores or even bait and tackle shops) and a propane burner. All the experts agree to layer as you go — crabs, seasoning, crabs, seasoning — and be sure to have plenty of water to cover the crabs.

Should you actually add beer to your water?

Once you have all your equipment set up, the eternal question becomes whether to add anything to the water before it steams. “For my family, putting beer in something was always a good idea,” Gardner jokes. “Adding cheap, light beer can impart a different flavor and, scientifically, putting vinegar in there can help it steam quicker.”

“Growing up, my grandparents would always use the biggest pot they could find and do a combination of water, half-lemons, and beer,” Jones remembers, saying they usually poured in National Bohemian, which was brewed in Baltimore for over a century.

“For our family, it was always water and a can of Natty Boh,” says Hanh, whose 92-year-old mom, Nancy Faidley Divine, still comes by the business a couple times a week. “If I’m doing it at home, I’ll throw a couple of lemons in. I think the beer mellows out the flavor a bit, but mostly it’s just part of the fun.”

Is Old Bay or J.O. the best crab seasoning?

In the mid-Atlantic, there are two dueling crab seasoning blends: the well-known Old Bay from McCormick and the 80-year-old J.O. Spice in Halethorpe, Maryland. The former is more widely available while the latter is used in most local crab houses, and even creates proprietary blends for a lot of them.

“At the shop, we have a recipe that J.O. blended for us and I’ll add flake salt to it,” says Jones of the Point. “J.O. No. 2 is by far the way to go at home since the grind is heavy and it’s not as condensed. Nothing against Old Bay, but it gets too pasty because it’s so fine.” With a mixture of at least 15 spices (including paprika and celery salt), J.O. No. 2 provides a nice balance of salty, sweet, and peppery spice.

If you buy steamed crabs from the case at the newly refurbished Faidley’s in Lexington Market, you’ll be getting a custom twist on J.O. No. 1, and LP Steamers has also always used J.O. at its crab house. That said, Gardner points out that if you’re steaming for a feast at home, you should think about the spice tolerance of your crowd. Maybe go lighter during the steam, which allows people to add more spice as they pick through the crabs.

When will you know the crabs are ready?

Generally speaking, the steam takes about 15-20 minutes. One of the best parts of the process is watching the cerulean blue crabs turn a hot, bright orange. Another tell-tale sign of doneness is the meat itself. “You can tell by popping the middle three legs off and looking at the opacity of the meat,” Jones says. “It’s a shellfish, so, like shrimp, if it’s opaque and cooked, it’s ready. But be careful, they’re hot as hell.”

In fact, Hahn recommends taking the crabs off the heat immediately and leaving them covered for 10 minutes. That allows them to cool, but also ensures the crabs in the middle can continue cooking. “This applies to shrimp, crab cakes, anything else,” she says. “If you eat them when they’re too hot, sometimes all you taste is heat.” In fact, she applies this approach to her family’s famous crab cakes (of which they sell 3,000 a day during the holiday season), serving them warm but not hot, so the oil in the mayo doesn’t break down.

How do you pick crabs?

Talk to anyone and you’ll get a different answer here. Some crab lovers swear by mallets, while others only use a paring knife. Some dip crab meat in vinegar, while others dunk in butter. Certain pickers don’t bother with the claws, while others sop up every bit including the “mustard” (aka digestive organs). In essence, there is more than one way to skin a crab.

“I have a method that I learned from the ladies at the old Meredith & Meredith processing house [in Toddville, Maryland] that I’ve used my whole life,” explains Hahn, whose family is opening up a seafood restaurant called the Fishmonger’s Daughter in Catonsville next spring. “You leave the legs on and peel the back shell. Once you twist the legs off, the meat is completely intact and that way you don’t get broken up pieces. I show customers how to do it all the time.”

For Gardner, who has been cooking at the Point for the past 12 years, it’s a more free-wheeling experience. “Growing up with them, everybody has their own method,” he says. “To avoid the purity of correctness and all that bullshit, it’s about everybody having fun. There’s always someone who doesn’t want to pick crabs and someone does it for them, then someone else who’s slurping the mustard and someone who says it’s gross. There are mallets, knives, crusted paper towels, cups of cider vinegar, J.O., and somebody is gonna have butter. It’s all good.”

Justin Tsucalas is an award-winning photographer and owner of Plaid Photo, a Baltimore, Maryland-based studio.
Creative director and set designer Giulietta Pinna specializes in visual content creation for commercial and editorial food, interior, lifestyle, product and still life projects.