How to Boil Alaskan King Crab Legs

Nothing says haute cuisine quite like well-prepared King Crab legs served steaming on your table. Combined with a nice baked potato, some fresh salad greens, and a glass of white wine, King Crab legs are the perfect meal. Unless you are buying your crab still while it's still alive, those legs are already cooked. All you have to do is heat them through.

Things You'll Need

• Large roasting pan
• Large stockpot
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 tsp. garlic
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Instructions

1. Lay the crab legs in your roasting pan, until the pan is slightly over half-filled. Pack them as tightly as you like, since even cooking is not a large issue, as your crab legs are pre-cooked by the seafood processor.

2. Thaw your King Crab legs in the roasting pan, covered with foil, in the refrigerator overnight. Place the roasting pan as far up in your refrigerator as you can, since it's slightly warmer near the top. Covering the pan ensures that the crab legs won't pick up any strange flavors.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Set your roasting pan near the oven while it preheats.

4. Fill stockpot with 1 gallon of water, and place over high heat. Add lemon juice, salt and garlic. Bring the water to a rolling boil.

5. Open the oven door once it's preheated, and pull out your middle rack so it's accessible. Place the roasting pan containing the crab legs onto the middle rack.

6. Place oven mitts on your hands, and carefully pour the water from the stockpot into the roasting pan containing the crab legs. Push the center rack into the oven, and heat crab legs for 7 minutes. Carefully remove the roasting pan from the oven and drain the water from the legs. Crack the legs using your preferred method, and serve on a large platter to your guests.

Tips & Warnings

• If you find yourself in a time-crunch, you can speed thaw your crab legs, as well. Fill your roasting pan with cool water, and place under the kitchen faucet. Turn on the faucet slightly, and allow it to run over the crab legs. They should thaw in 20 to 30 minutes. Squeeze the thickest part of the leg to ensure that they're thawed.

• You will be working with boiling water. Be careful. Remember that many types of standard oven mitts lose all of their insulating capacity the moment they get wet. If the mitt you're wearing gets wet, change to another one before touching anything hot.