Sweet and Spicy Beer Steamed Rock Crab

Here's a delicious way to add extra flavor to your crabs, crab legs, or crab claws whether they're already cooked or raw—steam them with spiced beer. 

Steaming crab legs has the advantage over cooking that the crab juices and flavor remain in the shell and do not leak into the cooking liquid, and they don’t become water-logged. If they aren't already, make sure to lightly crack each leg or claw before steaming so the flavor can get inside. The idea is the same as in steaming mussels in white wine, except that the mussels open during steaming whereas with crab legs, it still takes considerable effort to get the meat out of the crabs.

An amber-colored beer is best for this recipe; it gives a depth of flavor without being too assertive. There is no need to open a fresh bottle of beer for this, as the recipe uses flat beer.

Sustainably harvested U.S.-produced red rock crab claws are becoming more available in markets. Pacific red rock crab is found on the West Coast, especially around Puget Sound and in the Seattle area. It has a very large front claw that contains most of the meat. An alternative to red rock crab is blue crab from the East Coast, namely the Chesapeake Bay area. Like red rock crab, it also has a good environmental sustainability rating. Unlike the red rock crab, its two pincher claws are similar in size. Blue crabs are a prized seafood in Maryland, where the iconic Old Bay seafood seasoning, which is also used in this recipe, was invented by a German-Jewish refugee who had escaped Germany before the outbreak of the Second World War. For this recipe, you can use other types of crabs too.

Good side dishes for steamed crab are potatoes in either form—roasted, baked, mashed, or fried—as well as corn on the cob, or roasted vegetables. For sauces, try tartar sauce or aioli. 

A tasty way to use any leftover crabmeat is to make a crab dip that is served cold, or a baked crab casserole or crab dip.