not sure if this has been covered before, but I'm looking to get a good size fire pit and a steamer pot for crabs/lobster etc. Wondering if anyone has cooked crab over a fire pit, looking for some guidance on what products are beat. Thank guys
I have only done it over propane, but you don’t need a huge fire since you are only boiling a small amount of water to generate the steam. The most important item is your pot. I would suggest going to a restaurant supplier and looking for a large stainless pot of whatever size you feel will meet your needs. Aluminum is a bit cheaper but I prefer steel, especially outdoors and over a fire. Something between 20 and 120 quarts would work for most people depending on how much you want to cook at a time. Anything over the 30 gallon/120 quart size gets to be a bit unwieldy unless you have good help.
Probably nothing special. Just a big pot (bigger than what you think you need). Pots take a REALLY long time to boil!!
Only if you over fill them or are trying to boil stuff like a crawfish boil. If you are steaming clams, crabs, lobstah etc. you only need an inch or two of water in the bottom and that boils pretty quick.
Thanks guys, I'm keeping my eyes open on a crock that will suit my needs. The Bayou brand looks like a good one.
Love me some steamed seafood! When we were down near Bar Harbour Maine a couple summers ago we were eating lots of "wicked good lobstah" and the local Wal-mart had large aluminum steamer pots for about $20. Great deal with steamer disc and lid but the lid could have used a small vent. This will become more important soon. Anyways my buddy and I each bought one as we were cooking mussels, oysters and lobsters most nights. I put some sea water on the propane burner to boil and kill any bacteria while we were enjoying some appetizers. I turned the pot off and let it sit till we were ready to steam some lobster. A few minutes later we heard an odd crinkling sound. As the pot cooled, a vacuum was created. Someone thought it would be a good idea to cool it down a little more with a quick spray from a hose. Well that didn't work very well. We drilled a small hole in the lid of the second pot Should look like this. https://www.walmart.com/ip/IMUSA-US...male-and-Steamer-Pot-32-Quart-Silver/13370045
Got my big steamer pot about 30 years back, and after using it over wood fires a few times, my family gave me a propane fired outdoor cooker. Much easier, and cleaner. But, this is not a propane forum, so pay no attention. And, my pot looks a lot like XXL's uncrushed. Except my lid doesn't fit tight enough for something like that to happen. PS I recommend a full basket inside like this one, not one of the bottom only kind. (At least if you do your crabs Maryland style, or low country style)
Depends on the crab. Out here in PNW, we have dungeness crabs. Sometimes these buddies can get LARGE. So they take 20 mins or so to cook in full water boil. Thing is you can always make the level lower if you’re boiling lots, since the mass of crabs push the water up. MikeyB I will show you my propane burner. I cook crab often in the summer if we get the chance to go catch them. (Thieves lately.) aluminum pots work but they take a long time to boil more so than stainless steel. 30 qt and up is decent if you got a good supply.
Do they need to be submerged, or can they be cooked with steam? When cooking east coast blue crabs, the bottom of the pot gets a mix of beer, vinegar, water and old bay but only up to the bottom of the steamer basket. The crabs sit in the sauna above the liquid.
Submerging them is a much more thorough cooking process but blue crabs are much smaller so they benefit from a more gentle cooking. If you think of how big a lobster can get, 5 lbs of lobster has to boil for the same time. Dungeness maybe more so depending on how much is in the pot. Ive had some 10 crabs in a pot, took about 30 mins at full boil. Keeping in mind that the crab themselves are cold so they too cool down the water. This is why the propane cooker is best to be on high, no simmering. Also it’s good to grab the salt water from the bay around here to to cook it in, not fresh water but you do what you need to do. The beer in the water sounds really good but...save some for the boiling. That’s a requirement after hauling pots of course!
Matt Fine, I think this is probably the best representation as far as size goes. There’s like 2-3 blue crab to one dungeness but far as tastes goes, locals preference of course but they discuss it as a similar taste between the two. I’d love to try the blue crab but likely have to visit the east coast for that.
