If it is boiled water, you need to boil the water first, and then put the hairy crabs into the pot to steam, which usually takes 12- 15 minutes. In this case, the steaming time will be shorter, but the maturity will be more uniform, and the crab meat will be more tender.
If cold water is used, it will be more worry-free, but the steaming time needs to be longer, because the water must be boiled from cold water to boiling water, and then steamed for about 20 minutes.
Therefore, it is ok to steam hairy crabs in boiling water or cold water. However, in most cases, it is steamed with cold water, which is more worry-free and convenient. If the hairy crabs are not tied with crab feet, then cold water must be used, otherwise they will be steamed on hot water, and the crab feet will fall off before they die.
Tips for steaming hairy crabs
Don't put the hairy crabs directly into the pot. The extra step is to stick a toothpick in the mouth of the hairy crabs first, so that they will be in suspended animation, so that the hairy crabs won't move, and they can also prevent the legs from falling off during steaming.
Different from other ingredients, when steaming hairy crabs, the way of placing them is very particular. Be sure to put the belly up and the crab shell down, so that the hairy crabs can be heated evenly. At the same time, the cooked hairy crabs are not easy to leak crab roe or crab paste. Many people don't pay attention to this when steaming hairy crabs. As a result, crab roe keeps flowing out and all the good things are wasted.