The most important thing when steaming crabs is to maintain the freshness of the crabs and steam the crabs without overcooking them. The most common problems that occur when steaming crabs are steaming for too long, resulting in the meat not being fresh and sweet, or steaming for too little time, causing parasites. The steaming time of crabs cannot be generalized, because the time required for a whole crab and a crab cut into pieces is completely different. Whole live crabs need to be boiled first, then steamed over high heat for about 5 minutes, and then switched to low heat to continue steaming. Crabs weighing less than 3 taels should be steamed for about 10 minutes, and crabs weighing 3 to 4 taels should be steamed for about 12 minutes. For more than 4 taels, continue to steam for about 15 minutes. Usually, every time the weight increases by 1 tael, the steaming time will increase by about 2 minutes. In short, the specific time to steam crabs depends on the size of the crabs.