Dungeness Crab
This is scarcely a recipe, but I didn’t know how to deal with crab at home, and I’m guessing I’m not the only one.
With thanks to Carolyn Phillips’s All Under Heaven for advice on handling fresh crab.
1 or 2 raw or cooked crabs, weighing about 2 pounds apiece, for 2-3 people, depending on appetite (see notes.)
jasmine rice
for the dipping sauces:
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
Chinkiang vinegar, to taste
1 small garlic clove, peeled and minced
small piece fresh ginger, finely chopped
tiny piece fresh red pepper, minced
*As noted in the post, I had the fishmonger dispatch my crabs for me, as I am both klutzy and cowardly. Steaming instructions below.
You will need nutcrackers and crab crackers, or paring knives and mallets, or the crab bashing implements of your choice to crack the crab legs and extract meat from the body.
To steam the crab: set up a steamer by placing a rack in a large lidded wok or pan. Set a heat-proof bowl on the rack. Fill with water to just below the rack. Add a few pennies: when the water comes to a boil, you’ll hear them rattle. If they stop rattling, the pan needs water. Add the crab to the bowl, cover with the lid, and turn heat to high. You’ll know water is boiling when you hear the pennies rattling. Turn heat down just slightly. Steam crab for 35 minutes.
Allow crab to cool enough to handle. If making broth, be sure to save the yellow liquid in the bowl.
You can either crack the crab now or leave it to your dinner guests. I crack the crabs, as my spouse has neuromuscular disease. Setting out two large bowls, one for shell and the other for meat, I begin with the legs, cracking the shell with crab crackers and extracting meat with the pick from my nutcracker set. My best advice is be patient.
Before opening the body’s upper the shell–by pulling it off–get a smallish bowl. Now pull the upper shell off. You’ll see some gunky stuff that may be green or yellow. The yellow stuff is fat, while the green stuff is heptopancreas, or the equivalent of tomalley. Don’t be put off by the unattractive appearance; It is considered a delicacy. Spoon it into your smallish bowl (pictured, above).
The body meat is easy to pull free in larger chunks. You’ll see gills–it’s easy to tell what’s crab meat and what’s inedible viscera. Pull the inedible stuff out and discard it.
Crab shells make beautiful broth. Refrigerate them up to three days or freeze up to three months.
To make the dipping sauces, stir the soy sauce and Chinkiang vinegar together in a small bowl, adding the garlic, ginger, and hot pepper until it’s seasoned to your liking. Serve with rice.
To eat, serve the crab, rice, dipping sauces, lots of napkins, and eat with fingers and forks.
Fish does not keep well, so eat up any leftovers within two days.
Notes:
Number of crabs depends on appetite. The fishmonger gave me 2 two-pound crabs for two people; we had leftovers.
As noted above, I had the fishmonger dispatch the crabs. So I’m not offering advice on killing crabs at home.
Other menu ideas:
Melt some butter to serve alongside the crab.
Serve crab meat with fresh fettucine.