The Dungeness crab topic

[Stone]

Important crab tip -- when you're done, don't just throw all the shells and gunk in the garbage and forget about them for a few days. They will begin to smell. Bad. Very bad. Unlike the binder clip pinching, I think you should just take my word on it for this one.

Important crab tip.

[Priscilla]

Oh my yes I ascribe to this Important Crab Tip, D.

If they're not going in a pot to make Simon Majumdar's Bengali Fish Soup, they must go out, out out out, right away. No exceptions.

[SFJoe]

I like a dipping sauce of soy, ginger, garlic, roasted sesame oil, and a bit of white pepper. Perhaps another of butter, garlic, lemon juice, and black pepper?

I'd serve with a good Gruner Veltliner, personally.

[southern girl]

If you can't put your garbage out immediately (due to building or homeowner's covenants)...put them in ziplocks in the garbage...works great! Even the cats will not notice !

[malarkey]

ah, dungeness. plop them into a boiling pot filled with water and Louisiana Crab Boil. Crack 'em and dip into clarified butter, mmmmm.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Did I miss something? How were the crabs prerpared. And Joe's idea of Gruner is a good one. But then again, Joe thinks Gruner is good with everything.

[Stone]

I just picked up five of these suckers. I'm probably going to boil 4, but I want to do one Salt and Pepper. I assume I've got to clean out the guts and gills before I cook 'em?

[Jason Perlow]

Hell no. Just steam the little bastards and eat em.

[Stone]

Damn, crabs are good. Pretty easy too. Except the killing them part. These guys aren't lobsters. Lobsters are pansies compared to crab. I sharp knife will plunge between a lobster's eyes like a sharp knife through butter. Not a crab. Armor plating these guys have. I tried to give it a goood whack with a heavy cleaver. Right between the eyes, to cleave the shell. Nope. Nothing. The sucker looked up at me. Pissed. "You gonna kill me or what?"

So I dropped him in boiling water. Fuck that. Killed him quickly, but didn't cook him. Started to pull the legs off for salt & pepper crab. That's fucked up, when you pull on a dead thing's legs and it pulls back. It's dead. Then I quarted it. Cleaned out a loooht of gunk. Gave it a liberal sprinkling of kosher salt (the way to make shellfish kosher (shellfish generally isn't kosher), is to sprinkle it with kosher salt) and lots of fresh ground pepper. Deep fried in peanut oil.

Damn, it was good. The frying cooks the inner cartilege a bit, so it's not as difficult to eat. Moist and spicy. Surprisingly good for something so simple. But the coating didn't stick unless there was exposed flesh.

Then I boiled four of them (I thought of hacking em each with a cleaver, but I knew I wouldn't be doing it to kill them, but more out of spite). Took one out and pulled the feet off (it didn't pull back) and quartered it. Sauteed onion, lots of garlic; scallion and lots of giner; crab, broth, pepper. Thicken with cornstarch slurry. Messy. But goooood.

Edited April 21, 2003 by Stone (log)

[Bigfoot]

Another easy way to kill crabs you mean to cut up & saute them later is:

* fill your sink with hot water from the tap (doesn't have to be boiling)

* put the crabs in the water *upside down* (otherwise they can crawl out before they die)

The crabs die quickly and the meat is still raw -- nice for crab sashimi, etc. Don't try this with cold water -- they just right themselves and crawl out of the sink -- disturbing!

[sparrowgrass]

Long, long ago, when the Evil One was working as lowly GS-5, we lived up on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Poor as church mice we were, and all we could afford to eat were razor clams we dug ourselves, fresh wild salmon that the guys at the hatchery brought up to the house, smoked salmon that the our Indian neighbors made in smokehouses in their back yards, and Dungeness crabs, purchased at the local grocery store, already steamed, for $1.00 each.

Oh, to be poor again.

[Xanthippe]

Long, long ago, when the Evil One was working as lowly GS-5, we lived up on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.  Poor as church mice we were, and all we could afford to eat were razor clams we dug ourselves, fresh wild salmon that the guys at the hatchery brought up to the house, smoked salmon that the our Indian neighbors made in smokehouses in their back yards, and Dungeness crabs, purchased at the local grocery store, already steamed, for $1.00 each.

Oh, to be poor again.

Wow, no kidding! If that's what po' folks eat on the Olympic Peninsula, I'm so there right now -- and with no money in my pocket!!

And here I thought I got a good deal on Saturday when I paid $3.99/lb. for 'em (cooked, cracked and cleaned) at a local fish market . . .

[Stone]

Mine were $3.99 a pound live. The same place had them for $4.99 a pound boiled (not cleaned or cracked).

[Xanthippe]

Mine were $3.99 a pound live. The same place had them for $4.99 a pound boiled (not cleaned or cracked).

Kyle ( ),

You live in San Francisco, if I recall; did you buy them there? And how much did the place charge for cleaned and cracked??

[Stone]

I got them at a fish place called "Seafood Store" or Seafood something. Clement between 9th and 10th on the south side. They have pretty fresh fish at pretty good prices. My friends have bought tuna and salmon there for sushi -- no deaths yet. I didn't see cleaned and cracked.

[deadgnat]

I usually clean the crabs before cleaning-I don't like the idea of the meat I'm eating stewing with all the crap and guts inside the body-it tends to make the meat a bit more bitter. To kill/clean the crabs, I usually just grab one section of legs from behind so the crab is facing away from me, I place it on the edge of the sink, and just lift off the top shell-you have to tug a bit, but it comes off pretty easily. With the top shell off, they can't see anything, so you probably won't get bit, but you might want to wait a few minutes if you don't flailing limbs.

If you're lazy, steam the crabs, then serve with a dipping sauce that's equal parts minced ginger, soy sauce, and rice wine.

[Dejah]

Bought 3 dungeness crabs today. Usually I have lulled them to sleep in the freezer before I cut them up. However, I met up with "auntie" at the store and she said I should cut them up live just before I cook them for the freshest flavour.

I tried. . . but they were pleading with me for 2 hours! Finally, when my mom arrived for supper, she told me to stick a chopstick into the mouth cavity, jab and pry to separate the shell from the body. I felt so bad, but once I got the hang of it, the remaining 2 were a "snap"

How do you approach your lively snappers?

What's your favourite recipe? Black bean garlic sauce stir-fry? Ginger/green onion steaming?

Do you eat that goo inside (can't think of the term for it at the moment...been traumatized! )

[Laksa]

My mum taught me to turn the crab over and open up the triangular piece at the bottom of its belly, and stick a knife or chopstick vertically into this soft spot to kill it. Make sure the claws are well secured to avoid getting hurt.

My favorite crab dish is chilli crab.

[Gary Soup]

Just toss the whole critter in a pot of boiling, salted water and blanch it for about a minute. Then have your will with it.

Your crabs are probably jimmies, as it's illegal to keep the females (at least in the U.S.) of Dungeness so there's no "goo" worth eating, though some people eat the sperm (I forgot the euphemism for it).

Odd that you should bring this up, as I have been thinking all day about the beginning of dazha (hairy) crab season in Shanghai and contemplating a trip there in a month or so for a crab feast.

We usually wait for our local Dungeness season, which doesn't start before Thanksgiving, when the beauties are plentiful and cheap (sometimes less that $2/lb.)

[hzrt8w]

My mum taught me to turn the crab over and open up the triangular piece at the bottom of its belly, and stick a knife or chopstick vertically into this soft spot to kill it. 

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I agree with Laksa. I take a braver approach: I don't bother with using a knief. Turn the crab over, find it's tail. Yes, crabs have tails just like shrimps. The only thing is their tails curl up and tuck underneath their body shell. Use one hand to hold down the crab once you turn it over as it would swing its claws and all 8 legs but it can't really reach the center. Use the other hand, stick the thumb into the soft spot (the end of the tail), then just pull the underside open. Then, remove the gill and organs, rinse the body, and proceed to chopping up the legs and claws.

Sounds cruel, huh? A story: I like to watch the National Geographics channel and there is one program called "Worlds Apart". In every episode, a U.S. family is invited to spend their next vacation visiting a third world country usually in Asia or Africa. Almost invariably, the head of the U.S. family is treated as the guest of honor. As such, he is requested to, in his honor, slaughter a domestic animal - from chicken to pig to goat. He has to swing his sword or machete towards the animal (yeah, the one he petted that very morning) in front of a big group and his own family. And, almost invariably, you will see a grown man cry after doing it. Yeah, shouldn't have petted your food. A guy said he had eaten chicken all his life. He had never seen the head, the feet, the feather. Oh, my goodness.

My favorite crab recipe is ginger and scallion. The other one is salt and pepper. I think black bean sauce is a bit overpowering for crabs, as crab meat is very delicate. Another way to eat it is to steam (or boil) plain, then dip in -- no no, not butter -- sesame oil and red vinegar mix.

I was in Singapore once. My host took me to eat chili crab and curry crab - a Singaporean specialty. We ordered both of them, and ate them side by side. They were wonderful.

Laksa: I viewed the page on the chili crab recipe with interest. In the end, they said "Cover the wok and simmer over high heat for five to seven minutes till the crab shell turns bright red.". Simmer over high heat? Did I miss something?

Edited September 26, 2004 by hzrt8w (log)

[Dejah]

Disadvantaged prairie woman must pay $5.98 per lb. of crab.

And that was on sale! Usually it's $6.98.

The fish tank at our local Superstore, is usually filled with lobsters, at $12.98/ lb.

I'm glad I prefer crab!

[Gary Soup]

Disadvantaged prairie woman must pay $5.98 per lb. of crab.  

And that was on sale! Usually it's $6.98.

The fish tank at our local Superstore, is usually filled with lobsters, at $12.98/ lb.

I'm glad I prefer crab!

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This time of year Dungeness is pricey here, too ($4-$5/lb) because it has to be flown in from northern waters, so $5.98 CAN is not bad for the middle of the prairies.

Hmm, I wonder what Ben Hong pays for lobster where he is. I recall getting TWO whole garlic-ginger lobsters in a Chinese restaurant in Montreal Chinatown for $12.95 just a few years ago.

Edited September 26, 2004 by Gary Soup (log)

[jo-mel]

No experience with slaying crabs, ------ but lobsters I can handle.

I use to be upset when I had to deal with them, especially when I slit the wrong spot, one time, and the poor thing didn't die as I shelled him live. Traumatic for both of us! But then I read something from The Galloping Gourmet -- Graham Kerr. He said to put the lobsters in 98.6'water for about 20 minutes. Warm enough to lull the lobsters to sleep and they then quietly drown and die. You have to use them immediately as a chemical reactions sets in really quick in lobsters. I don't know about crabs -- the chemical reaction. I mean. But if the crabs nod off and die, that might be a way to do the dirty deed and be humane about it.

[Laksa]

Simmer over high heat?  Did I miss something?

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Heheh, good catch. Maybe the recipe writer changed his mind halfway through that sentence?

[Ben Hong]

Tomalley is the word used to describe the guts of crustaceans.

Surprisingly, I don't eat much lobster or crab, although I love the flavour. Usually I eat a couple of meals of lobster (gorge) a year and that satisfies my craving for the critters. Same goes for crab.

Favourite styles? I love lobster split live and steamed with scallions and ginger, then add a splash of soy sauce and sizzle with a hot splash of good peanut oil. The locals know only three ways to cook and serve lobster; chowder, boiled or in a hotdog bun (lobster roll), absolutely boring. I like crabs chowed with ginger/scallion. Btw, the quicker you do "it" the less pain for you and the critters.

Prices? Here in Atlantic Canada, we pay marginally cheaper prices than elsewhere, ie: not much less. Today's "special" on lobster at one of the supermarkets is $7.99 lb. for market sized (1-1.5 lbs.) Generally it's around $10. lb. Last summer I brought 20 lobsters to treat my large family in Toronto at a certain price. While strolling through Chinatown a day or two later, I saw that one of the fish merchants were blowing them out the door at $2. less per pound

On my first trip to Newfoundland to visit relatives in 1961, we were paying 25 cents apiece for 1.5 pound lobsters from barefoot kids at the roadside. Different times.

While I'm on a roll, here are some numbers for you. If you eat the tomalley and roe of lobster and winkle and gnaw out the meat from each of the eight legs, you would consume 40% of the total weight of the lobster. However if you don't do so and only eat the tail and claws, you would only net 30% at the most. At $10/lb that's expensive protein.