Cleaning and Cooking Crab

Living in the great Northwest affords us many wonderful advantages. One of our favorites is the opportunity to catch dungeness crab. There is something very satisfying in catching and eating fresh crab right out of the sea.

To prepare crab for cooking:

Although you can cook crab live, by dropping them into boiling water, we prefer to cook them after they have been killed.

This method works great at a dock. If you don’t have access to a dock, you can use a large rock or shovel as a striking surface. Grasp the crab by the four back legs. Crabs that have just been caught will be lively and fight back, so handle them carefully. Hold the crab facing away from you with four rear legs and pincher in each hand. Crack the crab down sharply on the edge of the dock. This will break the crab into three pieces. The center section will break off and fall into the water leaving two sections of legs. If you are using a rock or shovel, crack the crab down hard on a hard surface and the crab will break apart as well. This procedure kills the crab instantly and is more humane than dropping the live crab into boiling water. Clean away the bits of entrails clinging to the legs and the crab is now ready for cooking.

You must cook crab immediately after it has been killed as raw crab meat deteriorates very quickly. After it has been cooked, you can keep it in the refrigerator and after it has been caught, you can keep it alive in water until you are ready to cook it, but it must be cooked immediately after being killed.

To cook the crab:

Bring a large pot or crab cooker of salt water to a boil. Place crab in boiling water and boil for 10-15 minutes. Crab must be cooked for at least 10 minutes to kill bacteria. Some people prefer to cook crab in fresh water, but we feel salt adds to the taste of the crab. You can use salt water from the sea, or add allot of salt to the water. You can also add a little white wine and herbs to the water to enhance the crab’s flavor.

When the crab has been cooked, place crabs on ice or cold water. This step will make the crab easier to shell. To shell the crab, crack the shells with a crab cracker or nut cracker and remove the meat. You can use any pointed object to extract the meat from the smaller legs.

Enjoy fresh cooked crab right out of the shell, in salads, on top of a steak, or in numerous other recipes.

– Glutenfreeda