How to Clean and Cook Dungeness Crabs-Plus Amazing Sauces!
It’s crab season again!! Here is an easy breasy way to cook and clean crabs, PLUS some tasty sauces to serve along side.
This was originally posted last year. I really liked this post and thought think that it would come in handy for years to come during crab season! enjoy!
What You’ll Need:
4 live Dungeness crabs (about 1 1/2 lbs. each)
1/4 cup kosher or sea salt
10 quarts water
3 gallon pot*
I know a lot of recipes call for mire poix, lemons and crab boil… but for me it’s not necessary. My goal is to get at the fresh sweet meat of a seasonal crab.
Let’s Get Started…
Place live crab in boiling salted water and cook for 12-15 minutes. You’ll see them start to blush and turn beet red. Plunge crabs into ice water to cool down and stop the cooking process. Keep in ice water for at least 5 minutes.
How to Clean The Crabs…
Remove the top shell of the crab by holding the bottom of the crab in one hand and pulling at the base of the top shell with your other hand. You’ll see a little latch thing that connects the shell to the body. Get your thumb underneath and pull up. This will allow you to separate shell from body.You’ll see some orangey green stuff in the top of the shell. It’s basically fat, but for our purposes we’ll call it buttah. Reserve ½ a cup for the mayo sauce and set the shell to the side.
Next, remove the gills (it’s the white/grey spongy stuff) and break off the mouth. At this point I like to rinse the crab in a bucket of fresh water to remove any residual gunk. Set crabs to the side. Then rinse out shell. We’ll be using this for our presentation. With your hands, break crab half. With a pair of pliers or a wooden mallet, crack the claws.
To Serve Them Up…Get a big honkin platter to display crabs. Put the two pieces of the crab body back together. Place on the platter and then put cleaned shell on top making it look like a whole crab again. Serve alongside sauces and homemade wipes☺
For the Homemade Wipes
1 large silver bucket
3 lemons, sliced
2 limes, sliced
1 orange, sliced
1 cucumber, sliced
Fill bucket ¾ full with water and add fruit. Set some paper napkins next to bucket and let people know to dip in water for a refreshing cleansing mouth and finger wipe.
For the Crab “Buttah”
1 clove garlic, minced
3 egg yolks
Pinch of salt
1 cup virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons “crab butter”.. it’s the yellow greenish stuff that’s located in the top of the shell
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon cold water
Salt and pepper
Combine garlic and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times. Add mustard, egg yolks, crab butter and pulse a few times. Turn on food processor and slowly add oil. Note: It is very important that the oil is added slowly so that it emulsifies. Add lemon juice and water about ½- way through adding the oil. Add water to thin, if necessary. Season with a pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper
Green Hornet Sauce (cause it stings)
1 cup chopped parsley
2 tablespoons chopped chervil
1 tablespoon chopped mint
3 shallots, peeled and minced
¼ cup sherry vinegar
1 tablespoons capers, rinsed and chopped
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
juice and zest of ½ lemon
salt and pepper
Combine the parsley, shallots, capers, and vinegar in a bowl. Add just enough olive oil so the sauce holds together. Add lemon juice and zest, seasoning and more oil if needed. Serve.
Horse Radical Sauce
1 cup unsweetened ketchup
2 tablespoons FRESH grated horseradish
1 teaspoon sambal (chili garlic sauce)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
juice from 1 lemon
In a small bowl, stir together all the ingredients and chill
A big thank you to our friend Stacy Cahil for the gorgeous photography! See more of her work here.
Thanks for the how to. In my family we have what we call a “crabby christmas.” It involves good times (no crabbiness) and fresh Oregon dungeness crab. Can’t wait!
Comment by Sarah — December 22, 2008 @ 1:32 pm
great info! Fresh crab is soooo much more flavorful than canned. love the sauces
Comment by alan — April 7, 2009 @ 1:02 pm
Three comments about Dungeness crabs:
1- try steaming the crabs; works fine and uses a lot less water.
2- Why bother chilling the cooked crabs? They taste great warm or room temperature.
3- The description of crab butter is quite misleading. There are two different soft to semi-liquid substances in the crab shell. Crab butter is creamy-custardy in consistency, richly crabby in flavor and little yellow in color. The green stuff is softer or watery,sharp or even slightly bitter in taste. Separate with care, using a teaspoon to remove the crab butter from the shell and let the adherent green stuff drain away through a tea strainer.Crab butter turns black quickly; cover closely with plastic wrap if it will not be served promptly.
Comment by Elmer R. Grossman — December 4, 2009 @ 1:34 pm
Hey there Elmer,
Thanks for the comment!
1. I agree, steaming is another great method. However if you want to add seasonings then water is better. The local crabs have been super briny this season, so steaming would be good.
2. I typically think like a chef/host-so cooking in advance, cleaning and chilling is better for me. For this particular day there were 8 courses of food. The more prep, the less last minute stress.but yes, if the meal is all crab focused then bibs and beer is the go.
3. your right, it isn’t technically crab butter. That’s why I called it “buttah” instead of butter. All it is is crab flavored fresh mayo. so thanks for painting a more clear picture.
Comment by stephen — December 5, 2009 @ 10:12 am
ps.. also the reason you want to chill the crabs is to prevent the meat from shrinking. If you over cook, or have too much carry over cooking then the meat will diminish and get rubbery- less juicy.
Comment by stephen — December 5, 2009 @ 10:18 am
Big, fat, pink crabs. One of purest forms of joy… and one of the reasons I live here.
Comment by EB — December 7, 2009 @ 7:37 pm
they look nice and meaty but being from md. to me you do a disservice by boiling them. i would steam them, in beer, rock salt and crabhouse mix, such as jo mix, wye river, old bay, etc, and if you must dip in butter and lemon.
Comment by rick — December 13, 2009 @ 7:56 pm
hey there Rick-
I hear you but to me there is absolutely no difference between steaming and boiling. It’s the meat that I’m after. Blue, rock and Dungeness all have their own magnificent qualities. I would agree that if the crabs were roasted or grilled then a nice seasoning would benefit when you sucked on the shells.
At the end of the day I could live with out any seasoning, butter or lemon. Most seasonal crabs have their own briny sweet flavors. to each his own though. that’s whats makes cooking an individual gem. aloha
Comment by stephen — December 13, 2009 @ 8:22 pm
Mmmm, mmmm, love that fresh crab. Never thought to add chili garlic sauce to the ketchup/horseradish mixture. Bet that’s yummy. Thanks for the good idea.
Comment by lynn — February 3, 2010 @ 10:31 pm
i always bookmark food blogs becuase i want to look at new recipes.:’”
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Mind if I use some of the information from this post if I provide a link back to your site?…
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