If you’re squeamish or vegetarian, please close the browser now because it’s about to get brutal here in Crunchy Mama’s kitchen. I went and bought a live dungeness crab and proceeded to murder, butcher, cook and eat it… and I am not apologizing because it was DELICIOUS.
If your experiences with crab so far have only involved picking up the cooked stuff from the seafood counter, I encourage you to consider trying this because it really does taste better when you bring it into your kitchen still alive and kicking (and snapping!).
Here’s a glimpse into how I prepare a crab for cooking. Growing up in Fiji, live crab frequented our dinner table so I have watched my family do this for years.
First, we have to kill it. Some people believe you could just throw the live and kicking crab into the pot or steamer and deal with all the cleaning and opening after it is cooked. I prefer to do all the prep work before cooking.
Leave the crab in some icy cold tap water to sedate it.
When it has stopped most of its flailing (I wait about 15 minutes), turn it over in the bowl and stick a sharp knife in the abdomen under the apron.
When it stops kicking (should only take a minute), it is ready for you to handle without causing yourself any injury. Run it under the tap and give the whole surface a good scrubbing.
Remove the apron.
Then find the spot where the body meets the carapace (shell) near the top of one of the big claws and pry the body away from the carapace.
The inside of the crab has a lot of inedible parts you should remove including:
- Gills
- the mouth and head pieces on the body and carapace
- Guts except for the yellow goop
The yellow goop is known as “crab butter”. It is completely edible and super yummy. But if you’re not comfortable, you can remove this too. If you choose to keep it, you can scoop it off the body into the carapace to be cooked.
Break the body in quarters – first lengthwise and then across each half.
Lay the body pieces and the upside down carapace in a steamer-safe plate. Crab butter can be scooped into the carapace.
Scatter ginger and green onion around the plate and splash with a bit of wine. Then set in the steamer for 7-8 minutes per lb of crab.
While the crab is cooking, prepare the sauce ingredients by combining everything in a bowl.
The crab is done when all the flesh is opaque.
Take all the body pieces out of the steaming plate and set on a serving plate. If you kept the crab butter, you can scoop it out of the shell and wash the shell to decorate the serving plate.
Here is the crab butter in the bottom of the steaming plate with the ginger and green onion. I just took to this with a spoon – YUM!
Serve the crab with the sauce on the side for dipping.
You’ll Need:
- 2-3 lb Dungeness crab
- 5 slices of ginger
- 1 stalk of green onion, chopped in large sections
- Splash of cooking wine
Sauce:
- 3 TBSP coconut aminos
- 1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp raw honey
- 1 TBSP garlic, minced
- 2 TBSP green onion, minced
- 2 tsp sesame seeds
- To prepare the crab:
- Sedate your crab by letting it sit in icy cold fresh water
- Lift the apron and stab a sharp knife through the abdomen to kill it
- Clean your crab by scrubbing all surfaces
- Remove the apron by hand or with a knife
- Remove carapace (Shell) by ripping the body via the claw and legs
- Remove all inedible parts – gills, mouthpiece and connecting tissue, guts
- The yellow goop is Crab butter. It is edible but not everybody’s cup of tea so you can remove this as well if you like. If you want to eat it, scrap the crab butter off the body into the carapace to be steamed.
- Break the body in half lengthwise and then break in quarters by the legs
- Set crab in a steamer plate and set ginger and green onion pieces around the pieces. Splash with wine.
- Steam on high – 7 or 8 minutes per lb
- Mix sauce ingredients together in a separate bowl while the crab cooks
- Take the plate of crab out of the steamer when it is cooked (flesh should be opaque).
- Take the body pieces out and set on a serving plate. If you cooked the crab butter, scrape it out of the carapace into the steamer plate (which should be filled with yummy liquid, ginger and green onion) and give it a wash and rinse before setting on the serving plate.
