The Queen of Crustaceans - The Dungeness Crab

The Dungeness crab season stretches generally from late November through June along the West coast of the US; a winter harvest in California and a spring-summer harvest in Alaska. Sold in its frozen and canned forms, Dungeness meat can be purchased year round, but getting the opportunity to eat one (or several!) fresh at the peak of the Dungeness crab season is well worth it. As with almost all foods, the fresher the better, and there are few waters as generous in their Dungeness yields as Alaska's.

When preparing these fine critters, there are two possible ways to proceed: you can boil them and then clean them; or, you can clean and then boil them. Most people take the former option, because cracking them open alive is too gross for most people to handle. However, the benefit to first cleaning and then boiling the meat is that it makes for a much cleaner cooking process, and may also be better for creating broths.

The trick with how to cook crabs really lies in the the length of time, which you want to make sure is never too long. Roughly calculate that you'll boil a crab (or steam it, a perfectly good alternative) 10 minutes for every pound that it weighs. Hence, if you send in many to boil at once, calculate their average weight and boil accordingly. As mentioned, its best to err on the side of caution here, as overcooked, rubbery crab is not at all a pleasant thing. As far as sautéing raw crab, when cut into small pieces the cooking time decreases significantly, so consider throwing it in the pan towards the end.

Consider putting in some bay leaves or Old Bay seasoning into the water when boiling. As far as enjoying the final product, my personal favorite simply involves the crab, melted butter, and plenty of lemon slices, with salt if there wasn't sufficient in the water used to cook it. Nonetheless, there are many excellent recipe for when Dungeness crab season rolls around, as its delicate meat accompanies just about anything well, which is why it's highly recommended to give it a try.