Trying Out Whole Crab

Friday is easily the most glorious day of the week, and we like to commemorate the end of the work week by making something fun before the real weekend festivities begin. Lately I've been making several different taco variations, such as putting together my own take on the "Double Decker" taco - a hard shell taco inside a soft shell taco with a layer of beans holding them together.

Now that Friday has rolled around yet again I wanted to try something different. While doing our weekly shopping yesterday we strolled past the butcher block at Albertson's and saw that they have whole Dungeness crab for sale. They sell king crab legs nearly year round, but I'd never seen whole crab there before, which clinched our end-of-week meal. Here's the poor (and cute!) soul that would be gracing my table shortly.


Although they don't weigh that much, whole crabs are actually bigger than I expected. Even with his legs tucked in he still stretches across an entire plate.


I picked two accompaniments to go along with the crab: boiled potatoes and shrimp. For the potatoes, I boiled them at high heat along with garlic and whole peppercorns, which gives a much different flavor than just baking them (there's a fun recipe for boiled potatoes here). For the shrimp, I pulled off the tails and blanched them in the crab water for two minutes so they would be warm.

On to the crab itself, I popped it into a large pan of rapidly boiling water with a hefty helping of salt and pepper for a little flavor. You can find an informative article on how to handle crab at this location. After cooking for 10 minutes, the crab was dropped into an ice bath for a minute so it would be cool enough to handle, as crab is a very hands-on experience. Next, I pulled off the main shell and broke apart the legs for easier access to the succulent meat. Here's all of the meal put together, along with some melted butter for dipping:


Eating crab is actually a decent amount of work, but that's just part of the fun. I completely understand now why they give you bibs at crab restaurants, as by the end of the meal I had various crab parts just about everywhere. I'd definitely do whole crab again, and you may see it in future blogs in place of lobster or other seafood we usually have for special occasions. If crab ends up on the menu again in the future, there will be some more experimentation now that I've got the basics down, such as crab salad, crab tacos, or even crab sushi!