Crazy For Crab The Season Is Right To Experience The Sweet Flavor Of Dungeness Crab

Grab a bib and a pair of pliers. Crab season has officially opened.

But be forewarned: the Dungeness crab is a prickly critter. His hard-boiled exterior must be cracked for the meat to be pried out. Anyone who has wrestled with one of those claws can tell you cleaning a crab is a messy, painstaking process.

Oh, but the rewards are heavenly.

“There’s nothing quite like it,” said Jon Rowley, a nationally known, Seattle-based seafood consultant. “It’s so sweet and succulent. It’s very delicious.”

It’s one of Julia Child’s favorite ocean creatures, and the subject of mouthwatering musings from food essayist Calvin Trillin.

In his book “Alice, Let’s Eat” (Random House), Trillin devotes a chapter to “Confessions of a Crab Eater,” in which he waxes eloquent about making a cross-country pilgrimage in search of fresh-cooked Dungeness at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf.

Part of the reason the Cancer magister (Dungeness crab’s scientific name) is so prized is its limited availability. It lives only in the waters off the West Coast, from California to Washington. Its name is taken from the small fishing town of Dungeness on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, where it was first fished commercially.

Even in this part of the world, though, the Dungeness is not always plentiful. Last year, the harvest was off dramatically at 18.3 million pounds, down from the average catch of 47 million pounds.

The Dungeness is a cold-water-loving, migratory creature, going wherever it finds a plentiful food supply. The crab population rises and falls on a fairly regular four-year cycle. Last year was the bottom of that cycle, with numbers steadily building. At least, that’s what fishermen expect.

“It can’t get much worse than last year. It was close to an all-time low,” said Bill Jones, head buyer for Pacific Fish, the West Coast’s largest purveyor of Dungeness.

That, of course, meant prices were way up - as much as $7 a pound. This year, prices should fall to between $2.79 and $3.79 a pound.

Like other seafood, it’s essential that crab be as fresh as possible. Its journey from open sea to table should ideally take no more than 48 hours.

Crabs are caught in pots, traps baited with rockfish or squid. After they’re hauled onto boats, the crabs are kept in holding tanks and delivered to a processing plant. There, they’re chilled before cooking.

“Sometimes live crabs will throw their legs off in the cooking process,” Jones said.

The crabs are routinely cooked in salted water, which enhances the flavor and makes the meat easier to extract. At some Mom and Pop crab shacks on the coast, crabs are cooked in seawater.

“That’s the best,” said seafood authority Rowley. “It really tastes like the sea when it’s cooked in seawater.”

After cooking, the crabs are chilled and then shipped.

On the retail end, crabs should be stored on ice to lengthen their shelf life. When buying them, one whiff should indicate whether it’s a keeper.

“It should smell sweet,” Rowley said. “Old crabs give off an ammonia odor.”

He also suggested buying Dungeness crabs that weigh 2 pounds or more. “The larger, the better value,” Rowley said.

That means more meat, of course. Just 20 percent of the crab’s body weight is edible meat.

So, you’ve bought your crab. What are you going to do with it?

Purists prefer a simple splash of lemon juice on the crab, a loaf of crusty French bread and a bottle of crisp white wine or a microbrew.

But the crab can be a surprisingly versatile ingredient.

Beyond the usual crab cakes and Thousand Island-drenched Louis salads, crab fits nicely in all sorts of ethnic cuisines.

“One of the classic Italian preparations is to marinate pieces of it in olive oil, garlic and lemon,” said Braiden Rex-Johnson, author of “The Pike Place Public Market Seafood Cookbook” (Ten Speed Press, 1997). “And stir-frying it in a black bean sauce is a traditional Chinese dish. The spiciness of the sauce works well with the sweet flavor of the crab.”

She suggested people rethink some of the crab classics, too. Instead of dressing a crab salad with Thousand Island, give it an Asian twist by making a dressing with rice wine vinegar, a little sugar and some toasted sesame oil.

“You can give it a Mediterranean-type treatment by making a Spanish sherry wine vinaigrette and marinating the crab in that,” she said.

Or, consider a crab gumbo, a frittata with crab meat as the star ingredient, a crab quesadilla with Monterey Jack or fontina cheese, crab fried rice …

“People shouldn’t be afraid to think of it in a broader sense, to experiment and have some fun,” Rex-Johnson said.

According to Rowley, the only sure-fire recipe for disaster is serving crab with melted butter.

“The flavors are just not compatible. The butter coats the tongue so you can’t really taste the delicate flavors of the crab,” he said.

Rex-Johnson said crab is an annual Christmas Eve ritual at her home because it’s simple to prepare.

“Everyone’s feeling so hassled that time of year, but crab is no hassle. It’s elegant, but easy,” she said.

She usually drops a couple of already-cooked creatures into boiling water seasoned with spicy crab boil.

“You do it just long enough to warm up the crab and give it some flavor, just a few minutes,” RexJohnson said.

If you’re going to start your own Christmas crab tradition, it’s a good idea to order your supply early.

Williams Seafood in the Spokane Valley typically sells 6,000 to 7,000 pounds of crab on Christmas Eve.

“It’s one of the biggest crab days of the year,” said owner Vince Perry.

The store has started selling live crabs that reside in a saltwater tank until customers pick them. “It doesn’t get much fresher than that,” Perry said.

They can cook them for you there, or you can take them home. (Watch out for those claws, though. Getting pinched can make anyone a bit crabby.)

Hot Crab and Artichoke Dip

Braiden Rex-Johnson coaxed this version from Cutters Bayhouse in Seattle for “The Pike Place Public Market Cookbook.”

1 cup good-quality mayonnaise

1 cup artichoke hearts packed in water, drained and chopped into 1/2 - to 1-inch pieces

3/4 cup Dungeness crab meat, picked over for shells and cartilage

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

1/2 yellow onion, peeled, quartered and sliced paper-thin

1 French baguette, cut into thin slices

In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, artichoke hearts, crab, Parmesan cheese and onion. Place mixture in an ovenproof baking dish, spreading it to no more than 1 inch thick. Cook immediately or cover and refrigerate.

Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned on top. (Do not overbake or mixture will separate and become oily.) Remove baking dish from the oven and place in the center of a heatproof plate. Arrange baguette slices in a circle and serve.

Yield: 2 to 4 appetizer servings.

Nutrition information per each of 4 servings: 574 calories, 49 grams fat (77 percent fat calories), 13 grams protein, 19 grams carbohydrate, 66 milligrams cholesterol, 796 milligrams sodium.

Crab Veneto

A classic Italian preparation from RexJohnson’s book. Serve this with crusty French bread and lots of napkins.

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 dashes Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon minced parsley

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons pure olive oil

1 precooked (2- to 2-1/2-pound) crab in shell, chilled and cracked into pieces suitable for picking

In a large, deep bowl, mix together garlic, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, parsley and olive oil. Add crab and toss gently. Let stand 3 minutes before serving.

Yield: 2 appetizer servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 77 calories, .8 grams fat (9 percent fat calories), 14 grams protein, 3 grams carbohydrate, 48 milligrams cholesterol, 260 milligrams sodium.

Fried Crab Wontons

An elegant appetizer, dip these crispy treats in some horseradish-spiked cocktail sauce. From “The Totally Crab Cookbook,” by Helene Siegel and Karen Gillingham (Celestial Arts, 1997).

1/2 pound flaked crab meat

1/2 cup minced green onions

1-1/2 teaspoons minced garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

About 20 wonton skins

Vegetable oil for frying

In a bowl, combine the crab, green onions, garlic, salt and pepper. Working on a counter with a cup of cold water nearby, top each wonton skin, 1 at a time, with a scant tablespoon of the filling. Spread it in a line in the center and roll into a tight little cylinder. Seal the edge by moistening the tip with water and pressing close. Moisten, twist and seal the outside edges.

Fill a large skillet with 2 inches of oil and bring to deep-fry temperature (375 degrees). Fry the wontons, a few at a time, turning once and cooking until golden, about 1 minute.

Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Serve with soy sauce for dipping.

Yield: 20 pieces.

Nutrition information per serving: 61 calories, 3 grams fat (44 percent fat calories), 3 grams protein, 5 grams carbohydrate, 9 milligrams cholesterol, 89 milligrams sodium.

Champagne and Crab Risotto

This rich combination from “The Totally Crab Cookbook” can be served as either a side dish or an entree.

4 tablespoons butter

4 shallots, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 cups arborio rice

1/2 cup flat champagne or dry white wine

4 cups fish stock or 2 cups clam juice mixed with 2 cups water, warmed

Pinch of saffron

1 pound flaked crab meat

1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a heavy, medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Saute the shallots and garlic until soft. Stir in the rice and cook to evenly coat. Pour in the champagne or wine and cook until the liquid is absorbed.

Add the saffron to the warm stock and ladle 1 cup of stock into the rice, stirring continuously over moderate heat. Continue adding warm broth, cup at a time, stirring constantly until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is done, but still al dente (slightly chewy) in the center.

Reduce heat to very low and stir in crab, parsley and remaining butter. Season with salt and pepper, remove from heat and let sit 10 minutes.

Yield: 6 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 440 calories, 11 grams fat (23 percent fat calories), 26 grams protein, 56 grams carbohydrate, 79 milligrams cholesterol, 615 milligrams sodium.

Crab Curry

This Thai-style dish from “The Totally Crab Cookbook” strikes a balance between sweet and fiery.

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large onion, cut in thin wedges

1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and julienned

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1 serrano or Thai chili pepper, stemmed, seeded and minced (use rubber gloves)

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes

3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk

1-1/2 pounds crab meat

Cilantro, for garnish

Heat oil in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, ginger and chili. Cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 5 minutes.

Stir in curry powder and cook 1 minute longer. Stir in tomatoes with their liquid. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.

Whisk in coconut milk and simmer 10 minutes longer, stirring occasionally. Stir in crab and cook until just heated through, about 3 minutes. Serve over rice and garnish with cilantro leaves.

Yield: 6 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 232 calories, 12 grams fat (47 percent fat calories), 20 grams protein, 13 grams carbohydrate, 57 milligrams cholesterol, 488 milligrams sodium.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Staff illustration by Molly Quinn