How To Cook Live Crab Food

HOW TO COOK LIVE CRAB

Steps:

• Dungeness crab is a true Pacific Coast food: It's found only in the Pacific Ocean, and it gets its name from the town of Dungeness, Washington. The local crab season is summer, and that's when my boys and I go crabbing almost every day, filling the round metal crab pots with raw chicken and dropping them in the cold water, returning the next day to see what we've caught. We never know just how many crabs will take the bait, and it's a family tradition to guess how many will be in each pot. Bringing our catch back to the kitchen and preparing for our feast is the best part. Because we never know how much crab we'll get, we plan the meal after the catch. You just have to go with what you have. If you wanted to make crab cakes but find that you don't have enough meat, make something else: crab cocktail, crab soup, or Dungeness crab mac and cheese. If you adapt your dishes to the ingredients, cooking becomes a lot more relaxing and a lot more fun.
• Dungeness crabs have been part of the Northwest's seafood heritage for the millennium. The dark brown crabs that are brought to market usually weigh 1 to 2 pounds and up and measure at least 6 1/4 inches across. By law, only the male crabs can be caught, and thanks to careful fishery management and high reproductive rates, Dungeness are among the most sustainable shellfish in the world.
• If you've ever cooked a live crab and tasted the sweet meat, you'll know that steaming crabs yourself makes a big difference in the flavor. I realize I am very lucky-not everyone has the Pacific Ocean as their backyard. If you don't have access to live crabs, look for high-quality cooked lump crabmeat from Dungeness, blue, peekytoe, or snow crabs. Lump crabmeat refers to whole pieces of white meat from the body of the crab, while flake refers to white and dark meat from the body and claws of the crab. The crab should be in large pieces, not shredded, and should be refrigerated. Most specialty markets and grocery stores sell untreated crab, which is what you want.
• Much of the cooked crabmeat sold in stores is now treated with calcium disodium EDTA, a preservative that helps retard crystal formation. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has placed this preservative on its priority list of additives to study, and Australia has already outlawed it. Canned crab usually has added preservatives, so check the label carefully. When using precooked crabmeat, taste it first to make sure it is not excessively salty. If it is, rinse the meat to get rid of some of the salt.
• If you're using live crab, don't be shy in asking the fishmonger for crabs with all the legs and claws intact; that's where the meat is. It's important to keep them cool and moist until cooking by keeping the wrapped crabs in the refrigerator or covering them with wet newspaper.
• Live crabs are rambunctious, but preparing them isn't as hard as it seems. You have a couple of options. First, you can bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, drop in the crab, cover the pot, and cook for 20 minutes. But just as chefs have found alternate ways of quickly killing and cooking lobsters to get the sweetest-tasting meat, I prefer to deliver a quick, fatal blow with a rolling pin to the breastplate on the underside of the crab. Then I prepare, steam, and shell the crab as follows. I find that cleaning the crab before you cook it results in the sweetest meat.
• Reach among the legs to place your hands on either side of the body with your thumbs on the breastplate. Holding onto the crab, push your thumbs forward and pull the legs of the crab together, bending the crab in half. Then grip the crab firmly and open your arms to pull the halves apart, leaving the main outer shell intact. Hold the broken edge of both halves under running water or salt water to rinse the guts and pith away. Reserve the crab shells for crab stock. The crab is now ready to cook. Because this is a messy process, it's best to prepare the crabs over the sink if you can't clean them right on the beach or off the side of a boat.
• When you steam instead of boil the meat, the crab is white, tender, and succulent, without any fishy aroma or slimy texture. Cook the crab by heating about 1 cup water in a large pot with a vegetable or pasta steamer insert. Over high heat, bring the water to a boil. Add the crab halves and steam them for about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how many you're cooking, until the meat is opaque and the shells turn dark orange. Remove the steamed crab from the pot and set them aside to cool.
• Once the crab has cooled, pick out the meat from the body, legs, and claws. Place the crabmeat in a bowl and pick through it by hand to ensure no shell is left in the meat. Try to keep the pieces as intact as possible. The crabmeat will keep, covered, in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days after you cook it. Three whole Dungeness crabs yield about 1 1/2 pounds crabmeat.

COOKING FRESH CRAB

Steps:

• Start by making a flavoured stock called a court bouillon. Roughly chop the leeks, carrots, onion, celery stick and fennel bulb. Put in a large saucepan or stockpot with the garlic, and herbs.
• Add the rock salt, sliced lemon, white wine vinegar, star anise and wine. Add 3 litres water, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 mins. Cool and strain the liquid into a jug, discarding the vegetables.
• Return the liquid to the pot and bring back to the boil. Lower in the crab and simmer for 12 mins per kg, then leave to cool in the pot until cold.
• To prepare the crab, lay the crab on its back and twist off the front black-tipped claws. These contain most of the white meat. Put the crab on its back with the eyes towards you and, using both hands, push up the six legs. Press your two thumbs either side of the eyes and push away the 'purse' (that is the central body part).
• On the underside you will see a circle of grey feathery gills called dead men's fingers. It is crucial to pull these off and discard. They should not be eaten. Then, using a heavy knife, cut the round purse into four. This exposes the white meat, which can be picked out.
• Pull off the knuckles from the claws and pick out the meat with a skewer or small, sharp knife. Place the large claws on a worktop and cover with a clean towel. Smash down with the back of a heavy knife or mallet until the shell cracks. As an alternative method, placing a wooden board on top of the crab, then hitting the board with a large hammer, also works well. Peel off the cracked shell to extract the meat inside. There is a thin blade bone in the centre, which should be discarded - be careful, it is sharp. You can also push the meat out using your thumbs and fingers, checking at the same time for any stray bits of shell.
• Pull off the 6 legs. Extracting meat from the legs is fiddly, so unless you really need the meat, save them for a bisque.
• To check that there is no shell left in the white crabmeat, sprinkle the crab over a metal tray - you will be able to hear if any shell is left in.
• Using a teaspoon, scrape out the brown meat inside the main body shell, both soft and hard. Place in a sieve and rub through into a bowl using the back of a wooden spoon.