November 15th marked the beginning of Dungeness Crab season.  Although Dungeness are generally available year round, they are most plentiful at the begining of crab season.  Not coincidently, “cracked and cleaned” Dungeness crab is a tradition for many on Thanksgiving, particularly on the West Coast. 

About Dungeness Crab

The Dungeness crab was named after a small fishing village on the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Washington State.  Washington State, however, is not the only place Dungeness crab can be found.  Their reach extends from the eastern Aleutian Islands off Alaska all the way down to Santa Barbara, California.  Typically, California, Oregon and Washington are the largest commercial Dungeness crab producers followed by Alaska. 

Dungeness crab is a hard-shelled crab that is caught to depths of over 1000 feet in circular steel traps, called pots, measuring 36 to 48 inches in diameter.  To ensure future harvests, commercial harvesting is restricted to only males with a minimum shell size of 6 ¼ inches.  All juvenile males and females are returned alive to the sea. 

Cooking & Eating Dungeness Crab

Dungeness crabs are sold in a variety of ways including live, fresh, or frozen.  When sold as fresh or frozen, Dungeness crabs are available either as “whole cooks” (industry speak for whole cooked crabs), as sections, or as picked cooked meat.  Sections, also known as clusters, are a cooked and cleaned crab, without the back shell,  that has been split in half. Dungeness crab is typically eaten “cracked and cleaned” in comparison to the Blue crab which is a soft-shelled crab that is more popular in assembled items such as crab cakes.    

Live crab is cooked similar to Lobsters and adds excellent flavor to stocks but requires dealing with the issues associated with a live being.  When purchased as fresh or frozen Dungeness crab is already cooked.  Whole crabs must be cleaned but otherwise fresh or frozen crab does not require any preparation prior to serving.  Consequently, many people choose fresh or frozen crab for their cooking needs. 

Cracked & cleaned Dungeness crab make an excellent meal served cold with mayonnaise or cocktail sauce.  For an easy preparation of “cracked and cleaned” Dungeness simply ask your fishmonger to prepare a fresh whole crab for you.  They should happily do this for you at no additional cost.

For the more adventurous, try our family Cioppino recipe which complements the Dungeness crab with clams, prawns, scallops, and cod fillet making a wonderful and hearty meal.

Crab Cioppino 

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 cup minced parsley
• ¾ cup minced onion
• 1/3 cup minced celery
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 3 cans tomato sauce
• 2 crabs, cleaned & cracked
• 1 ½ lbs clams
• ½ lb raw prawns, peeled & deveined
• ½ lb scallops
• 1 lb rock cod fillet
• salt and pepper to taste

Sauté vegetables in olive oil until lightly browned.  Add tomato sauce, salt and pepper.  Simmer 10 minutes.  Add seafood except for crabs and boil gently for 20 minutes.  Stir often to prevent sticking.  Add crabs and cook for an additional 10 minutes.  Serve with French bread and your favorite wine.   

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