Oregon Dungeness Crab

This is the end of January, not much happening other than Dungeness Crab Season here in the Pacific northwest. All my years in seafood, I have watched the season for these desirable creatures go from one extreme to the other. The normal season opener for Oregon Dungeness Crab is December 1st. However, I have worked many seasons where it was delayed, sometime as much as a month or more. Pacific NW customers love crab for Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve dinner. When the season gets delayed, sometimes until January 2 or later, it can be devastating to the seafood industry. Fill rate measured by NOOA a is what determines the opening date.

2021 SEASON

This season did open on time! For the first time in years, commercial Dungeness crab fisheries in Oregon, Washington state and N. California opened on the traditional Dec. 1 opener after preseason testing showed high meat yield in crabs across the region.

At the same time, domoic acid — and the diatom that produces the naturally-occurring marine toxin — seems to have almost disappeared from ocean waters off Oregon and Washington. It is the first time in years that Oregon has cleared meat fill hurdles in the first round of tests.

TYPES OF CRAB

Many people regard crab as one of the tastiest types of seafood you can choose from, perhaps other than lobster. There are many types of edible crabs that have white, sweet, delicious meat when cooked. There are snow crabs or the giant king crabs with their long spiky legs and claws that contain most of the crab’s meat. Almost always these are available here previously frozen. There are also Dungeness crabs and blue crabs where most of the succulent snow-white meat is in the body.

Although I do love king crab being from the PNW my personal preference is of course the Dungeness Crab. The meat is harder to get to, learning to shake a crab can be labor intensive. King crab do come out of the shell very big but is VERY expensive. Snow crab is just not as sweet as Dungeness, but is available year-round, and most times comes pre frozen. Blue Crab I have had a few times but haven’t been as impressed. I truly believe it is where you are from that determines your preference.

BUYING WHOLE DUNGENESS CRAB

Generally whole Dungeness crab are sold two different ways, live or cooked. Buying it live, taking it home and dropping it in a pot of boiling salt water will assure the freshest product, and is quite an experience. However, most people don’t want to kill a crab and will opt for the already cooked crab.

Whole crab is sold by the pound, with the back still attached. The larger crab is most desirable, but I have found even a smaller crab that is heavy will produce a good amount of meat. 2lb crabs are requested most often, but unfortunately not always available.

CLEANING AND EATING DUNGENESS CRAB

The price per pound is the price for the whole crab, however, most vendors do offer to crack and clean a whole crab you have purchased. I will only have the vendor do it if I am eating the crab right away. It will stay fresher with back on, if I’d eating it the next day. The back is removed, revealing quite a mess. Lungs, guts, etc. When it is cleaned you are left with the body and legs containing all the neat. The body contains the sweet white meat while the legs and claws have the chunks. Many people like the claw meat best, I don’t really notice the difference, however the pincher on the claw is very useful in pulling meat out of the legs.

I usually break it into separate legs with body section still attached, the “shake” or tap the meat out of the body section. There is less chance of shell this way. Then I break off empty body section and break the leg at the tendons. I will use a fork to open the leg, to expose the meat. I run the fork prong up the white section of the shell to expose the leg meat. Using a cracker to break the shell in half also works.

As I pull the crab from the shell I put it a small bowl of melted butter, lemon, and a tad bit of garlic. When I get a good bite in there, I savor that flavored bite, and then continue to pick the crab. I don’t think of it so much as a meal, but an eating experience! A loaf of garlic bread is a good side.

LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU

Feel free to leave your thoughts, ideas, suggestions or even recipes in the comments below. One thing I have learned in my 30 years in the seafood business, there is always something knew to learn.