How to Cook and Clean a Fresh Dungeness Crab

Step 5 Remove carapace

Stick your thumb into the hole left from removing the apron, and lift up gently but firmly. The carapace will detach from the body, trailing lots of attached guts. Fully remove the carapace.

If you want to keep the carapace for serving or dry it for your next art project, remove all of the squishy bits from its nooks and crannies. You may need to employ a small brush or tool to remove guts from the furthest recesses. After you've dislodged everything, give it a thorough spraying to make sure you've rinsed all the yuck off. Now you're ready to fill it with crab salad, or a seasoned crab/breadcrumb mixture for baked stuffed crab.

If you're drying the shell, give it a soapy scrub as well before leaving it in a warm, dry spot to dry out. An oven on the "keep warm" setting is great for this if you're in an otherwise humid place.

Comments

[ivy99]

very helpful tutorial but speaking as an asian person, i'm pretty horrified at the fact that you're removing all the good bits under the shell and rinsing it off... what a waste. i'd suggest putting some of the soft squishy bits on some rice. treat it like its a delicious pat of butter

[funkisockmunki]

On the flip side, I'm horrified at all the stuff my asian friends *will* eat. It's all a matter of perspective. Some of the guts and stuff are not safe to ingest, especially since crabs are bottom feeders. Great tutorial though, very nice photos!

[canida]

Sorry, suppose I was raised wrong.  Put up recipes!

[Blacksmith Spader]

Do you suppose you could send me some recipes? I have found that most people here in the states don't know much about how to live on fish and I am only used to fish and crab dried or boiled after being cleaned.

[tech53]

I was going to say that I'd thought I'd seen that dude on the food channel that goes around the world trying exotic cuisine eat that...and from what I could tell it was a rather normal thing....nehoo