Dungeness crab is a local favorite to herald the New Year.
The opening date for Dugeness crab season, Nov. 15, was delayed because of the possibility of migrating whales getting tangled in fishing lines.
The best crab cakes are simply crab and a small amount of panko dried bread crumbs barely held together with aioli or mayonnaise.
Just in time for Christmas, the commercial Dungeness crab fishing season opened statewide, which should have given locals the gift of enjoying fresh crabs for their Yuletide dinner. But, local fleets are holding out until the wholesale prices for crab improve since the opening price can make or break their season.
So, the next possible holiday for crab feasting is New Year’s Eve. You can find previously frozen crab in some local stores. The official opening date of Nov. 15 had originally been delayed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife because of the possibility of migrating whales getting tangled in fishing lines.
I grew up on the plains of northern Indiana, not a crab in sight, but my time at the Navy’s Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island introduced me to the wonders of fresh seafood. Years later, living in Anchorage allowed me to luxuriate in the catch from Alaska’s icy waters, including king crab.
The crab you eat depends on where you live. They are a wide variety of crustaceans, which are animals with a shell and 10 legs, the front two legs having pincers. There are fresh and saltwater crabs, which are more plentiful.
King crab and snow crab are caught in the North Pacific, primarily Bristol Bay and in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Blue crab is the largest crab fishery in the United States, mainly harvested in coastal bays and estuaries along much of the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico. Dungeness crabs, found in the Pacific coastal waters of North America, are named after a small fishing village on the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Washington State.
Here are some essential background on that Dungeness crab you have your eye on. It can live more than 8 years and can reach up to 9 inches across the shell. It’s fished from Alaska’s Aleutian Islands to Point Conception, near Santa Barbara, and has occasionally found as far south as the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico. The flesh has a delicate flavor and an almost sweet taste. To calculate how many Dungeness you need to buy, assume about one-quarter of the crab’s weight is meat.
Mendo Crab Cakes
Serves 8 as a first course
or 4 as a main dish
Adapted from Nicholas Petti, chef-owner of Mendo Bistro in Fort Bragg
I found this recipe years ago in Sunset magazine’s 25 All-Time Favorite Test Kitchen recipes. Not sure how long ago that was (no date on the page I cut out and yes, I’m sorry about my sloppy record-keeping) but when I went online to look up the restaurant it appears to have closed with the last Yelp review in 2016. But, this recipe has the key items I think makes a great crab cake: it’s simply crab and a small amount of panko dried bread crumbs, just barely held together with aioli (or mayonnaise if you don’t want the flavor of the aioli). No extraneous filler or added flavors.
Ingredients
1 pound shelled cooked crab (about 2 3/4 cups)
1 3/4 cups panko (Japanese dried bread crumbs) or other dried bread crumbs, divided
1/2 cup finely chopped green onions (including green tops)
Tarragon aioli (see below)
About 1/2 cup vegetable oil, divided (meaning you won’t use it all in one action)
Champagne cabbage salad (below)
Sort through crab; remove and discard any bits of shell. In a bowl, combine crab, 3/4 cup panko and green onions. Gently mix in 3/4 cup tarragon aioli just until mixture holds together.
Press mixture firmly into eight equal patties about 3 inches wide; set slightly apart on waxed paper or foil. Pour the remaining panko into a shallow bowl.
Preheat oven to 200°. Pour 1/3 cup oil into a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, set each crab cake in panko. Using a slotted spatula, turn, pressing gently to coat.
Fry cakes in small batches, using more oil as needed, until golden brown on the bottom, 2 to 4 minutes; turn gently and cook until browned on the other side and hot in the middle, 2 to 4 minutes longer. Transfer cakes as cooked to a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer and keep warm in oven. Discard any remaining panko.
Divide cabbage salad among plates. Set crab cakes next to salad, top each with a dollop of tarragon aioli, and serve immediately, with remaining aioli in a bowl.
Tarragon Aioli:
2 large eggs
3 cloves peeled garlic
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup safflower or canola oil
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
lemon juice to taste
Kosher salt to taste
Champagne Cabbage Salad:
1 1/2 quarts finely shredded cabbage (about 2/3 lb.)
3/4 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives (about 1 bunch)
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
In a large bowl, mix 1 1/2 quarts finely shredded green cabbage (about 2/3 lb.) with 3/4 teaspoons salt; let sit 30 minutes. Toss with 3 tablespoons finely chopped chives and 2 tbsp. Champagne vinegar.
Stir-Fried Crab with Asian Black Bean Sauce
Serves 2 but easy to double for 4
Adapted from “Crab” by Cynthia Nims
Back when the original Copia was open, an impressive list of chefs was attracted to its demonstration kitchen. One of the many classes I attended was taught by Cynthia Nims, a chef from Seattle who was promoting her book, simply called “Crab.” (I now see it on Amazon called “Crab: 50 Recipes with the Fresh Taste of the Sea from the Pacific, Atlantic & Gulf Coasts” so someone from the Market Department decided it needed a more evocative title.)
If you haven’t cooked before with fermented black beans (also called Chinese black beans), these are not dried beans that you cook until soft on the stovetop but small black soybeans that have been preserved in salt. Store them tightly covered because they will overwhelm other flavors if let loose in the refrigerator (don’t ask how I know), and they’ll last a year to two. And, don’t forget, the key to stir-frying is everything must be ready to add before you start cooking; you won’t have time to dice onions when you’ve got a red hot wok sizzling with other ingredients.
¼ cup sake or dry sherry
2 tablespoons fermented black beans that have been soaked half hour then drained and chopped
2 teaspoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 whole dried red chiles
1 whole Dungeness crab (about 2 pounds) clean and separated. Crack the shells of all the pieces so the sauce can flavor it.
½ cup sliced green onions
2 tablespoons minced ginger
2 teaspoons minced garlic
½ cup fish stock or water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes or more to taste
In a small bowl, combine the sake and black beans, then add the cornstarch and stir to mix. In a wok or large skillet with high sides, heat oil at medium-high. Add the chiles and cook, stirring, until fragrant and well-browned, about 30 seconds. Remove the chiles and discard them (we’re just absorbing some of its heat but don’t want someone to chomp down on one). Carefully add the crab pieces and stir-fry until the shells are bright red, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the green onions, ginger and garlic and stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes until the vegetables are nearly tender and the mixture is aromatic.
Stir again the sake/black bean mixture and add it to the wok along with the fish stock, soy sauce and sugar. Stir until the sauce thickens and evenly coats the crab pieces, 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with the pepper flakes and taste for seasoning. Scoop the crab and sauce onto plates and serve immediately, with plenty of napkins and a bowl available for discarded shells. I serve it with white rice to capture some of the sauce.
Crab Gumbo
If you’re in the middle of a California winter, you might as well enjoy what it delivers, and that’s Dungeness crab and winter vegetables. You’ll need at least two Dungeness crabs for this recipe, extracting the meat from one or two crabs (depending on how much meat you can extract) and keeping the other in pieces, and don’t forget to serve plenty of crusty bread that has been toasted in the oven.
1 2 to 3 pound Dungeness crab, cooked and separated into 6 or 8 segments
½ cup unbleached all-purpose white flour
½ cup unsalted butter
1 quart chicken stock
½ pound Andouille sausage, cut into thin coins
1 cup diced white onion
1 cup finely diced fennel
1 to 2 diced jalapeno peppers, ribs and seeds removed
¾ cup peeled, finely diced parsnip
½ cup dry sherry
¾ cup canned tomatillos, drained, chopped and juices saved
Kosher salt
Pinch of sugar
1 cup of cooked crab meat, picked over to remove any shell
Melt the butter over medium heat in a heavy pot with high sides Add flour and stir patiently until you have a deep walnut-colored roux.
While you’re doing that, pour the stock into a saucepan and bring to lazy boil. As soon as the roux reaches deep walnut (but before it slips into black), add Andouille sausage and stir briskly, once it starts to sizzle and release some juice, add onion, fennel, jalapeno and parsnips and stir vigorously. They will sizzle and pop but keep stirring.
Add sherry and then a cup at a time, add the hot stock as you continue to stir. Add any crab juice that has accumulated and tomatillos. Simmer between half-hour to an hour, or until parsnips are soft.
If you have an immersion blender, now is the time to puree the mixture to thicken, but leave plenty of whole pieces, too. If no immersion blender in sight, you can scoop a couple of cups of the gumbo into a food processor and give a few short bursts to turn a portion of the gumbo smooth, then return to the pot. Taste and season with salt, and then the cayenne. If the tomatillo has made the gumbo too tart, add a pinch of sugar.
Just before serving, add the crab pieces and heat through, about 2 minutes or more. Gently add the crab meat and taste for seasoning. If the gumbo is too thick, add a splash of water and let heat up. Ladle into bowls with one crab piece per bowl.
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CHECK OUT THE YEAR IN CARTOONS FROM JEFF DANZIGER
December 29, 2020 at 02:43AM
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Ken Morris, Cooking for Comfort: Crab for the New Year - Napa Valley Register
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Crab
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