Crab cracking and cleaning is a lot of effort, but it’s well worth it. You’ll be able to taste the sweet, tender meat at the end. You can also be a little creative with the delicious Dungeness crab dish. Before cleaning a Dungeness crab, make sure it has been handled appropriately, either directly from the ocean to your home or while being sent directly to your home by a third party. Crab meat spoils quickly, which is why only live or frozen crabs are supplied. It’s preferable to steam or boil your Dungeness crab the same day it’s collected.
You’ll want to crack and clean out your Dungeness crab after it’s out of the pot and cool enough to handle. The following are the precise steps for cleaning your Dungeness crab.
1. Remove The Apron
A crab’s ‘apron’ is a triangle-shaped part of a shell on the crab’s bottom (on males it is smaller, narrower, and more pointed, while on females, it is bigger, wider, and more rounded). By gripping the point nearer the front of the crab and tugging it off, the apron is removed.
2. Get Rid Of The Carapace
You’ll notice a little opening between the body and the top shell, or carapace, near the back of the crab once you've removed the apron. Hold the body in one hand and pull the top shell off with the other by gripping the shell around the little hole.
The liquid that comes out is known as ‘crab butter’. It’s the fat from the crab’s back, and many people keep it to use in soups or even as a dipping sauce for the crab. If you want to save the crab butter, turn the crab over and lift the body up and out of the top shell, allowing the liquid to collect in the shell.
3. Discard The Gills And Mandibles
If you’re squeamish, give the following step to someone else. The inside of the crab will be visible as you remove the carapace. The gills and mandibles should be removed because they aren’t tasty. Two rows of gills will be visible. Basically, take them off and discard them. The mandibles are at the front of the crab and you don’t want any pointy portions in your food, so simply snap the two pointy parts of the crab and discard them as well.
4. Rinse Clean
The guts are the only leftover part of the crab (apart from the shell) that you don’t want to eat. Simply rinsing them under cold running water will suffice. You now have a crab that has been thoroughly cleaned