The Crabs of Whidbey Island

No, I am not talking about grouchy people. Whidbey Island has many popular crabbing spots, but many crabbers like to keep their special spots secret. One of the best spots is off of Bells Beach, along Saratoga Passage, and the location of one of my great beachfront listings. Row your boat out to your crab trap, and bring home fresh crab for dinner. So keep reading, we are going to talk about how to clean and cook fresh, live crab.

Crab fishing is great fun, but be sure you understand and follow all of the rules from the Washington Dept of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW).  There is a good video they produced that helps understand the basics about crabbing regulations.

If you don’t have the opportunity to fish for fresh crab like we do, no worries, you can always head to your local market, most of whom have live crab available for sale.  Or there is always frozen crab, but be sure you buy US sourced Dungeness crab, not the cheaper Asian canned lump crab.  You should be able to find that at your local store as well, and Costco usually carries whole frozen Dungeness crab or unfrozen in a plastic container the size as the ones used for fresh salsa. It’s usually over with the salmon in the fish display case.

Regardless of how you obtained your crab, if it is live, you have to cook and clean it.  If you purchased cooked crab out of the shell, y0u can skip this section.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a vigorous boil and then put the crab into the pot.  Cook for about 12-15 minutes after it returns to the boil, cool the crab, then clean and remove the meat.  Here’s a video I found on You Tube that shows the full process from boiling through cleaning and extracting the crab meat.

I have two favorite crab recipes, crab cakes and crab fritters.  Here’s the crab cake recipe.  One good sized crab will make enough crab cakes to serve 4 people.  You do need to refrigerate the crab cakes for about an hour or so before cooking, so be sure you prepare the cakes far enough in advance of dinner.

• 1 pound cooked crab meat (4 lb live Dungeness Crab)
• 2 cups panko (Japanese) bread crumbs
• 1/2 red bell pepper diced small
• 1 small shallot diced
• 12-15 stems of Italian parsley chopped
• Juice from 1 large lemon
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Spanish sherry (Amontillado)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 large egg
• pinch Kosher salt
• pinch ground white pepper
• dash Tabasco sauce
• pinch celery salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Spanish hot paprika (pimenton)

Mix Batter – Add 1 cup of the Panko (reserve rest for coating the cakes) along with the rest of the ingredients except the crab.  Mix thoroughly to make a batter.

Add crabmeat and mix well.

Divide mixture into 8 balls.  Form the crab patties and coat them with the remaining Panko.  Refrigerate for about an hour.

In a large skillet or pan, heat canola oil or clarified butter over medium high heat until it begins to smoke.  Reduce to medium and add crab cakes.  Sear until the cakes are golden brown, about 3-4 minutes on each side.  Add more oil or butter as needed to keep the cakes from sticking to the pan.

Serve with a garlic butter, spicy Asian dipping sauce, or a simple lemon or curry mayonnaise.  My family prefers the lemon mayo.