From http://inthekitchenwithkath.com
(Adapted from the recipe in Sunset’s Cooking for Two)
To best preserve the crab’s freshness, I’ve read it’s best to clean it just before you use it; instructions follow the recipe. If you’d rather not do it yourself, however, they’ll be happy to do it for you at your seafood shop. Truthfully, you’ll probably not notice the difference.
1 large (about 2 lbs.) cooked Dungeness crab, cleaned and cracked*
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional)
1 cup chicken broth
½ cup dry vermouth
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1½ teaspoons soy sauce
1½ teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons dry vermouth
Hot French bread
1. Melt the butter over medium heat in a wide skillet that has a lid. For a slightly thicker broth, remove the pan from the heat and blend in the cornstarch.
2. Add the broth, the ½ cup vermouth, parsley, garlic, soy sauce and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add the crab; cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add the 2 tablespoons vermouth and serve the crab and broth in shallow bowls with the hot French bread.
1. Turn the crab over and lift the little triangular part.
2. Pull the large top shell off of the crab.
3. Break the crab in two pieces down the middle.
4. Rinse well
5. It’s ready to eat (for cold cracked crab) or use in a recipe