Basic Steamed Dungeness Crab

Ingredients

• 1 serving butter melted
• 2 pound crabs whole
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt 

Equipment

• knife
• pot
• aluminum foil
• tongs
• colander
• cutting board

Directions

1. Fill a large pot with 1 inch of water and stir in the salt. (Be sure your pot has a tightfitting lid.)
2. Place a steamer rack inside of the pot. (If you don’t have a steamer rack, lightly bunch a long piece of foil so that it looks like a rope. Then make a figure eight out of the foil rope and set it in the pot.) Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Using tongs, pick up the crab, grasping it from behind and placing one arm of the tongs on the belly and the other on the back with the legs on either side.
3. Place the crab back side up in the steamer rack. Cover and return the water to a full boil, about 1 minute. Reduce the heat to medium high and steam until the crab is cooked through, about 15 minutes more.Using tongs, remove the crab to a colander and rinse under cold water until cool enough to handle.
4. Place the crab belly side up on a cutting board with the face closest to you. Using your hands or the tip of a knife, lift the triangular piece of shell at the tail of the crab (the apron), break it off, and discard. Pick up the crab with your hands, place a thumb in the hole where the apron was, and pull in one motion to remove the top shell (the carapace) from the rest of the body. Discard the carapace.
5. Place the crab belly side down on the cutting board with the tail closest to you.
6. Remove and discard the soft, pointy gills from the body. Break off and discard the mouthpiece (the mandibles). Pull away any loose fragments from the body and discard. Rinse away any viscera under cold water.
7. Place the crab on the cutting board back side up and cut in half from face to tail through the middle of the body. If desired, cut the crab into smaller pieces by slicing between the legs, making sure to cut through the body. To extract the meat, use seafood crackers or small hammers to crack open the claws, legs, and body.
8. Serve with aioli, melted butter, or cucumber mignonette for dipping.