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Blog Posts Tips & Tricks Winter

Crab Cleaning

December 26, 2019

Crab Cleaning

DECEMBER 26th, 2019

Finding useful information on cooking and cleaning Dungeness crab isn’t easy. I personally always forget the instructions, even though I have done it countless times. I figured a photo-post would make the most sense to share my knowledge, which is essentially self-taught from various You Tube videos and trial and error. Next year when I try to remember how to cook and clean them, I can look at my own notes cemented inside of this blog post.

Here is a quick  and useful breakdown on how to cook and clean fresh Dungeness crab.

Prepare Your Tools

The right tools make all the difference. A lot of liquid comes out and off of the crabs so use trays to capture the juices. Lots of kitchen rags are also handy. Crackers, hammers, small forks and knives will help you extract the meat. Hands are still one of the best tools for the job.

Boiling the Live Crab

Bring a very large pot of water to a boil, add about 2-3 tablespoons of salt (Bolinas Seafood Salt) per gallon of water. Add the live crabs and cook for about 15 minutes for crabs weighing about 1 ½ – 2 ½ pounds, 20 minutes for 3-pound crabs. Rinse well and refrigerate or leave on ice until usage.

Remove the Apron

On the bottom of each crab, on the bottom side, is either a small (males) or large (female) triangle shaped piece of shell. It’s called the apron. Grab hold of it and pull it off.

Remove the Carapace

Removing the apron will create a small hole in-between the body and the top of the shell. Use your finger to gently pry the carapace off. This is the top shell. Hold the body with one hand and the shell with the other and pull, using the hole as leverage.

Reserve the Crab Butter

Once you pull off the top shell, you will expose some yellow-ish gooey liquid, this is called the crab butter. You can either reserve it for stocks and sauces or discard it.

Remove the Gills and Mandibles

The crab’s insides are now visible and exposed. Remove and discard the gills and mandibles. The inedible gills line each side of the crab and look spongy. The mandibles are the mouthparts of the crab on the front side of the crab.

Rinse & Clean

Rinse the crabs well under running water to remove all the inner particles and gooey liquids out.
All of the parts left (beside the shell) are edible and ready to be cracked and removed for eating and cooking.

Break the Crabs in Half

Break the crabs in half leaving legs on both sides, this helps expose the crab meat and makes it easier to extract. Typically this is how crab is served when eating cooked and cleaned crab that you crack.

Break off Crab Legs

Twist of the claws and legs pulling them off one by one.

Extract Leg & body Meat

Use crackers and hammers to crack shells. Little spoons and forks help but fingers are still the best for extracting the meat from most of the parts.

Refrigerate Crabmeat

Refrigerate crabmeat until use. It should last 3-4 days once its removed form the shell.

Make Stock with Leftover Shells

Use the shells to make a rich stock. Add water, onions, herbs and salt and cook for about 1 hour. Strain and freeze or refrigerate until use.

Blog Posts Tips & Tricks Winter

Crab Cleaning

December 26, 2019
December 26, 2019
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My big fat California  #HerbalBreakfast 

Still obsessed with grated zucchini mint omelettes stuff with smoked cheddar and wild arugula - @myherbalroots  And the peaches and tomatoes - holy flavor. 

Also still obsessed with the fact that you can buy good labne at the grocery store. 

Also still giddy I’m not in Missouri anymore.
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I wrote a bunch of negative stuff and then deleted it. I’ll just simple say if your freedoms come at the expense of others - it’s not freedom. 

Any freedom I have in my life has been a complete and total conscious series of choices and extremely hard work since I was a little girl in Nicaragua- an unwavering dedication to the pure concept of pursuing  and shaping one’s own destiny and path and supporting the collective right to do the same.

And make no mistake mostly I’m just happy to be totally secluded in CA - this new world - AI, Tech, billionaires, lack of democracy, is the world that will likely break me. 

today
I’m just happy to believe in the real version of freedom - I have my dad to thank for that. 

If I have any wisdom to impart - it’s the same always - look at what are you doing to nurture and support those immediately around you? How can you help shape their version of freedom- especially the young. It takes dedication to really give back and show up for the younger people in our lives. Don’t let anyone fool you into believing this latest wave of tech is the advancement of society- it’s not- it’s the opposite- only we the people can change it. 

In the very least I can say I have done and continue to support the youth around me the best I can. Like the soldiers of the past fighting for freedom- this is in my opinion the most important thing we can now do. 

Ps like everything this house is only temporary I have to move in sept - but don’t fret every step and places shapes us- that’s how I came to be so awesome - the world shaped me. 😀💃🐈‍⬛

Pssss complacency is where all freedom dies.
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Just grate some zucchini, sauté it in a pan - I added mint, parsley and slivers of green chili. Add beaten egg over it (like an omelette) the zucchini I and the egg become one and then you can stuff it, roll it, flip it etc. I  stuffed mine with smoked cheddar and wild arugula!
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Turkish OttomanMint “Kofta” Salt

My favorite city in the world is Istanbul—electric, pulsing with the history and vibrations of countless cultural uprisings: Anatolians, Romans, Byzantines, Seljuks, Ottomans. This salt—despite its opulence—reminds us that uprisers must eat. And no one does herbs and spice more luxuriously than the Turkish people. For them, it was never about wealth. Herbs and spices meant survival, flavor, healing. Foraged in famine, layered in stews, passed through mothers hands. A cuisine of power built from the ground up. This herbaceous salt is a modern take on all flavors past: spicy, potent, sharp, grassy, green. Bright sumac—the poor man’s spice— overflows. Parsley, mint, cilantro, oregano—forward and grounded—speckled with citrusy woods: lemon thyme, bay, tangy sorrel. Ottoman spices swirl like smoke, evoking the Grand
Bazaar that feeds everyone. Based on centuries-old blends, modernized for the herbal kitchen— this is total opulence for the commoner. It suits the sultans, but it belongs to the people. Much like Istanbul’s Nicole, my favorite restaurant in the world. This is your kebab salt. Your lamb, black lentil, tomato salad, smoked octopus salt. This is how anything becomes Ottoman. While yesterday was long ago, it was always about tomorrow.
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True story: I once bought an old oud at a flea market in Jerusalem and brought it back to the U.S. for a then-lover. It smelled like the perfume of the Middle East. I loved how intoxicating that smell was. He loved it—and me—for the sultry gesture.

That story—and so many others—are reflected in this season’s herbal salts: My Arab Spring, The Awakening Collection.

This collection is rooted in my Middle Eastern origin story—beginning in Israel when I was 29 - then stretching into my 50’s into Jordan, Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, and Cyprus. It’s built from those travels, many of them deeply intertwined with herb work and herb people—who handed me the generosity of their wisdom, the herbaceous and life-kind—especially their fire. My boldness has been peppered by my time in the Middle East 

The wisdom and strength of the Middle Eastern people—their resilience—is like spring itself. This collection celebrates that power, that need to rise up, to revolt, to speak out. Like spring, they burst forth from the dirt—because awakening has only one direction: up…… forward. 

These salts are deeply personal—fiery, fresh, and rooted in history, religion, politics, economics, trade annd commerce and above all openness of perspective and protectiveness of my own creativity and vision 

This is My Arab Spring—the flavor of resilience and revolt. Taste it now.

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Limited as always. 

See story for more details. 

This is my first work sans my helper Inca. He is deeply missed and yet visibly present in this collection. Don’t worry I didn’t put his ashes in.  Lol.
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