Dungeness Recipes for the Holidays

Cracking Good Meals

Dungeness delicacies come out of their shells

written by Corinne Whiting

SOME MIGHT ARGUE—if you haven’t feasted on Dungeness crab, you haven’t visited the Pacific Northwest at all. Depending on whom you speak to, the delightful delicacy (a hard-shelled, six-legged crustacean found in chilly waters off North America’s west coast) should be enjoyed in a specific way. The general consensus, however, is that this food item— named after a small fishing village in Washington—should never be overlooked. And according to local restaurants’ menus, thankfully, it rarely is.

“Dungeness is quite versatile. If I’m at home, I snack on it cold. Crack at it, with some cocktail sauce and salt-and-pepper potato chips,” chef Carolynn Spence of Seattle’s Shaker + Spear, explained. “At the restaurant, we constantly change it up.” The number one brunch seller at the bustling downtown venue? The Dungeness crab cake benedict with ham and avocado.

Dan Obradovich, processing sales manager of Pacific Seafood, said while his mom makes a mean Crab Louie, he takes a simpler approach in order to truly savor the “rich, distinctive flavors.” “From a purist standpoint, there’s something about sitting down and cracking the shell that makes it more of an event,” he said. At home, Obradovich prefers it straight out of the shell, accompanied by melted butter with garlic and a little sautéed onion—and enjoyed alongside bread and a glass of wine. Chef Paul Duncan of Ray’s Boathouse enjoys preparation methods from French court bouillon to Tom Ka-style.

The Dungeness crab is so revered in this corner of the country that every October, thousands of hungry visitors convene in Port Angeles to enjoy up to 8 tons of fresh-caught crab. Last year, around 15,000 folks came from twenty-eight states and Canada to enjoy the delicacy. This year, the Olympic Peninsula’s free Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival welcomed new head chef Chris Wagnon, who had volunteered in years past.

Wagnon most appreciates that the crabs served have been sourced locally and that they feature “so much juicy meat.”

“I believe Dungeness has the sweetest and best assortment of textures,” he said. “I love that after we put so much love into preparing the Dungeness crab, the customer will put in an equal amount of love to eat it.”

The festival evolves as crowds grow—this year’s “crab central tent” expands to 17,000 square feet. Throughout festival grounds, attendees now find fifteen food booths, a cornucopia of vendors, stages for live music and cooking demos, plus anticipated events like the Grab-a-Crab Derby and Sunday Chowder Cook-Off.

“The best part about all of this is the diversity of people—the amazing family from Wisconsin that helped us shuck corn for three hours, the international students from Peninsula College having their first interaction with food production, the random local who has never seen a crab cleaned and the little kids getting to hold a live crab,” Wagnon said.

Companies like Pacific Seafood say they’ve been harvesting and processing some of the region’s highest-quality and best-tasting seafood, from a variety of coldwater shrimp and wild salmon to Columbia River steelhead and Dungeness crab, for more than seventy years. Since its beginnings in 1941, the company has grown to thirty-five facilities in seven states, though the team remains family-owned and dedicated to sustainable fishing practices. Its Washington headquarters are located in Mukilteo, and Tacoma diners enjoy its just-caught goods at The Fish Peddler Restaurant & Retail Market on Dock Street.

Pacific Seafood harvests Dungeness crab and has facilities in seven states.

Pacific Seafood

The crab harvest has many sustainability requirements.

Pacific Seafood

Once an “insider’s secret” among Pacific Northwest chefs, Dungeness crab has now gained popularity around the globe. In Puget Sound, Dungeness crab tends to be most abundant north of Seattle, in Hood Canal and near the Pacific coastline. The opening of crabbing season, usually in November or December, fluctuates dependent on the quality and condition of the crab, as well as the absence of any marine biotoxins. Thanks to a 1994 federal court ruling, the “Rafeedie Decision,” harvest of Dungeness crab is shared between treaty Indian tribes and nontribal fishers as an attempt to allow equal access.

To determine what portion of the Dungeness crab population can be sustainably harvested, fishery managers use the “3-S strategy”—size (crabs must be 6¼ inches or larger), sex (no female crabs can be harvested) and season (no fishing is allowed during molting, allowing crabs to grow into their new shells).

The folks at Pacific Seafood stock the best crab during the months of July, January and February. Obradovich admitted, however, “We’re a little spoiled here since we almost always have access to good crab.” It seems serendipitous, especially for retailers, that prime availability syncs up with holiday feasts that unite diners around a table—think Christmas, the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day.

Washington Recipes

Tagliatelle with Dungeness Crab, Fennel and Chive

SEATTLE / Le Messe Brian Clevenger

SERVES 2

10 ounces fresh pasta 3 ounces Dungeness crab ½ fennel bulb, diced ½ ounce chives, cut small 1 fresh lemon 1 tablespoon crème fraiche 1 tablespoon Plugra butter (unsalted)

Dungeness Crab Toast

SEATTLE / Ray’s Boathouse

SERVES 2

1 slice bread ¼ cup avocado spread 3 ounces Dungeness crab 2 tablespoons garlic aioli ½ serrano pepper, seeded and julienned 1 tablespoon pickled red onion, minced 4 cherry tomatoes, cut in half 2 tablespoons butter

FOR AVOCADO SPREAD 1 avocado 1 lime Pinch of salt

FOR GARLIC AIOLI 1 egg yolk ¼ cup roasted garlic 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon Champagne vinegar 1 cup canola oil 3 teaspoons salt Ice water, for thinning

FOR PICKLED RED ONION 1 onion, sliced thin 3 cups rice wine vinegar 1 cup water ½ cup sugar ½ cup salt

Coarse black pepper Salt Pasta water

Boil salted water in a large pot. Add pasta and cook for 2 minutes. In a separate pan on medium, heat butter. Once melted, sauté diced fennel. Add pasta and 2 ounces pasta water and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes on high heat. Stir in the crab, zest of entire lemon, crème fraiche and chives. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

Toast bread in butter in a hot pan over medium heat. Once bread is golden, transfer to a cutting board. Apply ¼ cup avocado spread evenly to the toast. Next, mix crab with garlic aioli. Once thoroughly mixed, spread evenly atop avocado spread. Top with minced pickled red onion, serrano peppers and cherry tomatoes. Slice in two.

FOR AVOCADO SPREAD Mash whole avocado with the juice of one lime until smooth. Season with a pinch of salt.

FOR GARLIC AIOLI (YIELDS 1½ CUPS)

Add all ingredients, except the oil, into a blender or a food processor. Turn on food processor and begin to slowly add in the oil. As the aioli begins to thicken, add a splash of ice water to thin it out ever so slightly. You want the aioli to be spreadable and not too thick. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and lemon juice if necessary.

FOR PICKLED RED ONION Mix vinegar, water, sugar and salt in a pot and bring to a simmer, just to dissolve the salt and sugar. Cool immediately, and only use pickling solution cold. Once cold, submerge sliced red onions in pickling solution overnight.

Hot Coriander Dungeness Crab SEATTLE / Shaker + Spear Carolynn Spence

SERVES 6

3 live, 2 ½-pound Dungeness crabs ⅓ cup lime juice 1 cup green onion, fine dice

FOR CORIANDER CRAB SAUCE ½ cup olive oil 1 cup garlic, sliced thin on mandoline 1 cup ginger, fine julienne 1 cup coriander, toasted and ground 3 cups vegetable stock ¾ cup pickled red fresno chili liquid ½ cup pickled red fresno chili Crab “butter,” pureed and strained Salt to taste

FOR PICKLED RED FRESNOS 2 pounds red fresno peppers, sliced into thin rounds 2 cups white vinegar 2 cups water 2 tablespoons salt 1 tablespoon sugar

In salted boiling water, boil each whole crab for 15 minutes, then shock in ice water. Pull off and lightly crack all legs with mallet or back of knife. You can cover with plastic wrap while you crack it. Carefully open top shell and pull out any “crab butter” and set aside in bowl for sauce later. Cut off the gills’ “dead man’s fingers” and discard. Cut the main body meat into four portions. Smashing the legs and cutting up the body of the crab will allow for sauce to permeate crab meat.

Over high heat, sauté crab parts in olive oil, add sauce and cook quickly until almost dry. Toss with green onion and lime juice, and serve piping hot.

FOR CORIANDER CRAB SAUCE In a pot over medium heat, add oil and sauté garlic until lightly golden brown. Add ginger and coriander, toasting for 3 minutes, then deglaze with vegetable stock. Simmer and season with salt to taste. Add crab butter liquid, chili liquid and pickles, then simmer for 5 minutes.

FOR PICKLED RED FRESNOS After cutting chilis, put into container of cold water and move around with a spoon. The seeds will sink, making it easier to separate them from the pepper rounds. Strain out peppers and place in new container. Then boil water, vinegar, sugar and salt. Pour the liquid over the chilis. Once cooled, refrigerate.

Hot Coriander Dungeness Crab from Seattle’s Shaker + Spear.