How To Clean A Dungeness Crab Photo Tutorial

Hi Sweet Friends!
Here is that tutorial I made on "How To Clean A Dungeness Crab"

These crabs are fully cooked, but steaming them helps in cleaning them.

Putting the crab on top of the onions and potatoes lifts the crab to be steamed and not over cooked.

This crab is very clean, but I still clean them a bit more. And I save the uneatable parts for the chickens. The shell is a high source of calcium for them.

Begin by washing the outside.

Male crab has more of a pointed Apron. Females Apron is more rounded and may contain eggs.

Remove the Apron.

Clean up any small pieces to reveal the hole below.

Pry the top shell off the body of the crab by pulling apart at the hole. I tried not to crack the top shell, but oops. Well, the chickens will get all that anyway.

The top part of the shell is called the Carapas.

Remove all the top shell, if it comes off as one piece, you can fill it with the crab for a nice display, or fill it with crab cake mix and cook it.

Start removing the insides; gills, excrement.

The gills come off easily and you can save this for the chickens too. Don't eat this part.

We are not fans of the Crab Butter, but some are. We rinse it away when we clean this part of the crab.

Rinse the body cavity well.

An your crab should look like the one above. This bigger crab, below, was a bit easier to clean. And the Carapas came off in one piece.

And there you have it. A clean crab ready to eat! I'll link up the next tutorial on How to Eat a Dungeness Crab.
Enjoy!

How To Eat A Dungeness Crab Illustrated Tutorial

Matt A. Dunkle  Custom Gem Cutter