Dungeness crab are in.....

The crab are in...............Whether it's dunked in drawn butter, topped with cocktail sauce, stir-fried with chiles or roasted with garlic, now's the time to indulge in fresh Dongeness crab here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Our local season, which began Nov. 15 and will last until June, is at its peak from now through Jan. 15 I just bought these three babies live and will boil them in sea water for about 15 min.

Whole live crabs are selling for about $2.59 a pound at my favorite Asian market. The three pictured here weigh over 2 1/2 pounds each one of them is almost 3lbs. I will eat one cold with mayo/horseradish sauce, one hot with drawn butter over pasta, and one made into crab cakes. All tonight ........................ Frank

This is one of the biggest thing I miss about living in Fresno. I've eaten a lot of crab but Dungenness is THE best! We can get it out here but it has been frozen and sell for about 7.00 a lb.

MikeS.

Fresh Dungees showed up about two weeks ago at our local gourmet market, New Sagaya, for $4.99/lb. They are awesome but I still like live king crab better!

quote:

Originally posted by lleechef

Fresh Dungees showed up about two weeks ago at our local gourmet market, New Sagaya, for $4.99/lb. They are awesome but I still like live king crab better!

Live kings are good but dungeness are better, The smaller claws have a denser meat and ohhh they are sooo sweet.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/12/SPG73AAPVT1.DTL

quote:

Originally posted by fpczyz

The crab are in...............Whether it's dunked in drawn butter, topped with cocktail sauce, stir-fried with chiles or roasted with garlic, now's the time to indulge in fresh Dongeness crab here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Our local season, which began Nov. 15 and will last until June, is at its peak from now through Jan. 15 I just bought these three babies live and will boil them in sea water for about 15 min.

Whole live crabs are selling for about $2.59 a pound at my favorite Asian market. The three pictured here weigh over 2 1/2 pounds each one of them is almost 3lbs. I will eat one cold with mayo/horseradish sauce, one hot with drawn butter over pasta, and one made into crab cakes. All tonight ........................ Frank

Save me some until the rain stops and I can come back (from Tucson).

quote:

Originally posted by bill voss

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/12/SPG73AAPVT1.DTL

That's ME out by the nearest tower of the bridge in the picture on the right side of this screen. It was amazing--that many people actually weighed down the bridge and straightened out its normal arch.

Just thought you'd all want to know.

quote:

BT Posted - 12/13/2004 : 20:19:16
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quote:
Originally posted by bill voss

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/12/SPG73AAPVT1.DTL




That's ME out by the nearest tower of the bridge in the picture on the right side of this screen. It was amazing--that many people actually weighed down the bridge and straightened out its normal arch.

Just thought you'd all want to know.

Wow...you make a pretty hot Dungeness crab, BT....Bet you're the crab of the block with those claws of yours! But how did you avoid being trampled or worse yet....cracked and drawn in butter?

(Forgive me, it was too much for me to resist......)

quote:

Originally posted by redtressed

quote:

BT Posted - 12/13/2004 : 20:19:16
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

quote:
Originally posted by bill voss

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/12/SPG73AAPVT1.DTL




That's ME out by the nearest tower of the bridge in the picture on the right side of this screen. It was amazing--that many people actually weighed down the bridge and straightened out its normal arch.

Just thought you'd all want to know.

Wow...you make a pretty hot Dungeness crab, BT....Bet you're the crab of the block with those claws of yours! But how did you avoid being trampled or worse yet....cracked and drawn in butter?

(Forgive me, it was too much for me to resist......)

Since I AM a Cancer, I'm used to it.

BT............... sorry old man My family and I are eating them as fast as we can, had 3 big ones again just a few days ago. Here is a pic of granddaughter Francesca making sure there cooked to perfection......... Crab is the only reward for wintering over in the San Francisco Bay area.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeSh

This is one of the biggest thing I miss about living in Fresno. I've eaten a lot of crab but Dungenness is THE best! We can get it out here but it has been frozen and sell for about 7.00 a lb.

MikeS.

I can't imagine missing much else! Still stuck in Fresno, crabs 2.99 a pound at Savemart....

Jennifer4, besides Dungeness crabs we miss;

Fresh vine RIPE fruit, especally cantaloupe.
Fresh vegetables at decent prices. $2.50+ per lb for cauliflower. Avocados at $3 each. Fresh tortillias, homemade tamales and menudo. The tortillias here are made in Pa. and have a 6month shelf life.

We get good apples and some stone fruit but the melons around here suck. No tri-tip either...

MikeS.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeSh

Jennifer4, besides Dungeness crabs we miss;

Fresh vine RIPE fruit, especally cantaloupe.
Fresh vegetables at decent prices. $2.50+ per lb for cauliflower. Avocados at $3 each. Fresh tortillias, homemade tamales and menudo. The tortillias here are made in Pa. and have a 6month shelf life.

We get good apples and some stone fruit but the melons around here suck. No tri-tip either...

MikeS.

You forgot the spring strawberries from Salinas (2 boxes for $1 on special at Safeway) and the CHOICE of $4 a bottle wines . . . .

Mike S....
yes, I do wonder what life would be without "Tri-tip" Probably the most versatile cut of meat one can buy. I have it roasted in garlic or thin sliced and fried with onions or smoked BBQ or pot roast or cut into steaks............... and a lot more. I even soak it in brine for a wonderful gray corned beef........... I wonder why that cut of meat is only sold here on the West coast. Probably because of our all year BBQ season for most people do the back yard grill thing with it.
FYI....... cauliflower is now plentiful and only $0.98 a head not a pound and avocados are a $1 buck each and sometimes on sale for $0.59............. you have to watch avocados carefully because a lot of the cheaper ones are from Chile or Mexico and not as good as a large thick&creamy California avocado.
BT........... I'm having crab again tonight............. lol

quote:

Originally posted by fpczyz

BT........... I'm having crab again tonight............. lol

Do you have to remove your snorkel to eat it?

BT--crabless at 65 outdoor degrees under a cloudless blue sky (as always)

For those of us who can never get enough crab......

http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/03/counter-gold.php

I still prefer the spider crab (also known as the California King Crab), a big (some are in the 10-12 lb. range) ugly crab with an extremely hard shell. It's also got the sweetest crab meat I've ever had. When it's in season and I can find a fishmarket that has it, there is no finer crab to be eaten.

quote:

Originally posted by BT

quote:

Originally posted by MikeSh

Jennifer4, besides Dungeness crabs we miss;

You forgot the spring strawberries from Salinas (2 boxes for $1 on special at Safeway) and the CHOICE of $4 a bottle wines . . . .

BT, forget the coastal strawberries... The Hmong growers in the SJ Valley grow a much better berry. We would buy a crate for 6-8 dollars and eat our fill then IQF the rest of them. They usually have 2 crops a year and they were/are great.

We do get some decent berries out here but the season is limited.

MikeS.

Strawberries and Crab.......................
Mike:
all California strawberries are very good but the best strawberries come from the small 2 to 5 acres farms that pick only the ripe fruit daily. And to be sold that very same day out of little shacks along side of the road ..wow they're like candy.
The berries the rest of the world get are from the huge strawberry farms in Watsonville and Salinas Valley...Stienbeck Country. Those berries are picked the old commercial way, a little under ripe and most of the sugar still not developed, perfect for shipping to the East coast..........lol

Strawberries as far as the eye can see............ Watsonville California

quote:

Originally posted by fpczyz


The berries the rest of the world get are from the huge strawberry farms in Watsonville and Salinas Valley...Stienbeck Country. Those berries are picked the old commercial way, a little under ripe and most of the sugar still not developed, perfect for shipping to the East coast..........lol

Strawberries as far as the eye can see............ Watsonville California

Judging by the labels, these must be the berries we get in "the City" too, but all I know is, along about early May, strawberries suddenly appear in piles in every market--and are usually put on special--and they are delicious. Before that period and after it, the berries have much less flavor and are, indeed, underripe. But for a brief few weeks they are wonderful.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeSh

Jennifer4, besides Dungeness crabs we miss;

Fresh vine RIPE fruit, especally cantaloupe.
Fresh vegetables at decent prices. $2.50+ per lb for cauliflower. Avocados at $3 each. Fresh tortillias, homemade tamales and menudo. The tortillias here are made in Pa. and have a 6month shelf life.

We get good apples and some stone fruit but the melons around here suck. No tri-tip either...

MikeS.

Ok, so the food's good...

Originally posted by fpczyz

Strawberries and Crab.......................
Mike:
all California strawberries are very good but the best strawberries come from the small 2 to 5 acres farms that pick only the ripe fruit daily. And to be sold that very same day out of little shacks along side of the road ..wow they're like candy.
The berries the rest of the world get are from the huge strawberry farms in Watsonville and Salinas Valley...Stienbeck Country. Those berries are picked the old commercial way, a little under ripe and most of the sugar still not developed, perfect for shipping to the East coast..........lol

These small places are exactly what I was refering to. Small plots ran by Hmong immigrants. Me and many others nicknamed them "Hmong Berries" They are fantastic.

We do get some local grown berries out here from local farmers and from the Eastern shore of Md. that are pretty good. Just not as good as what we could get in Fresno county.