The culinary traditions of Dungeness crab
Dungeness crab is much more than a holiday special. For Californians — and West Coasters up to Alaska, Dungeness crab is a go-to treat for any occasion or random indulgence when the craving for the sweet and tender crab meat strikes.
As with any local favorite steeped in regional culinary tradition, people have a lot of say on how they like their Dungeness crab. They can be boiled in salted water and dipped in melted butter; mixed with breadcrumbs, herbs, spices, and mayonnaise, and then formed into cakes; or even topped with cheese to make a crab melt or put into a tortilla for a crab quesadilla.
It seems every family has a “way to do it” when preparing Dungeness crab to their liking.
To whet your palate enough to get you to run to the nearest seafood counter, dock sale, or community-supported fishery, here are a few of the most iconic California Dungeness crab culinary traditions. If you need help finding out how best to purchase Dungeness crab to fit your schedule, check out our local catch guide.
Also, feel free to share your favorite recipes with us by tagging the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and use #MyDungenessCrab in your post. We’ll share your posts across our social media platforms.
Dungeness crab, sourdough, and mayonnaise. Photo by Nick Rahaim.
Cold cooked crab with fresh baked sourdough and mayonnaise
Melted butter is great, but it doesn’t travel well if you’re looking to dine outside or have a picnic on the beach. Purchase pre-cooked Dungeness crab or prepare your own, then buy a loaf of fresh sourdough from your favorite bakery, bring mayonnaise, or aioli if you prefer, and get ready to feast!
This is the simplest Dungeness crab culinary tradition on the list, but it’s tried and true.
Roasted Dungeness crab and garlic noodles
In the early 1970s, Thanh Long burst onto the San Francisco culinary scene with pioneering Vietnamese cuisine and a new take on the local favorite — Roasted Crab and Garlic Noodles. The restaurant should be on everyone’s fine dining bucket list when traveling to the city. Even as Thanh Long’s recipe is a closely-guarded secret, there are many imposters and many of them quite good. There also recipes you can easily adopt in your own kitchen. The noodles include an explosion of umami flavor with Vietnamese fish sauce, Italian Parmesan cheese, and lots and lots of garlic.
Trying to stay closest to the original The Culinary Chronicles has a tasty recipe for both roasting Dungeness crab and making the garlic noodles. If you’re not feeling quite so ambitious, just toss cooked and cracked Dungeness crab with garlic noodles from this recipe provided by Chef John with Foodwishes.com.
Dungeness Crab Louie
Move over Cobb Salad, for those looking for a salad fit for a meal a Dungeness Crab Louie is where it’s at. While “Louie” salads have fallen out of favor, going the way of Martini lunches and smoking indoors, there’s good reason why they’ve stayed in the repertoire of home cooks for generations. Dungeness Crab Louies were created at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco in the early 1900s and quickly spread up and down the coast.
The salad is made of cracked Dungeness crab served on top of a bed of greens with sliced hard-boiled eggs, steamed asparagus, ripe tomatoes, and Louie dressing (a mixture of mayonnaise and chili sauce). When done well it’s as good as any salad you’ve tasted.
When poorly executed with bland iceberg lettuce, overcooked asparagus, unripe tomatoes, rubbery eggs and uninspired takes on the classic Louie dressing, diners might prefer to skim the crab off the top and leave the rest for compost. Here’s our modern take on the classic Dungeness Crab Louie.
Cioppino
You know it, you love it. This tomato-based seafood stew is a West Coast classic for good reason. While cioppino was created in San Francisco, many of Monterey’s Italian fishing families would argue it was perfected along the shores of the Monterey Bay.
Order a large bowl of cioppino from one of the many acclaimed seafood restaurants on Monterey’s Fisherman’s Wharf. Or try making your own with this recipe from our friends at Real Good Fish.