Salt & Pepper Crab

When I was first learning how to cook, circa 1990’s, the family went on a road trip vacation to San Francisco.  While there, we went to a non-descript restaurant called Thanh Long, where their specialty is Roast Crab. 

Man, oh man!  It was another love at first bite moments for me. Need I say more?  Since then, they had opened a restaurant in Beverly Hills called Crustacean, but since I cannot afford a Beverly Hills menu, I tried to copy their famous crab.  They serve their crab on the shell unopened, but for blog purposes, I decided to cut the crab in quarters and crack the legs.  I also used Stone Crab instead of Dungeness Crab.  If you choose, you can sauté the whole crab unopened in the wok.  That’s how I usually do it.  -GG-

Ingredients:

1 Dungeness crab

3 tablespoons extra light olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon salt for boiling

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Procedure:

1.  Place crab in a pot and fill with water just enough to cover the crab.  Add 1 tablespoon salt to the water and boil for 5 minutes.  Remove the crab from the pot. Set aside.

2.    Using a wok, heat up the oil and sauté garlic on low flame.  Do not allow the garlic to turn brown.  Add salt and pepper.

3.  Add the whole crab and stir in the sauce to completely coat the crab.  Serve with rice.

Alternate procedure:

a.  Follow step 1 above. 

b.  Wait for the crab to cool. Remove the shell and the gills.  Cut up the crab into quarters and crack the legs using a hammer. 

c.  Follow steps 2 & 3 above.