Dungeness Crabs

[Kodi]

Holy cow!!!!  Don't mean to be too nosey but you must be a big guy!!!  What do they charge for them thar lobstrosities?

Kodi

[NJ Grasshopper]

Kodi ------

I'm too big ........... (especially around the middle, if ya know what I mean). But when I get to Dallas ---- this is a meal I just can't pass up.

Price when I was there last month was $39.00. This month they raised it to $49.00

See "Returant Reviews" section

[spinfreak]

I just moved down to FL from NJ back in October. We used ot go to RI all the time for Codfishing. They sell the lobster right off the boats up there. They used to be about $3-4 or so, but lately they're more like $5-6.
Anyway, they also sell the Dungeness cfrabs off the lobster boats. Back about 10 years ago, they used to be 25 cents for culls, and 50 cents for both crabs with both claws. No BS-ing! Lately though, I think they're about a dollar or so.
When the supermarkets first started carrying them in the lobster tanks, I almost crapped myself when I seen the peice. Now I just laugh becasue people are actually paying that mcuh for them.
Personally, I don't like them too much. You don't get much meat out fo them.

[Ron]

spinfreak,

I (think, but could be wrong) the crabs you saw up in RI were Stone Crabs. We catch them in NJ too, all winter. Dungenous are from the west coast as far as I understand. They do look alike though. In NJ you break one claw off and through the crab back in to grow a new one. I have never eaten the whole crab just claws.

[MikeJ]

Was out to the West coast last summer. We did a motor home all around the Olympic Peninsula. Thru the San Juan Islands over to the coast, down the coast then over to Mount St. Helens, Mt Ranier then up to Seattle.

Fresh Dungeness is the best there is if cooked right.
They have them just plain steamed all over the west coast. They were great but I knew my "old Bay" would make em better!!

We were only home about 3 weeks and I found some live at a Asian supermarket (very popular, most have them all the time)
I steamed them Baltimore style, lots of kicked up "old bay"   and we ate em hot N dirty.

Be carefull, you may get spoiled, if you are a "Blues" man. Yes, they are THAT good.

[Kodi]

MikeJ,

Man I gotta find some and try them if they're that good fresh.  I have a good Asian store that I use so I'll have to check them.

I have a hard time thinking that anything would replace my thinking of the "blues" as the top of the food chain tho'.

Kodi

[Darrell]

The dungeness crabs are very tasty.but they are not live so they have already been cooked. We just heat them up.  Good eating for sure but nothing beats a bushel that "you the provider"  just caught of blue crabs, steamed (or boiled) with your favorite spices heaped upon a table filled with family and friends with plenty of cold beverages.ice cold brew,ice tea,sodas, ect. and every body cracks crabs and picks picks picks!And talks talks talks!

[spinfreak]

spinfreak,

I (think, but could be wrong) the crabs you saw up in RI were Stone Crabs. We catch them in NJ too, all winter. Dungenous are from the west coast as far as I understand. They do look alike though. In NJ you break one claw off and through the crab back in to grow a new one. I have never eaten the whole crab just claws.

Wow...didn't realize it's been so long since I've been on the site.

Anyway....Ron...they may not be "true" Dungeness crabs, but the ones that I've seen sold in the supermarkets are the same exact crabs that they sell on the boats up in RI. Whether they were stone crabs or dungeness, they are still freaking nuts. About 6-7 dollars a pound, for something they sell right off the boat for about a buck? No thanks.

[cw4340]

I THINK YA,LL BE TALKIN BOUT JONAH CRABS WHEN YEA SAY MAINE RI ECT

[spinfreak]

Well, here are pics of a dungeness crab:(http://www.enn.com/enn-news-archive/1999/06/060199/dungeness.jpg)

A jonah crab: (http://www.glf.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/sci-sci/crab-crab/images/ph_crab_jonahcrab.jpg)(http://www.gotosnapshot.com/jonah-crab/cwdata/CRA-01-HS006-002.jpg)

and a stone crab: (http://www.ifcstonecrab.com/images/stonecrab.gif)

I know that the crabs I bought up in RI, and the ones in the supermarket tanks are definately NOT Stone Crabs. They get stone crabs sown here here I'm at in FL, and there's no way that they are the same.

Dungeness and Jonah crabs look pretty much simliar, so I'm not sure which are which. The supermarkets marketed the crabs as Dungeness, so I don't know if they actually were Dungeness, or they were lying. Either way, the crabs were the same ones I bought off the boats, and they are Definatley NUTS for selling them at that high of a mark-up price.  

I just looked for the ranges of the dungeness and the jonah crab, and it appears that they crabs I bought off the boats and what they sell in the supermarkets are actually Jonah Crabs. Their range is from Nove Scotia to Florida. Looks like another case of the supermarkets selling something and calling it by a different name so people will spend tons of money on it.

[Steve]

Stone crabs are not sold whole... only the claws.

A stone crab is caught, its large claw is removed, and the crab is returned to the water so that it can grow a new claw. Only the claws are sold and eaten.