Fresh Cracked Crab With Chili Dipping Sauce
This recipe is a delightful and indulgent dish featuring succulent Dungeness crabs served with a flavorful and zesty dipping sauce. The sweet and spicy notes in the sauce perfectly complement the delicate sweetness of the crab meat. Whether you crack and clean the crabs yourself or opt for the convenience of pre-prepped seafood, this dish is sure to impress your guests at any holiday gathering or special occasion. Serve with lemon wedges for a bright finish and enjoy this elegant seafood dish that is as delicious as it is visually stunning.
— Constant Cookbook
Ingredients
- 4 to 6 cooked Dungeness crabs
- 4 cups mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup Thai chili paste
- 3 Tbs. minced shallots
- 2 sweet pickles, minced
- 3 Tbs. sweet pickle juice
- 2 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 to 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 to 1 cup half-and-half or whole milk
- Lemon wedges for garnish
Instructions
- Working with 1 crab at a time, break the claws and legs off and crack each segment. Put the body on its back and push down on each side to break it out of the shell. Remove the gills and viscera and rinse the body well. Break the body in half down its centerline. Cover and refrigerate the crab until ready to serve. Alternatively, many markets will crack and clean the crab for you.
- To make the dipping sauce, in a large bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, chili paste, shallots, pickles, pickle juice and cayenne. Add the Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 tsp. of the salt and 1/2 cup of the half-and-half and stir to combine. Taste and add more salt if needed. If the sauce is too stiff, thin with a little more of the half-and-half. Transfer to 1 or 2 small serving bowls.
- Arrange the crab on 1 or 2 platters and tuck the lemon wedges around the edge. Serve the bowl(s) on the platter(s) or alongside. Serves 8.
- Adapted from Williams-Sonoma <i>Holiday Entertaining,</i> by Georgeanne Brennan (Oxmoor House, 2007).
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