Chinese Steamed Cracked Crabs

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Title: Chinese Steamed Cracked Crabs
Categories: Chinese, Seafood, Ceideburg 2
Yield: 2 servings

1 Crab, live in the shell,
-about 2 pounds
2 Green onions, bruised and
-cut in half
2 qt Sized slices of ginger
1 tb Shao Hsing wine or dry
-sherry
Ginger, Green Onion and
-Vinegar Dipping Sauce
4 tb Finely shredded green onion
2 tb Finely shredded ginger,
-preferably young ginger
1/4 ts Sugar
1/2 ts Salt
5 tb Vinegar
3 1/2 tb Peanut oil

It's crab season here in the San Francisco bay area. Heap and heaps
of luscious Dungeness crabs are showing up all over the place.
Steamed or live++take your pick! I was in Oakland's Chinatown last
weekend shopping at the Sam Yick gorcery and saw a couple of boxes of
still- kicking Blue crabs for a buck seventy-nine a pound. Good
eatin' ahead!

Kill and clean the crab. Place it, top shell down, on a heat-
resistant plate. Scatter the onion, ginger and wine on top of the
crab. Put the crab and plate into a preheated steamer. steam over
high heat for 15 minutes. Remove and cool.

Disjoint and crack the crab and arrange on a platter. Dip the meat
into the dipping sauce and eat with green onions and ginger. Use the
tip of the leg to dig out the meat.

Serves 2 as a light meal.

GINGER, GREEN ONION and VINEGAR DIPPING SAUCE Scatter green onions in
a shallow saucer. Top with the shredded ginger. Sprinkle sugar and
salt evenly over the ginger. Pour the vinegar over the ginger. Heat
the oil until it's hot but not smoking, and pour it over the mixture.
It should sizzle lightly. If it is too hot, let it cool.

Makes about 2/3 cup.

Joyce Jue, San Francisco Chronicle, 12/5/90.

Posted by Stephen Ceideburg December 8 1990.

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