Criteria used for judging quality

1. The livelier the better when dealing with live crabs. A listless or dead crab often has a bitter aftertaste due to it's own digestive juices permeating the meat.
2. Both live and cooked crabs should seem heavy for their size when lifted.
3.The shell should be hard when pinched, a spongy shell denotes a crab which has recently shed it's shell. The percentage of meat is much higher in hard shell crabs.
4.Finally, the appearance of a cooked crab is important. They should have their legs tightly pulled up to the body, which indicates they were cooked when alive. Also, there should be no black discoloration where the leg joins the body, black discoloration at the joints means the crab was not cooked long enough, the meat will be mushy and soon become unpalatable.
5. Often a crab will through off a leg or two if cooked when very lively and frightened, this is simply a defense mechanism by which they attempt to avoid attack by creating a diversion. A missing leg or two should not be used as a criteria for rejecting an otherwise good crab.

Preperation and cleaning

The following directions can be used to clean and prepare a cooked crab or kill and clean a live crab. Some recipes call for crabs which have been "livebacked", that is, cleaned while still alive. Livebacked crabs are used for charcoal grilling, stir-frying, or as an addition to soups and stews.
First, place the crab on it's back and hold it in place with a large cleaver or french knife positioned on the center-line of the crab, between the two sets of legs. Strike the cleaver a sharp blow with a rubber mallet or similar tool; chopping the crab in half and killing it instantly.

Pull off the triangular shaped apron from the underside of the crab. Turn the two halves of the crab over and pull off the top shell. Now the gills (clear feathery fingers situated just above the legs), the intestine (a firm white crooked piece in the center of the back), and the beaklike mouth parts are exposed.

Remove and discard these parts. Reserve any yellow fat known as crab butter from inside the shell, it makes a wonderful enrichment for a dipping sauce. Rinse the two cleaned halves of crab. Slice each half of the crab into 5 sections by cutting through the body between each leg. Now you have 10 legs with a body section connected to each piece. Crack each section of each leg with a mallet or the handle of a heavy knife. If the crab was cooked it is ready to serve, if "livebacked" it is ready to cook. If your recipe calls for fresh picked crab meat the meat can now be easily removed from the shell.

History

The Dungeness crab, along with its smaller relatives the rock crabs, have always been plentiful along the pacific coast. Although Indians and other coastal foragers had enjoyed the Dungeness crab for centuries, it wasn't until the early twentieth century that an anonymous enterprising fisherman decided there might be a market for all of those big meaty crabs that seemed to be crawling around everywhere. Not surprisingly this revelation took place in a small fishing village situated on a tiny sandspit at the tip of the Olympic Peninsula; Dungeness, Washington. Few people today have heard of the town of Dungeness while it's namesake the Dungeness crab is firmly installed in the annals of culinary history.

In a matter of a few years the prolific Dungeness crab became one of the premier commercial fisheries on the west coast. The distinctively tender, sweet meated Dungeness crab gained ready acceptance from the consuming public. Shortly after the turn of the century, Sicilian fishermen with names like Cresci, La Rocca, Tarantino, Alioto and Balestreri began plying the waters outside San Francisco's golden gate bridge in search of the Dungeness crab. The seaworthy, double ended Monterey with lateen sail, fashioned after the "falucca" of Sicily, was the boat of choice.

The men would fish the tides during the day then return in time to sell their crabs at the Meiggs wharf wholesale market. Fishmongers from the teeming Chinatown markets, Onarato's in the Fillmore and the popular Crystal palace in the mission, renown for its four giant fish markets, all gathered at Meiggs wharf around midnight to vie for the days catch.

The area known as Meiggs wharf was set aside by the state legislature in 1925 for the sole use of the fishermen of the city, it then became known as fishermans wharf as it is called today. At the time, simple ring nets that had to be constantly tended without the help of engines or hydraulics, meant crabbing was backbreaking physical labor. Long hard working days and the identical heritage of these San Francisco fishermen created a friendly comradery about the docks. Communal meals cooked on board one boat or another was a nightly occurrence. Wives came to greet husbands, bringing along the children and maybe a home baked pizza and salad; teenagers met at the wharf after a night on the town, and friends came to share in the excitement of the days catch. The local red wine was always in good supply and everyone was expected to "chip in" something to a stew bubbling away over a charcoal brazier. Dungeness crabs cooked in red wine and tomatoes with garlic and parsley was often the "chip-in" dish that was shared. This was to become known as Cioppino, the quintessential San Francisco waterfront dish, irrevocably tied to the birth of fishermans wharf.

The newly founded crab fishery was a welcome boon to once poor fishermen, even the great depression and the infamous San Francisco crab war of the 30's when crabs sold for 5 cents each was ameliorated by the seemingly endless demand for crabs.

As time passed some fishermen began to sell their catch directly to the public from their boats or they set up small stalls on the sidewalk, the precursors of the present day fishermans wharf restaurants. The first wood fired crab boilers made their appearance at the fish stalls of Taylor Street on fishermans wharf in the 1920's. The popularity of the already cooked and cracked crabs and "walk-away" cocktails that could then be sold was the impetus needed to turn fishermens shacks into thriving seafood restaurants. The Dungeness crab became the gold of the1920's, 30's and 40's.

By 1940 with the implementation of the modern day crab pot and larger, diesel powered boats the crab catch rose dramatically. There seemed to be an endless profusion of crabs, fortunes were made and fishermans wharf, San Francisco was propelled to national prominence as the capital of the Dungeness crab. Freshly boiled crabs pulled from steaming boilers, Chinese junks berthed next to the more familiar double-ended Montereys
and the bustle of a working port highlighted by the natural beauty of San Francisco created an unforgettable scene to attract visitors from around the world.

During it's early years fisherman's wharf was a true workingmans' wharf. Often the crusty looking old guys tending the steaming crab pots at fish stalls along Jefferson and Taylor streets were the same ones who had laboriously pulled crab pots earlier in the day. Those were the times that made fisherman's wharf deservedly famous, today one must rely on the honesty of one of the many fishmongers on the street as to weather or not that crab in the boiler is fresh local or frozen Alaskan.

As the Dungeness crab found acceptance in the world famous kitchens of San Francisco' hotels and restaurants the simple cracked crab, crab cocktail and cioppino of fisherman's wharf would make room for more elaborate dishes such as crab Louis, whole crab in black bean sauce and the Japanese inspired California roll, all to become classics in their own right.

Cautions(see safety): Domoic acid
Sustainable: Excellent, considered one of the best managed crab fisheries.
Recipes: coming!