The Fishmonger

Eastern Blue Crabs Stand in for West Coast Dungeness During the Summer

by Jay Harlow
Special to The Chronicle

From late fall through winter, the crab of choice on the West Coast is the local Dungeness crab. But until then, those with a hankering for fresh crab might want to head for the nearest Chinatown for its East Coast cousin, the blue crab.

Blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) must have one of the most poetic of all scientific names. The first part of the name (the genus) is Latin for "beautiful swimmer" and the species name means "delicious." I can't vouch for how beautifully swims, never having seen one in the wild, but it is a handsome little critter, with an olive green back and blue legs and claws that are sometimes tipped with red. The sapidus part is certainly fitting.

What identifies the blue crab as a "swimming" crab rather than a "walking" crab is the weight of the shell and shape of the legs. Our local Dungeness crab is typical of the walking bye, which scuttles along the bottom on the tips of four pair of legs. In the blue crab and other swimming crabs, the hindmost pair of legs is modified into a fin shape, to propel the crab through the water. It also seems that the shell of a blue crab is thinner and lighter than that of a Dungeness, but that may only be a function of their relative size. It takes three or four blues to add up to the pound and a half of a typical small Dungeness crab.

Just about anything you can do with a Dungeness crab can also be done with a bunch of blue crabs, although you may have to adjust the cooking time to account for their smaller size. Cleaning techniques are similar.

Live blue crabs from Chesapeake Bay are widely available in Asian markets this time of year, and in some Western markets as well.

Most Southeast Asian countries have at least one typical crab dish, from Vietnam's stir-fried crab dishes to the "baked" stuffed crabs of malaysia (actually fried) and the famous chile crab of Singapore.

** Bay Area resident Jay Harlow is the author of "Jay Harlow's Beer Cuisin"
**(Harlow & Ratner( and "Shrimp"
**(Chronicle Books)