(Dungeness) Crab and Corn Chowder

You can use any type of crab for this chowder, except for shore crabs. I used Dungeness crab since it's available locally and is still in season. It certainly tastes awesome with the bread I made yesterday. No idea on how heavy the crab was prior to being shelled, but it yielded 1.5 cups of cooked crab meat.

Here's a breakdown of what it costs to make this chowder from scratch:

1 Dungeness crab, cooked (roughly $8 per whole crab, about a pound)
2 white potatoes, $0.50
2 c chicken broth (1/2 quart), $1.00
2 green onion stalks (assuming 8 stalks per bunch and $0.50/bunch), $0.16
1/4 c flour (10# flour at $4), $0.02
2 tbsp unsalted butter (at $3/lb), $0.38
3 organic celery stalks (your yield may vary, this is based on a $2 bag), $0.30
salt, black pepper, and various spices, $0.25
One 16 oz bag of cut sweet corn, $1.69
2 c (16 oz) of organic half 'n' half, $2

Yield: 2 quarts (8 one-cup servings)
Total: $14.30
Cost per cup: $1.79

When ingredient sourcing, food prep, and cook time is factored into the cost, that $5 bowl of chowder you get at the restaurant is actually a pretty good deal.

Dungeness Crab Cheesecake

This is a savory cheesecake and will be served up with some crackers as an appetizer. It is the same baking process as a dessert cheesecake, except this one is made without a water bath. Frankly, I think the only reason to bake it is so that the eggs get cooked; otherwise, everything else that went into the recipe can be eaten as is. This recipe ratio, minus the onions, is adaapted from the 1999 issue of Taste of Home. I baked this one in a 9" springform pan, like the one used for cakes. For the crab part of the recipe, I steamed a dungeness crab the previous night and reserved the meat.

Dungeness Crab Cheesecake. Looks a little boring.
Tastes like it desperately needs a contrasting flavor or
roasted red peppers added to it.

On the seafood seasoning, you could just use Old Bay seasoning; though in lieu of that, this is what goes into it: celery seed (adds a savory depth to meat rubs), black pepper (spicy), bay leaves (savory), cardamom pods (sweet & spicy), mustard seeds (savory), whole cloves (sweet & spicy), sweet paprika (mild & sweet, mostly for color) and ground mace (sweet).

[edit] This came out tasting terribly bland, like it was just cream cheese mixed with crab. To bring out the flavor more, perhaps next time add in a cup of shredded smoked gouda or fry some red/green/yellow/orange small diced bell peppers into it for color contrasts.

Ingredients

16 oz cream cheese, softened

3 oz sour cream

1 c crushed butter crackers + 1/4 c melted unsalted butter

1 c cooked dungeness crab meat, flaked

3 eggs lightly beaten

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp seafood seasoning (I used ground mace, smoked paprika, pinch of ground cloves)

dash of chili sauce (like a sirracha or Tabasco sauce)

freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, seafood seasoning, and chili sauce. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine cream cheese and sour cream. Beat together until smooth. Add in lightly beaten eggs, lemon juice, seafood seasoning, chili sauce and some freshly ground black pepper. Blend until smooth-ish.

3. Take 25-30 round butter crackers (like Ritz or Trader Joe's) and crush them with your hands, in a food prep, or in a sealable plastic bag with a bottle or rubber mallet. You could also substitute panko crumbs in this step, I suppose. Mix the cracker crumbs with melted butter and gently press into the bottom of a buttered springform cake pan.

4. Bake cracker crust for 10 minutes, remove from oven and turn oven heat down to 325 degrees F.

5. Pour cream cheese mixture into the prepared cake pan and use a spatula to spread the filling evenly. Bake for 35 minutes, until center has set.

6. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes. Use a butter knife to loosen the cheesecake from the edge of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let refrigerate for an hour or more before serving.

Serve with freshly made bread or crackers.

Wild Game Meat in the greater Seattle area

King County: Butcher Shops, Meat Markets, and Fresh Seafood

After three years of living in the southwest region of Washington state, I relocated (for work) to the Seattle area. Not surprisingly, since this is a very urban metropolitan area with scattered farms on the fringes of suburbia, there are even fewer choices for fresh game meat and nearby butcher shops that can offer up meats and cuts that you just can't get at a Whole Foods or other specialty retail grocery store with a meat counter.

Here's what I have found so far:

Bill the Butcher
7990 Leary Way Northeast, Redmond, WA 98072?
(425) 636-8901
http://www.billthebutcher.com
Meat standards: Organic (No herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones or steroids; Fed with organic grass or grain that is not genetically modified), Natural (No herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones or steroids; No genetically modified feed. Humanely raised and harvested animals; Pastured and as local as possible.)
Meats: organic and natural beef, free range local poultry, natural pork, wild game (not specified on website), sausages
Other products: raw milk
Hours: Tu-Sun noon-7pm, closed Mondays
Other locations: Woodinville, Seattle (NE 45th St, E Madison St, and 34th Ave W)
 
Bob’s Quality Meats
4861 Rainier Avenue South  Seattle, WA 98118
(206) 725-1221
http://www.bobsqualitymeats.com
Meat: beef, buffalo, lamb, poultry (chicken, turkey, game hen, eggs), oxtails
Whole animals: lamb, goat, rabbit, chicken, smoked turkey
Game meats: duck, venison (ground),
Dairy/Cheese: butter; American cheese, Swiss cheese, Boudin
Other specialty: pancetta, hard salami, beef jerky, oxtails, pork blood
Hours: M-F 9am-7pm, Sa 9am-5pm, closed Sundays

Don and Joe’s Meats (at Pikes Market)
85 Pike Street  Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 682-7670
http://www.donandjoesmeats.com
Meats: sausages, beef, lamb, veal, offals
Seasonal meats: turkeys (fresh & smoked), duck, geese, pheasant, quail, rabbit
Hours: M-Sa 9am-6pm, closed Sundays

Fresh Sea Food
Pure Food Fish Market / Pike Place Market
Seattle, WA 98108
Local (Seattle Area): 206-622-5765
http://www.freshseafood.com
Seafood: salmon (fresh & smoked), halibut, crab, shrimp, lobster, squid, shellfish (clams, mussels, scallops), caviar, Columbia River white sturgeon, whole rainbow trout, whole golden trout, sushi grade ahi tuna
Steaks: Hawaiian mahi mahi, Hawaiian ahi tuna
Fillets: monk fish, ling cod, dover sole, pertrole sole, catfish, Alaskan black cod, Alaska true cod, Pacific red snapper, Chilean sea bass
Hours: Mo-Su 7am-9pm

University Seafood and Poultry (u-district)
1317 Northeast 47th Street  Seattle, WA 98105
(206) 632-3900
http://www.universityseafoodandpoultry.com
Meats: poultry & eggs (duck, duckling, pheasant, quail, geese, game hens, turkeys)
Seafood (fresh): king salmon, steamer clams, live Maine lobsters, Pacific oysters, mussels, perch, halibut, sockeye salmon, etc)
Hours: M-F 930am-530pm, Sa 930am-5pm, closed Sundays
Misc: Free parking next to the 76 gas station

World Famous Pike Place Fish Market
86 Pike Street  Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 682-7181
http://www.pikeplacefish.com
Seafood: salmon (fresh & smoked), white fish, Dungeness crab, live shellfish (Penn Cove clams, Manilla clams, Pacific oysters, mussels, Kumamoto oysters), fresh (but not alive) shellfish (Alaskan king crab, snow crab legs, shrimp, Alaskan spot prawns, sea scallops, bay scallops, smoked mussels)
Hours: mo-Sun 6am-6pm

Dungeness Crab Bisque

Today I attempted to make a consommé from a dungeness crab carcass, which turned out to be an interesting way to make crab stock. I started this recipe with the ingredient ratio from Williams-Sonoma, but found that the bisque was too watery and lacked depth. I later added the other ingredients in the Food Network's crab bisque recipe, minus the whole dungeness crabs which I did not have on hand and made a few adjustments. Also omitted was tarragon, which I neither have fresh nor dried in the pantry.

Using a 5-qt programmable crockpot, I cooked a dungeness crab carcass for the better part of the day; about 6 hours on the "high" setting, and 8 hours on the "low", though I don't think it really cooked for 14 hours. In the crockpot, I also added some Shaoxing red rice wine. Use a strainer to extract just the liquid from the crockpot into a pot large enough to accommodate it and the rest of the bisque ingredients. Unlike all other crab bisque recipes, this one extracts all the crab flavor from one carcass and the meat is from canned crab; though, you could use freshly cooked crab meat if it were in season. At the moment, it is not in season in the Pacific Northwest and live crab prices have gone back up to their off-season norm of about $5/lb. This yielded roughly 3 quarts of crab stock.

Also, note if the canned crab contains added salt. If it does, like the Trader Joe's canned crab, rinse it with water to remove the excess salty water, then strain it before adding to the bisque. This will help to control how much sodium actually gets into the soup.

Ingredients

crab stock (can also substitute chicken or fish stock)
Two 6 oz cans of crab meat
 2 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. sweet marsala wine
One 14.5 oz can of organic diced tomatoes (or 3 whole tomatoes)
2 tbsp organic tomato paste

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 celery stalks, trimmed and diced
1 carrot, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
3 shallots, minced

1 bay leaf
cayenne pepper
freshly ground black pepper
Himalayan pink salt
pinch of ground thyme
juice of 1/2 a lemon

Directions

1. Prepare crab stock by simmering a crab carcass with some dry wine (rice wine works well) in a stockpot or crockpot for several hours. Strain to remove shell particulates and other non-liquid items into a clean stockpot.

2. In a small saute pan, melt olive oil and butter together, then add shallots, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook over low heat until shallots become translucent. Add to crab stock.

If you have a limited number of cooking pots, you may find this reversed step more optimal for the kitchen instead of starting with these ingredients in the stockpot then adding the strained crab stock to deglaze the pot.

3. Add the heavy cream, bay leaf, marsala wine, lemon juice, and spices (cayenne pepper, thyme, pink salt, freshly ground black pepper. Season to taste.

4. Add the diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir the bisque so that the paste dissolves into the stock.

5. Let the stock come to a boil, then simmer for at least an hour. In the last half hour of cooking (before serving), add the canned crab or freshly cooked crab meat (cut into 1" pieces).

6. In batches, pureé in a food prep or blender. In this step, you can strain the bisque so that only the liquid remains, or serve it as is while still warm.