Crab: Buying, Cooking, Cracking [A Cookbook]

I've made both the Garlic-Roasted Dungeness "Killer" Crab and Crab and Fuji Apple Salad and they both have become favorites. While it is difficult to get live crab where I live, I substituted with large freshwater prawns in the Killer Crab recipe. The garlicky, peppery sauce that clings to the seafood is to-die for and incredibly addictive. Our friends devoured the plate in minutes - and we even used bread to mop up the sauce leftover on the plate. Next time, I'm going to double the sauce/spices just so we can dip! Overall, it's a cute little book with great recipes - makes me homesick for San Francisco - with recipes like Foggy Wharf Salad and Fisherman's Wharf Crab Cakes.

This is a delightful little book, full of recipes designed for and using Dungeness crabs, not commonly available in most of the USA. Unfortunately, that was not clear to me when I bought it. If you live near on or near the Gulf, or along the entire Eastern seaboard, or on the Chesapeake bay, what you are mostly going to find in the stores are blue crabs. My friends from the West Coast tell me that the Dungeness is better, but they are not available fresh around here. I am probably going to send it to relatives in California.