I boiled my Dungeness crabs for years until one time I was hunting a cougar on an Indian Reserve on a Johnston Strait island. Natives cooked up a big crab feed when I got the cougar. They smacked the crabs on the carapace (sp??) with a bonker to fracture it and pulled the top shell off. Then broke them in half and cleaned residual guts and gills off. They carefully placed the halves in a pot legs down, body up, on top of several inches of kelp. Also used kelp to keep them all supported just so. Put a inch or two of salt water in the pot and then onto the fire to steam with a tight lid on. They claimed boiling cooked the flavor out of them and they tasted so good I started cooking them that way too. I sometimes throw a big handful of Cajun style spice in the pot . Also very good steamed in layers of kelp on the coals and hot rocks in a big fire pit- no pot required.
<br>On the other hand I'll eat Dungeness and rock crabs any way I can get them. Have never thought snow or king crab to be their equal but that may be because I've never had those before they've been frozen.
<br>Seems to me the Campfire boys spend a lot of time thinking about their stomach and how to make it happy. I call that establishing good priorities. besto
