Larry,

That's a Pacific Dungeness Crab, which reaches astounding weights in excess of 5-pounds. When I lived in Spokane, Washington during the late 1060s they were sold in the grocery stores for about 20 to 30 cents per pound and were boiled. The crabs tasted very bland in comparison to Maryland style steamed crabs that are heavily seasoned with Old Bay Seafood Seasoning.

There was some crazy law back then that a crab could not be taken from the beach without first boiling. I guess this was to prevent anyone from getting sick from eating a crab that had partially decomposed prior to cooking. Fortunately, I was able to make contact with a commercial crabber in Seattle who steamed up a batch for me using Old Bay. He loved the taste so much that he opened a crab house just outside Seattle called "The Maryland Crab House," used Old Bay to season his Pacific Dungeness Crabs, and made a killing.

Anyone that has traveled to Maryland and tasted hot, steamed, blue crabs knows just how wonderful these highly seasoned crustaceans can taste. Fran and DNJ visited Dan01 at Bill's Music Store and later feasted on steamed crabs--they haven't stopped bragging how good they were since that last visit.

Cheers,

Gary

We had a lot of fun and good laughs recalling our 6 year Synthzone friendship together,
all the while pigging out on tasty fresh roasted SF Bay dungeness crab

Ian, Roasted Lobster in butter sounds awesome!