Oh My! Very pretty...and a little cup of butter on the side....but...I'll have to admit..I'm trying to cook with tofu lately or surimi.....any suggestions?

I've never seen it presented out of the shell. It looks appetizing but I can't figure out all the bits, especially to the bottom left. Care to elaborate?

Re the ransom, I hide such prices in a mundane shopping list, so it just looks like shopping. :)

With DH retired, he often shops with me, cannot hide prices. TG he rarely complains about the cost of ingredients. It's kind of nice to have someone dropping me at doorways in the rain, then parking. And loading coolers. Our shopping opportunities are small locally, most of of our food shopping done at least an hour away.

dcarch your meal is beautiful as always. You'd think I'd have picked up some plating tips from your photos but I can't say I have acquired the skill 😁

I've had King crab but a handful of times. DH prefers to get crab live and we can't get king crab live. It's dungeness here but we do enjoy it. Not as showy, still yummy.

“I've never seen it presented out of the shell.”

Doesn’t look out of the shell to me. is it?

Me either FOAS.

I refuse to pay $80/lb. or whatever crazy price they are asking these days for King Crab. I'll suffice with Snow Crab that I can get for 1/10th the price.

Is it not? Oh, yes, at the joint I can see that. I'm used to the shell being kind of glossy.

That is a lot of crab! I havent noticed what the price is here. King is very good but I have to say I prefer Dungeness for flavor. Beautiful presentation as always though.

FOAS - I haven't seen King Crab for $20/lb since before Covid. Not sure why they went up so much around here. Interestingly Snow Crab dropped from about $15 to $8/lb last fall and are still that price.

Supply and demand?

i love your intro comments, and agree. I buy them when I want. I tell myself that "I'm worth it!'

Thanks everyone.

King crabs are very expensive, especially live ones. IMHO, king crabs taste very good, but no better than other crabs. I think the reason why they are very expensive is because of transportation costs. King crabs require a huge tank to transport just one, the same tank can hold a few hundred Dungeness crabs.

Every time I go to H Mart or an Asian supermarket, I do see live ones in tanks. You have to ask them how much.

dcarch

Wasn't there a massive die off of them recently too?

I used to get king crab legs for my birthday and/or New Year's, but I haven't recently because of the price. Last time I saw them, they were $59/lb, which I thought was too much, but at least that is less than $79/lb. If I see them for under $60/lb again, I might buy some. It is definitely one of my favorite things to eat.

Your presentation is enticing!

I'd pick dungeness over king every time, even if both were fresh off the boat.

King crabs are not true crabs, coming from a different branch of the taxonomy tree. They have a somewhat different flavor. Some describe it as bland compared to the more sweet and flavorful taste of most true crabs. I prefer dungeness and other crab types for that reason.

Typically the legs are detached from the body and only the legs find their way to market in my area. The price is high for the same reason that trimmed tri tip is more expensive than untrimmed - when buying just the legs without the body, a higher percentage of what comes out of the bag is edible and not discarded.

Ok, I am 70 years old, live in Kansas and have never had crab. All seafood is frozen here. I would not know how to prepare crab, what part to eat etc. I know I sound like a real dummy, but I can pick out and prepare steak like you never have had it. The differences is where you live. LOL I do visit Katy, tx and Galveston frequently. Does crab come from there? Should I only eat fresh crab?

ladypat - The northern Gulf of Mexico has Blue Crab and Stone Crab which are both edible but a bit of a hassle to eat. Steaming is the most common way to prepare crab. About 5-6 minutes for frozen Snow Crab legs is perfect.

We are indeed blessed with prime beef in our area. I have a small herd of Hereford/Angus crosses commonly referred to as Baldies. I haven't purchased beef in over a decade.

ladypat, better grocery stores carry cooked crabmeat in little tubs. Often in the refrigerated deli section in store. No preparation required. Make a Louie salad using a good Thousand Island dressing and put the crabmeat on top.

As most harvested seafood is destined for sale and consumption far from where it's caught, frozen seafood is the rule. Seafood flash frozen right after coming out of the water and handled properly thereafter is a very acceptable substitute for fresh. I live on a coast, not inland like you, and the freezing of seafood allows me to enjoy items that originate elsewhere, even from far away. Alaskan salmon is a good example, a great product that, even coming from the same coast as where I live, is caught too far away to be enjoyed fresh here so it's always previously frozen. Though, we sometimes can find local salmon and that is fresh.

Forgive me, but it looks like a creepy hand!