"sf" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 04:47:43 GMT, Kathy in NZ wrote:
> >
> > Yes it was messy, but delicious, and I was surprised how much meat was
> > in the bodies, much easier to get at than I expected and absolutely
> > delicious.
> >
> > In the end I made stir-fry chilli crabs using the wok burner of the
> > barbecue. I won't use that particular recipe again without refining it
> > as the sauce was too heavy on tomato sauce, but the concept was great
> > and the crabs were fantastic, even though they *were* frozen, raw
> > blue swimmer crabs (from India).
> >
> > Here's a pic of the final dish.
> > http://tinypic.com/fxgw9x.jpg
> >
> I'm unclear on the concept of cooking crab in the shell with any sort
> of sauce. Doesn't the sauce come off with the shell? If so, why
> waste your time?
> --

I ordered a Vietnamese Dungeness Crab dish, one time, back on Maui, at
Saigon Cafe. It was dungeness crab in a spicy-sweet sauce and it came in
the shell. I was thinking that I wouldn't be able to taste the sauce on it
either, but I was wrong. Wow. It was probably the messiest dish I have
ever eaten in my life, and those of you that know me, know I hate getting my
fingers dirty, but I couldn't stop eating it! I peeled the shell off, and
the flavor still came through. The crab was still covered in this spicy,
plumb-like sauce. Maybe because my fingers were still covered? I don't
know, but it was an experience not to be missed and a definite do-over. I
even had left-overs, although, next time? I'd eat the whole thing right
there. It was one of those dishes that was better the first go-around.

kili