King Crab Legs with Drawn Butter

New Year’s Eve is a night for sacred foods in our family. We aways end the year eating nutrient dense foods — including oysters on the half shell, caviar, and king crab legs with drawn butter. Other favorites include pâté with toast and rillettes.

We spend more on the food, and save money on the bubbly. We ring in the New Year with a bottle of the Italian version of Champagne, Prosecco. Prosecco costs a fraction of what Champagne does, and it’s just as good. You can get it at Trader Joe’s for about $6 per bottle. Another cheap alternative to Champagne is Spanish cava.

Shellfish is the most nutrient-dense form of seafood. If your family doesn’t like organ meats, they’ll most assuredly love King Crab with melted butter.

According to the Weston A. Price Foundation:

“Many indigenous groups understood the necessity for special foods prior to conception, during pregnancy and during lactation. And crab was one of these foods. Of the photograph reproduced on page 400 of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Price described ‘a woman of one of the Fiji Islands who had gone several miles to the sea to get this particular type of lobster-crab which she believed, and which her tribal custom had demonstrated, was particularly efficient for producing a highly perfect infant.’”

To learn more about the benefits of eating crab, click here.

Recipe Notes

If you can’t find king crab, try Dungeness Crab instead. You can find it precooked at Whole Foods or even Costco.

King Crab Legs with Drawn Butter

Ingredients

Lemons (2)
King crab legs (4-5 pounds)
Butter or ghee, grass-fed if possible (1/2 cup) — where to buy ghee

Equipment

Ramekins or finger bowls
Optional:Steaming basket (can use a stainless steel colander over a saucepan)

Directions

1. Cut lemons into wedges.
2. Cut king crab into serving-sized pieces.
3. Steam in basket over 1 inch of boiling water for 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
4. Melt butter or ghee in a small saucepan. If using butter, strain off white milk solids and discard. Ration into 4 ramekins or finger bowls.
5. Serve crab with melted butter and lemon wedges.

Photo credit: King Crab Legs & Hammer by abdelazer, on Flickr
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