Izakaya Sakura Dungeness Crab With Ponzu Dip

Boil water in a large saucepan; add salt and sake. Use as much water as possible and keep the salt concentration at 3% so that it is similar to seawater.

Clean the live Dungeness crab under running water by using a scrubbing brush or tawashi. Let the crab hold some wooden chopsticks, since it may pinch you otherwise.

Put the crab in the boiling water. After the water returns to a boil, let it cook for 12 minutes. Do not overcook.

Take out the crab and cool down under running water.

Take off legs. Make a cut line on leg shells and place on serving plate.

Remove the carapace from the body. You may stick your thumb into the hole between the body and the carapace at the back of the crab, then remove gently.

Remove and discard the spongy, inedible gills from the side of the body and the black guts from the middle of the body.

Fold the crab in half to crack the body into two parts. Use chopsticks or a crab fork and take off the white meat that forms in clusters divided by thin sections of shell.

Place the meat in a small serving bowl. Serve with ponzu dipping sauce.