Instructions: In a 5- to 6-quart pan, mix cornstarch with a little of the broth. Then add remaining broth, vermouth, soy sauce, ginger, lemon peel, lemon juice, and thyme.

Stirring often, bring the broth mixture to a boil over high heat. Add crab, reduce heat, and simmer, continuing to stir often, until crab is hot, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley.

Ladle crab and broth equally into wide bowls.

This recipe yields 4 or 5 servings.

Comments: Once upon a time, Dungeness crab had a season - winter. And in the face of emergency, it became our habit for Christmas Eve supper. With gifts yet to wrap, we stopped at the fish stand north of town seeking a primitive form of HMR (home-meal replacement) just as a big basket of red-shelled Dungeness crab was being hauled out of a deep vat of boiling water. Our menu was clinched, requiring only one more quick stop, at the Italian bakery on Main Street for a loaf of sourdough.

Now, with live tanks for Alaskan crustaceans, Dungeness is available year-round. But its still our Christmas Eve tradition - plain, as cioppino, or warmed up in this steamy, fragrant broth.

For convenience, have the crab cleaned and cracked at the market.

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