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How to Poach & Break Up a Crab

Lots of people baulk at the idea of preparing a whole crab and I know it can seem daunting, but it’s a really satisfying process once you have some guidelines. It’s worth doing as it guarantees the freshest, tastiest crab meat, and it works out cheaper than buying prepacked crab meat. Britain’s cold coasts produce some of the best crab in the world, but most of it is sold to Europe, where they seem to really understand its value. It’s high time Brits got in on the action and started appreciating what’s on our doorstep!

Preparing a crab starts with a trip to the fishmonger (something I always advocate), as that’s the only way to ensure that you are buying the freshest crab. When choosing your crab, make sure it feels heavy and dense, that it smells fresh and is relatively active. Crabs are best cooked immediately after they’re dead, so ask your fishmonger to dispatch it for you and cook it as soon as you get home (within two hours). Don’t ever buy a dead raw crab as you won’t know how long it has been hanging around, and that is not a risk worth taking!

SERVES 4

Preparation time 45 minutes

Cooking time 30 minutes

2 large 1.5kg cock crabs, freshly killed (ask your fishmonger to do this for you)

For the bouillon

2 onions, sliced

2 fennel bulbs, sliced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

3 bay leaves

small bunch of parsley

splash of white wine or white wine or cider vinegar

50g salt

1 tbsp black peppercorns

Check that your stock pot is big enough to hold the crabs, then place the bouillon ingredients in it, along with enough water to cover. Bring to the boil and cook the bouillon for 10–15 minutes.

Place the crabs in the bouillon water and boil for 10–12 minutes, depending on how big they are. Scoop them out and plunge them into iced water to cool quickly, but don’t leave for more than 2–3 minutes as you don’t want the meat to become saturated. Allow to cool and put in the fridge as soon as you can if not preparing immediately.

To prepare the crabs, set out one bowl for white meat and one bowl for brown meat. Remove the claws and smash them with the back of a cook’s knife (not the sharp side or it will blunt it). Try to break them with one sharp blow, to prevent the shell shattering into tiny pieces. Remove the meat from inside the claws and put into the bowl reserved for the white meat. It should pull away relatively easily but be careful to leave any shell pieces behind. Discard the cartilage from the middle of the claws. Next twist off the legs. With a lobster pick, skewer or the end of a teaspoon, carefully pull the white meat out of the legs. In my opinion it’s only worth bothering with the larger section of each leg.

To remove the meat from the main body of the crab, lay it on a surface with the underside facing you. Use the palm of your hand to push down on the shell and put your fingers into the gap where the body meets the shell around the mouth. Pull quite firmly and it should come apart in one piece. Pull away the feathery gills (grimly known as dead man’s fingers) around the sides of the body and the shell. Use a spoon to scoop out all the brown meat from the crevices of the shell into the second bowl.

Cut the degilled body in half using a sharp knife. Using your implement of choice, carefully pick out all the meat from the crevices into the white meat bowl. I find this an exceedingly satisfying task; if you take your time you will be surprised how much meat you find. Finally, go through the bowl to check for any stray pieces of shell.