Amazon

Friday 23 October 2009

I've got crabs... help me!

Well crabs on my mind at any rate. I recall that my dear long departed Dad liked boiled crab meat and was quite skilled in tearing a crab apart to extract the meat. This isn't something that has been passed down through the family genes so when I saw some boiled crabs on display in the Victoria Centre Market today I began to wonder how I would go about taking a crab apart in order to extract the best of the white and brown crab meat. Does anyone know the best way to tackle such a project?



boiled crabs

4 comments:

Karenjane said...

Oh yummy - I adore crabs, & half the fun is getting all the meat from the shells. Fiddly but very messy. I pull off all the claws then pull off the flap thingy underneath, break open the shell, remove those weird Dead Men's Fingers (not supposed to be poisonous, but I'm not brave enough to chance it)& also the stomach sac near the mouth,and..., well, it's probably easier if you can follow the instructions on this link, if it works:

http://www.martins-seafresh.co.uk/Crabs.htm

My trouble is, I always have regular tastings as I'm bashing the claws to remove the meat, so there often isn't quite as much left as I'd expect! Have fun if you do get one.

French Fancy... said...

I tried to do it once and ended up flinging the whole thing into the bin. Dressed is the way to go.

Karenjane said...

One advantage of shelling the crab yourself is that you can use all the shells to make a delicious fish stock, by simmmering for 30 mins or so along with a bit of celery, onion, garlic & a few herbs - white wine also helps the flavour.

Phil Lowe said...

Karen, you make it sound so easy. must check out your link and give it a go. Stock too! Wow. i'm coming round to yours ffor dinner!

French Fancy: what're you saying? I would never approach a crab with no clothes on!