Dressing a Crab

[Lehaut]

I am the only one in the family that likes crab, which is not a problem as I eat the whole thing (brown crab).  I had one last night, having bought a fresh live one in the morning.  It normally takes me about 40 mins to get all the meat out, I have the special French kit for doing it.  Despite doing it many times, I still seem to take a long time to do it.  Quite fastidious about getting as much meat out from all the small legs and central bony bit, with as few crunchy parts as possible.

How long do other people take out of interest?

[DaveLister]

If I'm in company around the same length of time as you. If I'm on my own it can well over an hour. What is your favourite accompaniments? Mine's thin slices of brown bread and butter and a glass of Gewurztraminer. I recently took a group of friends to Chausey and made the mistake of ordering a fruits de mer whilst everyone else went for the standard menu. Despite having one course to their two I ended up having to leave half the crab so they weren't hanging around for desert.

[Lehaut]

That is good to know I am not being too slow.  My favourite is to mix a hard boiled egg, mayo , salt and pepper into the mix before putting it back into the shell.  And, like you, a couple of slices of home made bread, but without the butter.

I am not sure that I could order it in a restaurant.  For me, the reward of doing all the prep in the afternoon is to sit down for dinner and eat the whole thing in one go!!  Pausing for the occasional sip of white wine a Valancy  vielle vine last night.

 

 

[DaveLister]

I think we've both got a way to go 😀

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la6Wtme9P3I

 

[menthe]

As I live some distance from the sea, I don't think I have seen any live crabs for sale.

Years ago, when we were on holiday in Sri Lanka, we discovered soft-shell crabs.  You could eat these shell and all and they were delicious cooked in a spicy sauce with large quantities of garlic.

Being in the tropics meant it was almost inevitable I'd eat them with a glass of beer (mind you, it was rubbishy beer, maybe they dilute it like they used to do in Indian restos).  Sorry, Indian resto owners, maybe you no longer do this!

Nowadays, I rarely eat in restos.  Beginning to be harder to do as restos get more expensive and the supermarkets and artisan shops sell such wonderful stuff, I itch to buy up everything and experiment with ingredients at home.

[Lehaut]

Menthe I have often wondered if you could eat all the shell, thanks for clearing that up.  No problem with the dead mans fingers?

[Lehaut]

22 hours ago, DaveLister said:

I think we've both got a way to go 😀

Blimey that was indeed quick.  Having eaten shell fish in the USA, I much prefer  cold water shell fish as, to me, they have more taste.  That goes for the fish too.

[menthe]

2 hours ago, Lehaut said:

Menthe I have often wondered if you could eat all the shell, thanks for clearing that up.  No problem with the dead mans fingers?

No, Lehaut, you eat it all.  But they must be "soft shell crabs" on the menu.  I am not sure whether they are a special type of crab or simply crabs in the process of shedding their shells and are therefore sort of soft and vulnerable.

Now I don't feel so hungry thinking of eating helpless babies but anyway, as I don't do long flights these days, my chances of infant-eating are practically completely over.

[DaveLister]

24 minutes ago, menthe said:

I am not sure whether they are a special type of crab or simply crabs in the process of shedding their shells and are therefore sort of soft and vulnerable.

According to Wiki it's the latter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft-shell_crab

Apparently there are versions of the dish in parts of Spain and Italy if you fancied trying them a little closer to home.

[menthe]

DL, I don't really want to eat them anymore.