Crab

Serves 2

• 1 Large Crab

Method

It is a risky business to buy a precooked crab (and frozen crabmeat is out of the question), so buy live ones and cook them yourself. If possible, they should be cooked in seawater with a couple of tablespoons of extra salt added. So, simply pop your live crabs into cold salted water and bring to the boil. Immediately reduce the heat and gently simmer for 10 minutes. Then switch off the heat and leave the crabs in the water until cool.

To open the crab, first twist off the claws and legs. Then separate the body from the shell. Remember that as well as the brown and white meat in the body, you will discover a considerable amount of delicious flesh in the compartmentalised chine. The inedible parts of a crab are the lungs and the sac, which should be discarded. Crack the claws to remove the meat. Use the cleaned shell as a dish for the crabmeat.

Simple fresh crab served this way, with salad, lemon juice and a good mayonnaise is superb. I don't think that hot crab dishes with cheese sauces, etc., are really worth the trouble. If you ever come across spider crabs, snap them up. Cook them the same way, but only eat the claws, which are full of succulent meat, and use an aioli instead of mayonnaise.