GET THIS:Lobsters might get all the attention, but their sideways- scuttling relatives crabs deserve some love too, writes Hugo Arnold
FOR MANY, THE ultimate seafood is to be found in a lobster, surely one of the most majestic of sea creatures, or an utter ugly mug, depending on how you look at it. That back-flip tail can pack a punch, and if you see one in action on the seabed, don't blink or you'll miss the action. So it's not surprising really that most of its meat is pure, unadorned one-action muscle. Back flip, back flip and so it goes on until its claws are brought into play. But that's it really with a lobster - claw and leg meat.
Crab, on the other hand, is a rather more deliciously varied beast, and for all his or her (hen crabs are generally favoured for their larger claws) sideways shifting, delivers an altogether more complex duo. In addition to the claw meat, inside the shell of a crab is the most delicious and crab-like brown meat made from the digestive gland and reproductive organs. There are some who shun this treat, but while the colour is at best dull, the eating is superb.
Whichever crustacean you opt for, the real issue is in what bits you buy of each one. While it would be daft to sell a lobster without its tail, which contains more than 70 per cent of the edible meat, the same cannot be said of a crab.
The latter's more complex flavour (certainly in my view) and price (it is considerably below that of lobster) comes with the added advantage or disadvantage of meat extraction. If you are not in a hurry, then a good hour can be spent extracting the meats from the carapace, claws, legs and body. A crab will typically yield a third of its weight in edible meat.
If you are in a hurry, however, the attraction of crab claws may prove too much. But beware, the popularity and greater price-to-effort ratio means the claws are pulled from the crabs at sea and bodies hurled back. This is not right.
A dressed crab, traditionally, has the brown meat spread as a base layer, the white, admittedly more attractive, is spread on top and either left unadorned or mixed with mayonnaise, chopped egg and sometimes parsley and other herbs. I have eaten the brown meat fashioned into "hummous" at J Sheekey's in London, to be eaten with lemon juice and flatbread. Or you can turn the brown meat into a vinaigrette, served beside the white meat with mayonnaise and salad, a suggestion from Myrtle Allen, who has kindly brought the matter of crab-murder to my attention.
We are lucky enough to have some of the best crabs in the world in our waters. They are plentiful, inexpensive and easy to prepare. Ask your fishmonger often enough and he'll start to cook them for you. And the season is at its peak now.
Crabs make the most divine dressing for pasta - the brown and white meat; you can bake them with cheese; dress them with olive oil, herbs and chilli; serve them in a salad; make them into a bisque; fashion into a tart; use them to stuff ravioli; stir fry or wok them with ginger, soy, butter and noodles; and steam them to dress with aromatics such as lemongrass and coriander. Just make sure you buy the whole beast.
While it is humane to drop a crab into boiling salted water (for 20-25 minutes depending on size), they tend to throw off their claws. The killing can be done with a sharp spike inserted in the point under the tail flap and just above the brain. Check out www.fao.org and www.rspca.org.uk for more information.
If all this proves to much, you can buy frozen crab meat but this tends be the white and not the brown meat. Packaged crab meat is often sold pasteurised. This gives it a long shelf life but robs it of most of its flavour.