Fresh crab needs only good mayo and great bread to become a sumptuous feast. Cook your own crab for the tastiest meat, or buy a very fresh ready-cooked crab from a good fishmonger.
Serves 2
1 large brown cock crab (800g–1kg)
2 generous slices of brown bread
Butter for spreading
Lemon juice
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the mayonnaise
½ small garlic clove
2 large egg yolks
½ teaspoon English mustard
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
About 250ml light olive oil, or 100ml extra virgin olive oil blended with 150ml sunflower oil
For the mayonnaise, crush the garlic with a good pinch of salt. Mix with the egg yolks, mustard, wine vinegar and some pepper in a bowl. Whisk in the oil, a few drops at a time to start with, then in small dashes. Stop when you have a glossy, wobbly mayo. Taste for seasoning, adding salt, pepper and vinegar as needed. Chill.
Bring a large pan of well-salted water (about 10g salt per litre) to the boil ready to cook your crab. First, to kill it, lay it on its back and lift the tail flap to reveal a cone-shaped indentation in the shell. Drive a sharp spike (an awl or small pointed screwdriver) into this and twist a couple of times to sever tissues in the ventral nerve centre. Then immediately drive the spike into the crab’s head, through the mouth, between and below the eyes, and lever it back and forth a few times to destroy the nerve tissues here. Lower the crab into the boiling water. When it returns to the boil, cook for 10–12 minutes. For crabs over 1kg, add 3–4 minutes for every extra 500g. Take the crab out of the pan and leave to cool.
To pick the meat from your crab, first twist off the legs and claws. Then open up the body by pulling the undercarriage (body) away from the hard-topped carapace. From the carapace, discard the spiny, plastic-looking mandibles behind the eyes and around the mouthparts. Also discard the small, yellow–white papery stomach sac attached to them. What remains is the rich, brown meat – some of it firm and some very soft and creamy. Dig right into the edges of the carapace with a teaspoon to get it out. It’s all good.
From the body, discard the grey feathery gills or ‘dead man’s fingers’. Break off the legs. Cut the body in half down the middle and pick out the white meat, getting into every recess – use the handle of a teaspoon or a tailor-made crab pick. Lightly crack the legs and claws using a wooden spoon or a small mallet. Pull the shell carefully away and retrieve every last scrap of white meat.
Lightly toast the bread if you like. Butter it and spread with the soft brown meat, then top with flakes of white meat. Season with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon, then serve with the mayo.