Buying crab
Dealing with a live crab (crayfish and lobster)
Dressing and picking cooked crab
Fish Store Dressed Crab
Brown Crab Mayonnaise
Crab Claws with Aioli
Crab Bruschetta
Crab Bisque
Crab and Cucumber Linguine
Betty’s Crab Jambalaya
Crab Tart with Leeks and Saffron
Cantonese Crab with Ginger and Spring Onions
Thai-style Crab Cakes with Cucumber Relish
Lobster (or Crayfish) with Mayonnaise
Fresh crab is everyone’s favourite food at the Fish Store. We eat so much of it that the preparation sometimes seems like a conveyor belt of boiling, cooling, cracking, picking and eating. It’s not uncommon for the big double butler’s sink to be full of crabs either awaiting their fate or draining afterwards. Most of the time, crab gets eaten cold with no embellishment, the creamy brown meat seasoned with a little vinegar and the silky white meat providing a blissful contrast of taste and texture. It might be made into sandwiches, but usually it’s eaten with brown bread and butter and some salad or other. There are only a handful of deviations from this joyous combination, but they are all Fish Store diehards. For a special occasion, there might be an attempt at a plateau de fruits de mer, with winkles, oysters, mussels, shrimps and sea urchins, piled over seaweed and crowned by a crab or two. The only rule then is to work from the smallest winkles up to the crab, which is the pièce de résistance. With this there would be French bread and butter and a shallot vinegar made by mixing together a finely chopped shallot with about three tablespoons each of red wine and red wine vinegar.
Crayfish – or ‘cray’ as it’s called at the Fish Store – and lobster are reserved for high days and holidays, not just because they are so expensive but because everyone prefers crab. When we do have one or the other, they are always bought raw, boiled and served lukewarm or cold. They are rarely turned into a thermidor or another fancy restaurant dish. Hot new potatoes or potato salad with home-made mayonnaise and a crisp green salad are the usual accompaniments. The shells, however, will be saved – sometimes frozen – to add to a fish stock or to be boiled up for bisque.
Crab is available in Newlyn at any time of the year, but the best time to buy it is in the autumn, from September to Christmas. Crabs come inshore to breed in spring and become scarce during July, when they burrow under the rocks and get busy. Although everyone wants to eat crab at the height of the summer, this isn’t a great time to buy hen crabs because they will be full of eggs or roe, commonly called coral, which looks like dark red wax. It is stunning the first time you see it, but, although edible, I find it boringly waxy to eat. It can be turned into coral butter, but I don’t like it enough to bother. In August and September the crabs ‘march’, so that’s the best time to catch them. Knobbly, long-legged spider crabs have a slightly later season, between January and May.
No one knows how long crabs live – probably twenty to thirty years – and they’re very slow-growing. They cast their shell every year, to be replaced by a bigger one, giving themselves a sort of annual facelift. Spider crabs do it twice. Never buy a brown crab with a pale, soft shell. This means it has just cast its shell and it will be sloshing around with water instead of meat.
The best advice when buying live or boiled whole crab is to choose one that feels proportionately heavy for its size, with a dark, hard shell. This shows the crab hasn’t moulted recently, as do signs of wear and tear on the shell, a missing leg and the odd barnacle. Chose a feisty, lively crab which is waving its antennae and looking for a fight rather than a sleepy, docile one which seems resigned to its fate.
On average, the yield of meat from a crab will be one-third of its whole weight and about two-thirds of that will be brown meat. Male crabs – cocks – have larger claws than the female – hen – and as it’s the claws and legs that contain most of the white meat, males are generally thought to be the best buy. The sex of a crab is determined by its tail, which is curled up under the body. The female is broad and round, while the male is narrow and pointed.
Spider crabs have a relatively small, knobbly body and long, long legs. Weight for weight, they’re never as good value as the common edible brown crab because there’s not much meat in the body and most of it is brown. They are prized for their legs and claws – known as quiddle claws locally – with their silky, sweet meat.
Although crabs are traditionally caught in pots, they often get tangled up in fishing nets. Frequently when the nets are hauled in, brown crabs and spider crabs will have gripped their claws into the monofilament nets and the only solution for the fisherman is to snap them off and throw the body back into the sea. This results in buckets full of raw claws, which, inevitably, many people prefer to the whole crab. They only need about 10 minutes in boiling salted water.
It is always best to buy crabs live. They should be cooked as soon as possible, but if necessary live crabs can be kept, covered with a damp tea towel, in the bottom of the fridge for a couple of days, provided they were lively when you bought them. Keep an eye on them, though, and if they die, cook them immediately because crabmeat deteriorates extremely fast once the crustacean is dead. There is much debate about the most humane way of killing a crab. The Fish Store way is to drop them into a very big pan of vigorously boiling, generously salted water. We keep one saucepan with big lugs and a close-fitting lid specially for the job. It’s one of Betty’s original Fish Store pans and must have been responsible for cooking thousands of crabs over the years since 1939. It’s important to cook crab in plenty of water so that the time taken to come back to the boil once the crab has gone in is minimized. The cooking time starts from the moment the water returns to the boil.
A good-sized crab weighs an average 1–1.5kg and we boil them for 20 minutes in approximately 5 litres of water with 5 tablespoons of salt. For smaller crabs, up to 900g, allow 15 minutes.
Live crayfish and lobsters are always sold with wide rubber bands round their claws, otherwise they attack each other. We cook them in exactly the same way as crab, plunging them into a big pan of heavily salted boiling water, allowing 20 minutes unless they are very small or very big. A 750g lobster is a good, generous size for two people. Crayfish are generally landed slightly larger.
When you buy dressed crab, the white and brown meat is usually neatly laid out, often divided by a sprig of parsley or slice of lemon, in the crab shell. Occasionally the white meat might be laid out in a wide strip between the brown meat on either side. Shops and restaurants often tidy the shell first, washing it out and then cracking along an obvious line that runs round the edge, to make a neat, open finish. It will seem very expensive for what you get, even at the height of the season, and that’s because picking crab is a tedious and laborious job. These days, the work is done by an imported Polish work-force, often students, happy to earn the minimum wage for work that no one local wants to do. The white meat will have been carefully picked from the body cavities and the spindly legs, ensuring that none of the thin bony cavity shell gets in among the silky strands of white meat. The silkiest white meat is in the legs and the joints of the claws closest to the body.
It is good fun, though, if you are going to eat the crab yourself, to do the initial preparations and then pick as you eat at the table. This is how we usually eat freshly boiled crab laying the cracked legs and claws out on a platter along with the halved or quartered body. The brown meat is mixed with the picked white meat from the body cavities, then seasoned and served separately in a bowl. Everyone digs in, theoretically starting with the legs, slathering the brown meat on to buttered brown bread, graduating to the work-intensive body, with the occasional reward of a claw. Some people add freshly made brown breadcrumbs to the brown meat to make it go further, and finely chopped hard-boiled egg white to the white meat. Cooked and picked crab will keep, covered, for a couple of days in the fridge but soon starts to dry out and lose its fresh flavour. You will know if it is off by the smell.
2 decent-sized crabs, approximately 1.5kg each, is about right for 4 people
Boil the crab as described above. Leave to drain and cool in the sink and then transfer to several sheets of newspaper. Place the crab on its back and, using your fingers, twist the claws from the body. Twist off the bony, tail flap and discard. Prise the body from the main shell by pressing hard with the full weight of your thumb opposite the eyes where the carcass obviously dovetails into the shell. Remove the stomach bag and the grey, crêpey ‘dead man’s fingers’. Remove the legs and cut the body in two. Cut each half in two again, cutting across to expose the meat in the leg chambers. Scrape the firm creamy meat round the edge of the shell and then the brown meat and slush in the middle into a small bowl. This is extremely rich and tasty and might be a bit watery. If so, drain off or into the stockpot. Season with a little salt and pepper and a splash of wine vinegar or lemon juice – not too much, just enough to season the meat – and stir thoroughly. Pick the white meat from the body cavities and stir it into the seasoned brown meat. Crack the claws and legs slightly – we use a small wooden mallet, but special claw-crackers are available from any cookshop – taking care not to crush the meat inside. Arrange on a platter and serve the brown meat separately. If special crab picks aren’t available, the white meat can then be picked with the pointed end of a teaspoon. All you need with this is brown bread and butter, salt and pepper, and a cucumber and lettuce salad.
To make a crab sandwich, butter brown bread generously, spread thickly with brown crabmeat and pile the white on top. Season with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. If liked, add very thin slices of cucumber and lettuce or cress.
This is a delicious way of making brown crabmeat less rich and more palatable to more people. Serve it on or with toast, perhaps with pickled cucumber (see page 323), or in curls of lettuce with a chopped parsley garnish. This is great with drinks.
6 tbsp brown crabmeat (approx.)
salt and pepper
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp tomato ketchup
2 tsp English mustard
2 tbsp mayonnaise
Place the crabmeat in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix in the lemon juice, ketchup and mustard, breaking up any lumps of creamy white meat or roe with a wooden spoon. Use a fork to whisk in the mayonnaise. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Chill before serving.
Serve the claws on a platter with the bowl of aïoli in the middle, a pile of crusty toast and a few lemon wedges to squeeze over the claws. If the claws are raw, drop them into a big pan of generously salted boiling water. Boil for 10 minutes. Drain and cool before cracking.
For the aioli:
6 garlic cloves
salt and pepper
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp smooth Dijon mustard
300ml olive oil plus a little extra
lemon juice
12 crab claws
3 lemons
First make the aioli. Ensure all ingredients are at room temperature. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Sprinkle with a little salt and use the flat of a knife to work the garlic to a smooth, juicy paste. Place the egg yolks, mustard and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Beat with a whisk until thick. Stir in the garlic paste and add the oil in a thin stream, beating continuously, adding a little lemon juice and then more oil until all is used up and the mayonnaise is thick and glossy.
Crack the crab claws lightly without crushing the meat, so that the meat is easy to extract. Pile the claws on to a platter. Plant the aioli in the middle. Decorate with lemon wedges.
So moreish and great with chilled white wine on a hot summer evening.
approx. 200g dressed crab, preferably with some chunky white meat
1 tbsp lemon juice
6 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander
Maldon salt and black pepper
4 slices sourdough bread
1 big garlic clove
Trim and split the chilli. Scrape away the seeds, slice into skinny strips and then into tiny pieces. Stir the chilli into the crab. Add half the lemon juice and stir in 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a steady trickle. Stir in the coriander, season lavishly with black pepper and lightly with salt. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more lemon juice. Toast the bread, rub one side vigorously with peeled garlic and dribble with the remaining olive oil. Spread the bruschetta with crab. Cut the slices into quarters and serve.
The thing about crab bisque is that in order to be authentic it must be flavoured by the shell as well as the meat from the crab. It’s an incredibly rich soup made with brandy, white wine and cream, and a little goes along way. It can be made with live or boiled crab and it can be a thick, smooth soup or a thinner soup with chunks of white crabmeat floating around in it. At the Fish Store a crab bisque is usually created after several crabs have been boiled in the same water and the picked carcasses, legs and shells go back in the pot. This stock is then built up with other fish carcasses, so that the soup is virtually made before the real cooking begins. The danger with this continual stockpot, particularly in hot weather, is that if the pan isn’t constantly monitored – i.e. sieved, boiled, cooled and refrigerated – the stock goes off. Ben, please note.
This recipe starts from scratch with live crabs but can be modified with boiled crab.
2 live crabs, approx. 900g each
1 small onion
1 stick celery
1 trimmed leek
50g butter
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
2 tbsp cognac, brandy or whisky
4 ripe tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato purée
50g white rice
1 glass dry white wine
1.75 litres fresh fish stock
2 tbsp thick cream
cayenne pepper
squeeze of lemon juice
Drop the crabs into a large pan of generously salted boiling water. Boil for 15 minutes. Lift the crabs out of the water, set aside to drain and cool slightly. Twist the legs and claws from the crab, joint and crack them. Discard the tail and remove the body from the shell of the crab. Cut the body into four pieces. Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the onion. Trim, scrape and finely chop the carrot. Finely chop the celery and slice the leek. Melt the butter in a spacious, heavy-bottomed pan and stir in the prepared vegetables and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper, cover the pan and leave to soften, stirring occasionally, without browning for about 10 minutes. Scrape the brown meat out of the shell and into the vegetable mixture, and stir the body pieces, legs and claws into the pan. Put the shell between several layers of newspaper and smash with a wooden rolling pin. Stir the shell into the vegetables. Add the brandy. Allow to boil away. Chop the tomatoes coarsely and add to the pan with the tomato purée, rice, white wine and stock. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat, partially cover the pan and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove the tough claws and large pieces of shell from the pan and pulse the rest in 3–4 batches in a food processor or pass through a mouli. The idea is to loosen any crabmeat clinging to the shell, particularly in the body section, rather than pulverize the shell itself. Strain the soup through a fine sieve, pressing down to extract as much juice and crabmeat as possible and scraping under the sieve so that nothing is wasted. Discard the debris. Pass the soup through the sieve a second time into a clean pan. Bring to the boil, add the cream, then adjust the seasoning with cayenne pepper, lemon juice, salt and black pepper.
The firm texture and thin, flat strands of linguine give exactly the right level of resistance to the bite against silky and creamy crabmeat and thin slices of peeled cucumber which wilt against its heat. Serve this lovely summer pasta supper with a glass of chilled white wine. It is rich and luscious; do not be tempted to serve it with Parmesan or any other grated cheese.
2 live male crabs, approx. 1.5kg each, or 250g white and 200g brown crabmeat plus 6 large claws
1 tsp dried red chilli flakes or 2 fresh red chillies
1 small or ½ large cucumber
juice of 2 large lemons
2 tbsp coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper
6–8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
400g linguine
Cook the crabs in a big pan of generously salted boiling water for 20 minutes. Drain in the sink and allow to cool. Remove the brown meat from the shell into a large bowl. Crack the legs and pick the meat directly into the bowl. Scrape the meat off the flat central ‘bone’ of the claws, leaving it in big chunks, adding it to the brown. Cut the body into four pieces and pick out the white meat. Add that to the bowl. Meanwhile, place the chilli flakes in an eggcup, just cover with boiling water and leave for a few minutes until soft. If using fresh chillies, trim and split them, scraping away the seeds. Slice into skinny strips and then into tiny dice. Use a potato peeler to remove the skin from the cucumber. Split it in half lengthways and use a teaspoon to scrape out the seeds and their watery pulp. Thinly slice the cucumber into half-moons. Mix together the drained chilli, dressed crab, juice from 1½ lemons and chopped parsley. Season lightly with salt and generously with pepper. Slowly stir in 4 tablespoons of olive oil to make a thick but slack mixture.
Put a large pan of water on to boil. Cook the pasta until al dente, then drain and return to the saucepan. Stir the cucumber and 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the drained pasta, stirring to mix thoroughly and encouraging the cucumber to wilt slightly. Now add the crab mixture, adding more lemon juice or oil to taste. Stir thoroughly before serving.
Jambalaya is a spicy rice dish from Louisiana and this crab version won my mother-in-law a fiver in the fifties in a Daily Telegraph cookery competition. Betty would almost certainly have used the crab cooking water as the basis for a stock in which to cook the rice, but if you are making this with shop-bought dressed crab, a decent chicken stock works out all right. Serve the jambalaya risotto-style; I quite like green beans on the side.
2 live male crabs, approx. 1.5kg each, plus a few extra claws, or 250g white and 200g brown crabmeat plus 6 large claws
salt and black pepper
2 red onions, approx. 250g
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp vegetable cooking oil
2 red peppers
1 bay leaf
3 dried chillies
250g basmati rice
400g fresh tomatoes or 400g can tomatoes
600ml chicken or fish stock (cubes are fine) or jar of Mediterranean fish soup
1 small lemon
Tabasco and parsley to serve
Boil the crabs in plenty of generously salted and vigorously boiling water for 20 minutes. If the claws are raw, add them to the pan for 10 minutes. Drain, cool and pick the meat as described above, leaving the claw meat in big chunks. Keep the brown meat separate from the white.
Meanwhile, peel and dice the onions and garlic. Heat the oil in large frying pan or similarly wide-based pan and stir in the onions and garlic. Cook gently for 5 minutes or so while you dice the peppers, discarding seeds, white filaments and stalk. Stir the pepper into the onions, together with the bay leaf and chillies, cooking for about 15 minutes until the onion is soft and slippery, the pepper partially softened and the chillies crumbled.
Meanwhile, rinse the rice in several changes of water. If using fresh tomatoes, place them in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Count to 20, drain, remove the skins, cut out the core and coarsely chop them. Stir the rice into the vegetables, then add the brown crabmeat. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add the tomatoes and their juices, ½ teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper. Add the stock, bring the liquid to the boil, stir, reduce the heat, cover the pan and cook for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the pan without removing the lid – the rice will finish cooking in the steam – for 10 minutes. Stir in the white crabmeat and the extra claw meat. Taste the juices, adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and lemon juice, adding a shake or two of Tabasco if it isn’t hot enough. Stir in the parsley and serve.
A slice of this creamy crab tart with its saffron back flavour and muddle of soft slippery leeks is perfect for any occasion. I have served it hot as a main course with new potatoes and peas, and cold as a starter with a cucumber salad. Using yoghurt rather than water in the pastry gives it a springy texture which works wonderfully well with the soft voluptuousness of the crab filling in this rich and interesting tart. It will keep, covered in the fridge, for a couple of days but bring it back to room temperature before eating.
200g flour plus a little extra
125g butter plus a little extra
2–3 tbsp natural yoghurt or water
2 trimmed leeks, 350g in total
pinch of saffron stamens
salt and pepper
3 large eggs
200g thick cream or crème fraîche
2 tsp smooth Dijon mustard
350g brown and white crabmeat
100g Gruyère cheese
Pre-heat the oven to 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Add 100g of the butter in chunks and rub into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add 2 tablespoons, possibly 3, of yoghurt or water, quickly work into the flour mixture and form it into a soft ball. Rest for 30 minutes. Rub butter round the inside of a 23cm flan tin with a removable base and dust with flour, rolling the tin round in your hands to completely cover. Tip out any excess flour. This, incidentally, makes it non-stick. Roll out the pastry to fit, pressing down gently into the base edges and trimming with a bit of an overhang to allow for shrinkage. Cover loosely with foil, fill with baking beans or rice and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for a further 5 minutes to firm and lightly brown the pastry. Meanwhile, prepare the leeks. Trim and split them lengthways and slice across to make half-moons. Rinse thoroughly and shake dry. Melt the remaining 25g butter in a spacious frying pan or similarly wide-based pan. Stir in the leeks, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until juicy and wilted. Stir in the saffron, season with salt and pepper and cook uncovered for a few minutes to drive off the liquid. Set aside to cool. Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl, stir in the cream and mustard and then the crab, breaking up any big pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Stir the cooled leeks into the egg mixture. Using the small hole of the cheese grater (this is an ideal occasion for a Microplane grater), grate two-thirds of the cheese across the base of the pastry case. Place the case on a baking sheet. Spoon the crab mixture into the pastry case; it should fit exactly, going right up to the top but without danger of spillage. Grate the remaining cheese over the top. Cook in the oven for 35 minutes or until the top is golden and billowing and feels firm but springy. Cool for 10 minutes before removing the collar. Serve hot, warm or cold.
This is a hands-on greed-fest. Yum.
4 garlic cloves
50g fresh ginger
6 spring onions
2 cooked crabs, approx. 1.5kg each
2 tbsp groundnut oil
3 tbsp Kikkoman soy sauce
2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
250ml chicken stock (cube is fine)
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
Peel and finely slice the garlic in rounds. Peel the ginger and slice into thin matchsticks. Trim the spring onions and slice in long chunks, on the slant, including all the green unless obviously tough. Twist the claws and legs off the main body of the crabs. Crack the shell lightly without crushing the crabmeat. Remove the body from the shell (see above, pages 138–9, for more details). Use a cleaver or heavy chef’s knife to cut the body into four pieces. Heat a wok over a high heat. Add the groundnut oil, swirl it round the wok and when it is very hot and slightly smoking, toss in the garlic, ginger and spring onions and stir-fry for 20 seconds. Add the brown crabmeat, soy sauce, rice wine or sherry and chicken stock. Stir thoroughly, letting everything bubble up together and then add the crab pieces. Stir-fry over a high heat for about 5 minutes, letting all the pieces get coated in garlic, ginger, spring onion and the soy/brown meat/stock sauce. Turn on to a large, warmed platter, dribble with the sesame oil and serve with finger bowls and paper napkins.
Despite its delicate flavour, crab goes extremely well with chilli and coriander and other South-east Asian flavourings. This mixture of flavours makes delicious little crab fishcakes to eat with thin slices of cucumber seasoned with salty, sour Thai fish sauce and a green salad made with rocket, avocado, spring onions and coriander.
1 large or 3 small red chillies
4 spring onions
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 large bunch of coriander
2 heaped tbsp mayonnaise (bought is fine)
450g crabmeat, brown and white mixed
4 tsp Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
100g breadcrumbs made from stale bread
flour for dusting
1 small cucumber
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
½ tsp sugar
sweet chilli dipping sauce and lemon or lime wedges to serve
oil for frying
Trim the chillies, split, scrape away the seeds, slice into skinny batons and then into tiny dice. Trim and finely slice the spring onions. Cut the central vein from the lime leaves, roll together and slice very finely and then into tiny scraps. Finely chop the coriander, discarding any roots and stalk ends, and reserve some to use as a garnish. Transfer chilli, spring onions, lime leaves and coriander to a mixing bowl. Add the mayonnaise, crabmeat and 1 teaspoon of fish sauce and stir together. Add the breadcrumbs and stir again thoroughly. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and chill for at least an hour to encourage the mixture to firm up. Dust a work surface with flour and, working quickly, take tablespoons of the mixture and form into cakes-cum-patties, patting the tops and sides to flatten, transferring to a plate as you go. You will end up with 12–15 pieces. Cover with clingfilm and chill the crab cakes until required.
Meanwhile, make the cucumber relish. Peel the cucumber, split lengthways and use a teaspoon to scrape out the seeds and their pulp. Thinly slice in half-moons. Pour the remaining fish sauce and lime juice into a bowl, stir in the sugar to dissolve and then stir in the cucumber. Chill until ready to serve. When you are ready to serve, stir the reserved coriander into the cucumber relish.
Fry the crab cakes briefly in batches in shallow hot oil, just long enough to make a thin, golden crust. Lift carefully from the pan and serve with a lime or lemon wedge.
Although there are plenty of lobster pots in the sea around the rocks in Mousehole and Lamorna, most of what is caught goes to restaurants or is sent abroad, live, in special water-tank lorries, where it fetches such a high price that no one can afford to eat lobsters or crayfish down here. Lots of people bait a pot or two during the season, usually for crab, but daily disappointment is usual when the bait is changed. In any case, unless the boat is licensed and the owner has a permit, fishing laws prevent the sale of these valuable crustaceans; the catch is for private consumption only.
Lobster and crayfish always remind me of a giant prawn with a hard carapace and big pincer claws. They are far easier to eat than crab because most of the dense, rich meat is in the tail, although the body section and where the legs join the body hold a surprisingly large amount. We don’t eat lobster or crayfish that often at the Fish Store and it’s rare these days (unlike when Ben was a boy) for a gift of one to turn up on the doorstep.
For a special treat, it’s hard to beat this simple way of eating lobster with freshly made mayonnaise, a few hot new potatoes tossed in butter and a salad of mixed leaves or thinly sliced cucumber seasoned with vinegar. I would always try to coordinate things so that the lobster is at room temperature rather than chilled. To make a lobster supper for four people, you will need two lobsters. Either cook the lobsters one after the other or use a larger pan, more water and more salt and bring the water back to the boil after the first lobster has been immersed before plunging the second one into the pan.
4 litres water
4 tbsp salt
1 live lobster or crayfish, weighing approx. 750g
1 quantity mayonnaise (see page 170)
Bring the water to the boil in a large pan and add the salt. When the water is boiling vigorously, plunge the lobster into the water, tail first. Boil for 20 minutes, timed from when the water returns to the boil. Drain and leave to cool.
To cut the lobster in half, drive a large, heavy knife through the head and in between the eyes down the main body section, lengthways. Lever the knife in your hand, moving the blade down the body towards the tail, cutting down the tail to split it in half. Discard the black intestinal tract which runs along the back and remove the stomach sac behind the mouth. Cut the rubber band binding the claws. Crack each section of the claws with a short, sharp tap and do the rest of the cracking and picking at the table with the help of lobster crackers and a lobster pick, or improvise with a mallet or rolling pin and fork or teaspoon.