As a kid living by the coast I was lucky enough to be brought up eating crab. Live creatures would arrive at the back door of my grandparents’ house, delivered by friendly fishermen, and I’d give my grandmother a hand cracking them open and removing the brown and white meat to fill simple but delicious sandwiches. Back then, the empty shells went straight in the bin; if I’d known then what I know now about their flavoursome potential I would have thrown them into a pot of stock or crab bisque simmering away on the stove.
At my part-time weekend job at a harbourside pub, crab preparation took place on a much bigger scale: the waitresses and I would deal with a hundred or so of them every afternoon, wearing bin liners over our clothes to protect them and using a large stone from the beach to crack the shells. The meat was destined for crab salads and yet more sandwiches, with a fair bit eaten by us in the process.
Forty-five years later, I still love eating crab and, after trips to London, there’s nothing better than the prospect of jumping off the train back in Dorset and heading straight to my Oyster & Fish House for a supper of whole crab with a crisp glass of Tonnix white wine from the Douro.
This shellfish offers plenty of scope for aromatic broths, pasta dishes and quick-cook dinners – the sort of dishes I’d love to have served up for my grandparents.
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