Eating whole crab - how to

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When I met Peter, he showed me how to eat whole crab, and I've been hooked ever since. It is the absolute tastiest thing I know! I've realised that I wasn't alone in not knowing how to do it, so here's a tutorial for those who want to try it too.

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You will need

The crab season is in September and October and during this time you go and buy a fresh crab (or half a crab if the crab is large) for those who want to eat, in a well-stocked supermarket. You will also need:

• A large knife and a plastic cutting board
• Varsitt crab stick
• A tool for opening claws (like pliers or nutcrackers)
• A large bowl for shells
• Bread or biscuits and cheese
• Chef's sauce (essential!)
• Possibly additional seafood
• Beer or white wine

How to do this

1. Split the crab

Lay the crab on its back and pull the tail off. Then ask the strongest (!) person in the group to cut the crab in half with a large knife. Once you've split it, see if you were lucky with your crab. Lucky: Moderate and fairly dry crab with lots of roe. Unlucky: Watery crab with no roe.

2. Break the legs

Start by breaking the legs off your half crab and placing them on the side of the plate.

3. Remove the contents from the shell.

Now it's time to loosen the shell and put it away in the bowl for shells. Also remove the gills (the light-coloured tongue-shaped things) and discard them.

4. Collect the meat, rum and butter in a pile.

Now collect all the edible parts, i.e. the meat (the white), the roe (the red) and the butter (the soft light green-brown) in a pile on the plate. Throw away all the small hard pieces (bones and shells). But note! At the end you are left with a large white hard piece of bone. Don't throw it away! There is lots of nice white crab meat inside it. Break it in half slowly and carefully and pick out the meat on the plate with the crab stick.

5. Remove the meat from the bones and claws.

Once you've peeled everything you want to eat from your half crab and discarded the rest, it's time to tackle the legs. Break them apart at each joint and pick out the meat with the crab tool. To get the largest clone apart you may need some sort of tool, not necessarily a polygrip haha, but maybe a pair of pliers or a nutcracker.

6. Mix the pile and savour with the courtmaster sauce.

Hopefully now you have a big lovely pile of crabmeat, rum and butter. Chop everything up and mix it so that it becomes a good mix. Pour over (generously!) with courtmaster sauce and - enjoy!

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