dressed crab

Dressed Crab

4 medium hen crabs
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Plus lemon wedges

To serve

Mayonnaise
4 hard-boiled eggs
4 teaspoons chopped parsley

  1. Bring a pan of heavily salted water to the boil — about 200g sea salt to each litre of water.
  2. Weigh the crabs and boil for 1 minute per 100g.
  3. Have a bowl of iced water ready, and when you take the pan off the heat, drop the crabs into the iced water to prevent them cooking any more.
  4. Crack and pick the fresh crab meat from the shell, making sure there are no little pieces of shell amongst the meat.
  5. Mix the lemon juice and a tablespoon of mayonnaise into the strained brown meat. Scrub the crab shells and dry thoroughly.
  6. Separate the egg yolks from the whites and grate or chop them finely. Season each with salt and pepper.
  7. Fill the sides of the crab shells with the white meat, leaving a space in the middle for the brown. Where the two meet, sprinkle a line of egg yolk, on one side, and egg white, on the other. Arrange a line of chopped parsley on top of the brown meat in the centre of the crab.
  8. Serve with more fresh mayonnaise and lemon wedges on the side.