I suspect most crabs are bought on a whim. Both of the guys ahead of me at the fishmonger's buy one almost as an afterthought: "Oh yes, and I'll have a crab, too." I can't help wondering what sort of a welcome their splendid rust and cream crustacean will receive when they slap it on the kitchen table, bearing in mind the ensuing mess of shell shrapnel, juice, hairy claws and "dead men's fingers" that go hand in hand with such a gift.
In my experience – and I spend a disproportionate amount of my life queuing in food shops – whole cooked crabs are bought by more men than women. I wonder if it is the battle ahead they relish – the cracking of claws and dismantling of limbs. There is something heroic about going through all that work for such a small amount of sweet, ozone-scented flesh. Even a cooked crab puts up a bit of a fight.
A dressed crab might appeal if you don't have most of Saturday morning to spend winkling flesh out of claws with a knitting needle. You learn to buy ready-prepared shellfish from a supplier you trust – one who puts in both white and brown meat and doesn't make the shell look more generously endowed than it is.
Of all the crab recipes, my most used is the one where you extract the flesh from the shell, mix it with a keen squirt of lemon juice and spread it on to hot buttered toast. I might have sprinkled the tiniest dusting of ground mace across the toast, or stirred in a quivering dollop of mayonnaise, but that is all the embellishment the crabmeat gets. Hardly a recipe, but the best use of all for seriously good crab. Then comes soup, which I tend to do with yogurt and grated cucumber for a summer's lunch, crab and cucumber being one of early summer's perfect partnerships. If I am in the mood for the inherent richness I will mix the white and brown flesh with cream and mustard, top it with Parmesan and brown it under a hot grill. It might get a shake of Tabasco as well. That, too, is stonkingly good on wholemeal toast.
This week I made a rocket sauce with vinegar and oil, a bit like a pesto, then served it in a green moat around a pile of freshly picked white crab flesh. Stuff a handful of each in the food processor and whizz in enough oil to make a thinnish sauce. Sharpen it up with white-wine vinegar or a squeeze of lemon juice. The faint bitterness of the dressing that comes from the rocket leaves is just what the sweet white crabmeat needs.
I trust the sign that says my fishmonger's crabs were alive at seven o'clock in the morning, especially as it is only nine now. Shellfish still warm from the boiler has a smell that makes you think of sun and sea wherever you happen to be. The white meat particularly enjoys the company of bright citrus dressings, which is why I always grate a little lime zest into my crabcakes. I also make a salad dressing that relies on lime juice to balance the richness of the crab. At first taste the dressing appears too sharp, as if the ratio of juice to oil is reversed, but then as the dressing and seafood remain together, the bite mellows slightly. You can always add more sugar if it doesn't work for you.
And of these guys who come home with a scary-looking crustacean under their arm, I wonder who will be eating the brown meat and who won't touch it. I find the dark meat good for providing an earthy, savoury base for soups and fishcakes, and for giving body to soups, while the white is more exquisite and gentle – a top note to the brown meat's back note. Both get my vote.
Crab and cucumber salad
A bracing, citrus-based dressing to contrast the richness of the crabmeat. Sweeten it to taste with palm sugar. Serves 2.
For the dressing:
3 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp dark soy sauce
a large lump ginger to give 2 tsp grated ginger
1 clove garlic
2 tsp palm sugar
For the salad:
half a cucumber
4 handfuls of salad leaves (rocket, sweet lettuce, beet leaves etc)
4 heaped tbsp brown crabmeat
6 tbsp white crabmeat
Directions
Make the dressing: put the lime and lemon juices into a small bowl and stir in the soy. Peel the ginger and grate it finely into the juices. I do this with a fine grater blade so that it is more like purée than gratings. Peel and crush the garlic, add to the dressing then stir in the sugar until it dissolves. Taste and sweeten further if desired. It should be pungent, bracingly sharp and refreshing.
Peel the cucumber, cut in half and scrape out and discard the seeds. Cut the flesh into thick matchsticks and leave them to marinate in the dressing for 10 minutes or so.
Trim the salad leaves, wash them and dry them in a salad spinner. Toss them well with a teaspoon or two of the dressing. Divide between two bowls or plates. Add the crabmeats, the cucumber and dressing, and toss gently – just enough to coat the crab with the dressing. Divide between the salad leaves and serve.
Chilled crab soup
Crab soup is often a Saturday lunch dish in our house, together with rounds of hot Brown toast. Sometimes I prefer a cold version, its richness nicely balanced with yogUrt and the cooling notes of cucumber. Serves 4.
1 large cucumber
1 tsp sea salt
1 small clove garlic
500ml natural yogurt
1 small red chilli
1 tbsp wine vinegar
a small bunch of mint (to give about 4 tbsp chopped leaves)
100ml single cream
a few sprigs of parsley
8 heaped tbsp white and brown crabmeat
Directions
Peel the cucumber, halve it, scrape out the seeds with a teaspoon then chop into very small dice. Tip the cucumber into a colander, sprinkle liberally with a teaspoonful of salt, toss gently then leave in the sink for a good half hour.
Peel and very finely crush the garlic and add to the yogurt. Seed and very finely chop the chilli then mix into the yogurt with the vinegar. Remove the leaves from the mint and chop them finely – you will need about 4 lightly heaped tablespoons – then stir the chopped mint into the soup.
Stir in the cucumber – but not the liquid that has drained from it – and then the cream. Season with black pepper and chill in the fridge. It must be really cold if it is to be good. Chop the parsley leaves and mix them with the crab, adding a little black pepper as you go.
Divide the soup between four bowls. Place 2 heaped tbsp of crabmeat in each bowl and serve immediately.
How to pick crab
Give yourself plenty of room, put down some newspaper and have a bin handy. Start by taking off the legs and claws, and setting aside. Then peel off the plate and open the body (taking care to remove the lungs). Take out the body meat before starting on the claws, and then judiciously employ the nut cracker to get the fabulous knuckle meat.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or visit theguardian.com/profile/nigelslater for all his recipes in one place
