The market · Fish and seafood
Crabs
Sweet, delicate meat from shellfish cooked whole: chilli crab, Teochew cold crab, Jaffna crab curry, crab bisque.
sweet · briny · delicate
What to do with it
TeochewTeochew cold crabA whole crab steamed, then left to go cold, and eaten plain with a dip of ginger in rice vinegar.No one here has made it yetShanghaineseHairy crabFreshwater mitten crabs, steamed whole in autumn and picked apart at the table for their sweet meat and rich golden roe, with ginger and black vinegar.No one here has made it yetSri LankanJaffna crab curryLagoon crabs cooked in the shell in a fiery sauce of roasted Jaffna curry powder, tamarind and coconut milk, with moringa leaves.No one here has made it yet
Kinds
- Brown crab
- Atlantic Europe — rich brown meat as well as white.
- Mud crab
- Southeast Asia — big claws, for chilli crab.
- Blue swimmer
- Sweet and delicate; for curries and soups.
Goes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- Live from a fishmonger, or freshly cooked. Picked meat is easiest; pasteurised meat in tubs is a good second.
- Worth knowing
- A live crab should feel heavy for its size; light ones are full of water.
