Jane Grigson's Fish Book - Jane Grigson [60]
Potted shellfish can be very successful. The first recipe I give below is Elizabeth David’s traditional formula, which is followed by a more elaborate version from Michael Quinn.
Elizabeth David’s Potted Crab
This is one of the best ways of eating crab, very rich and delicious. It is taken from her pamphlet English Potted Meats and Fish Pastes. This method of serving crab is particularly successful as a lunch dish, to be followed by a green salad, or a salad of purple-sprouting broccoli. It works well for lobster, too.
Serves 4–6
1 kg (2 lb) crab, boiled
black pepper, mace, nutmeg, cayenne pepper
lemon juice
salt (see recipe)
about 250 g (8 oz) slightly-salted or unsalted butter
clarified butter to seal
Pick all the meat from the crab, being careful to keep the firm and creamy parts separate. Season both with spices and lemon juice – salt may be necessary if you bought the crab ready boiled. There will be about 375 g (12 oz) meat.
Choose an attractive round stoneware pot, or an oval one. Pack the crab meat into it, in layers. (If you prefer it, use four to six individual pots or soufflé dishes.) Melt the butter and pour it over the crab meat. There should be enough just to cover it – the quantity required will depend on the amount of crab meat you had the patience to pick out of the shell, and on whether you used one or half-a-dozen pots. It is only fair to point out that Danish – especially Lurpak – or French butter gives the best result with potted meat and fish: it is made in a different way from English butter, and has a milder flavour and better consistency for this kind of dish.
Leave to cool, then cover with clarified butter: a thin layer if the crab is going to be eaten within twenty-four hours; a 1-cm (½-inch) layer if it is being kept for a few days – in this latter case, add a foil covering so that the butter does not dry out and contract from the edge of the pot, so spoiling the seal.
Michael Quinn’s Potted Crab
Serves 6
75 g (2½ oz) chopped shallot
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 tablespoons Noilly Prat
pinch of mixed spice
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of ginger
pinch of crushed coriander seeds
pinch of cayenne pepper
pinch of nutmeg
400 g (14 oz) unsalted butter, cubed
300 g (10 oz) white crab meat
300 g (10 oz) brown crab meat
salt
Put shallots, wine, Noilly Prat and spices into a pan and boil down to a juicy purée, with the shallot tender and the liquor reduced to just over a couple of tablespoons. Stir in the bits of butter, and when they are melted, simmer for 20 minutes. Remove, cool 30 minutes and sieve into a bowl.
Set the bowl over ice and whisk until thick and creamy but not hard. Mix in the crab meat. Taste and add salt and other extra seasoning as required. Spoon into six pots, cover with foil and chill in the refrigerator. Serve with brown bread and butter, and with some bitter-leaved salad.
SOFT-SHELL CRABS
Soft-shell crabs are a speciality of Venice, and of the southern coast of North America. They are not a separate species, but crabs which are ‘moulting’ – i.e. they have shed their shells, and the new one is still fragile. This sudden loss of weight means that they rise to the surface and can easily be caught. The Venetian molecchie, a May delicacy, are tiny, about 2½–5 cm (1–2 inches) across. They are washed, then soaked for a while in beaten egg (which they largely absorb). Just before the meal, they are drained, shaken in flour and deep-fried. One eats the whole thing, shell, claws, the lot, and it tastes like a crisp delicious biscuit.
In America the crabs are larger – two or three are a reasonable portion – but they are treated in much the same way. Sometimes they are grilled and brushed with melted butter. Tartare sauce or a similarly flavoured mayonnaise is served with them.
SEAFOOD PUDDING (Strata)
This is one of the best bread-and-butter puddings, but made with crab or prawns. For economy, a proportion of lightly cooked and flaked white fish can be used with the crab