Prepare your Crab – Step by Step Guide

Step 1
Make sure the crab is lying on its back and twist off the claws and legs. Set these aside for later.

Step 2
Use the palm of your hand to push down on the centre of the crab. Find the gap where the body meets the shell with your fingers and pull this out.

Keep pulling until this part is completely separated., which should detach in a single piece.

Step 3
From the body that you have just removed, discard the feathery gills, also known as the dead man’s fingers, which are found around the edge, and throw these away, they are not edible.

Scoop out the brown meat from the shell into a bowl.

Step 4
With the body, cut this in half with a large, sharp knife.

Using a second bowl, and taking your time to work through all the crevices in the crab’s body, use a skewer or a lobster pick to prize out all the precious white meat.

Step 5
Crack the claws and legs by covering them in a tea towel (we don’t want any crab shrapnel flying about!) and using a heavy instrument such as a rolling pin or a kitchen mallet. You want to try and do this in one sharp tap, this prevents the shell breaking into miniscule pieces and therefore becoming difficult to find.

Using a lobster pick or skewer, remove the white meat and get rid of the cartilage that runs through the middle of both the legs and the claws.

Step 6
Finally, slowly work through the white meat ensuring that all traces of shell have been removed.