hi I’m Pete from Jamie’s food team I’m
going to show you how to pick a crab
now when I say pick a crab I mean
breaking into pieces and extract all the
licious meat every corner of this
complicated little creature this is how
it looks when you turn it upside down
four legs on each side two claws and
it’s got this head here does contain a
lot of me now I’ve got myself set up
with a board on a tray and the reason
for this is that there’s often quite a
lot of water inside the crab or juices
and you don’t want to lose them they’re
really delicious and all tasty and
flavorful so that’s why I got the tray
here so I can collect it or if I just
have my board on the table it run all
over the place and I lose them so I’ve
got my board my tray I’ve got a plate
and a tray nearby that I can place my
picked meat and my shells and things
like that on so that I’m not creating a
mess all over my table and we’re very
glad you did this when it’s time to
clean up you want to crab juice all over
the place so in terms of it or equipment
I’ve got a little cramp pick here so
what it looks like to the forked end one
end and it’s got a sort of a flat picker
on the other end and this is what you
need to get in to all of those little
bits and pieces and the crab and pull
out all the white meat now if you don’t
have one of these you can use the end of
a tea spoon that’s quite a good
alternative for leaving me out the other
thing I’m going to use is a pestle from
water and pestle and that is really just
something heavy to crack the shell with
so if you don’t have a pestle and pestle
and water the end of a rolling pin will
do or maybe even a hammer up from the
toolkit first thing to do turn a crab
upside down and this flap here just pull
out I go straight in the bin
next thing to do is pour legs off and
it’s really quite easy to do they just
snap them off like that now I’m not
going to pick these right at the minute
so I’m going to take them and put them
on another plate
and keep them out of the way while I
deal with the rest of the crowd so legs
on the other side and then the claws
claws are just a little bit bigger than
the legs but you break them off in
exactly the same way so this is the head
of the crab inside this head there’s
some delicious brown meat and to get to
it we need to take the main body of the
crab away so to do this the head upside
down flat on the board your fingers here
in two thumbs you just push up like that
takes a little bit of pressure what you
get is the body going right away from
the head now these things here these
gray things with it like sponges they
called dead man’s fingers and they’re
not good to eat pick them off so that’s
the main body of the crab I’m going to
pop this on my plate with the rest of
the legs just for the moment and we’ll
get myself a plate get myself a spoon
and just scoop this out onto my plate
make sure you get right into the corners
underneath the shell now this orange
stuff here is roll so it was it was a
female crab these are eggs but that’s
all perfectly good to eat
really delicious and it’s brown me
although you know it may not look the
most appetizing meat in the world is
really really super delicious so don’t
waste it you’ve never tried it before
at least trial
it’s really taste it’s well all flavor
isn’t a crab so now I’ve picked all
around me and got to get rid of the
shell now for the claws I’m going to get
myself another bowl for the white meat
and keep the white meat separate from
the brown meat and this claw I’m
basically just going to break open and
pick out all the lovely delicious chunks
of white meat there’s two chunks right
on the end here just going to pull them
off and then will it crack the crab claw
a crab this size is really quite easy to
break it open with your hands don’t need
to be overdramatic with it
same thing on this bit pull the white
meat off and in here I get my little
crap okay there’s only moves bits of
meat in there and then again tonight I’m
happy that’s pretty much picked and
there’s nothing left inside it so that
goes in the bin
and now it’s time to pick the claw
itself I’m going to crack this claw lay
it flat on the board and just give it a
good whack you’re not looking to
pulverize it just to break the shell now
once it’s broken
carefully pick the bits off and make
sure you get all a little bits and you
really just pick your way through it
in the middle of the claw there’s this
flat piece of it sort of bony cartilage
really you don’t want to meet click
around that put it in the bin this
little joint here just pull the knee out
once you start doing this you begin to
see quite quickly how to do it and it’s
not really that hard time to the next
claw scoop out whatever is in here
for a Bosch
now some people’s hands react when they
touch crab so if your hands start
itching any point then you’re probably
one of them but don’t panic it’s not
going to turn into anything terrible at
worst they’ll just stitch what I tend to
do is just have a bowl of water or sink
of water nearby so if I started to get
itchy or my hands a little bit funny I
just give them a rinse and it feels
better quickly so obviously it takes
quite a while to do this so if you’re
having people round for dinner
you really are best to do this ahead of
time there’s nothing wrong with doing
this in the morning on the afternoon I’m
putting the crab in the fridge whilst
you go on the rest of things you need to
do with a rest you meal all right this
is one of the legs and you basically do
the same thing as you do with the claw
let’s break it into bits pull the meat
off you think there’s any meat inside
the shell pull it out now that’s all the
leg meat picked now for the body
it looks very bony you’re not very nice
but there’s actually a lot of really
nice meat in here and it’s perhaps the
most delicate part so you got to pick it
quite carefully first of all what I do
is go into the leg joints it’s four
there and then the claw joint here and I
take the end of my pick oh and just pull
joints off pull sockets off that I pick
all the meat off these I’m being quite
thorough Withings obviously you don’t
need to be you don’t have to pick every
single little last bit of crab I might
as I’ll show you how to do the whole job
properly and you can decide which Betsy
do don’t want to do it’s all the sockets
done no the body is the last bit and
then hold in the palm of my hand and
just any bits of white flaky meat you
see in here just echo
now you have to be quite careful this
because there’s a lot of delicate little
bits of crab bone in here and if you’re
too rough with it they’ll snap and then
you’ll get a bit of bone in your crab
when you’re eating it and that’s not
ideal what you have to keep telling
yourself about this meat in here is it’s
the sweetest and most delicious bit of
the whole animal now it makes you feel
better about spending time in it okay
now if you look at that you can see not
much left inside there at all so now
I’ve got my white meat my brown meat and
what my board here what was lovely juice
on that I’ve managed to save I can pour
back in to the meat then the next thing
to do is to check the meat for any
splinters a bone or shell that you might
have in there so take a clean tray and
just put all your pick white meat in
then pick the way through it see if you
can see any pieces of bone a little bit
there and if it’s a shell that’s that
and I’ve the brown meat just the
fingertips is enough to check through
and make sure there’s nothing there yep
that’s okay right now my crabs cracked
and picked rid of all this stuff and put
all my white meat into one plate and on
my brown meat onto another so here’s
your picked white me you picked brown
meat delicious juicy flavorful white
meat and fantastic creamy rich brown
meat ready to go into whatever dish
you’re going to put them in whether it’s
a salad whether it’s on toast whether
it’s pasta dish whether it’s risotto or
a fish soup it may not look like a lot
of meat for all the effort you put into
it but remember that crab is really rich
and decadent and delicious and little
goes a long way so that’s how to pick
the crab
you
going to show you how to pick a crab
now when I say pick a crab I mean
breaking into pieces and extract all the
licious meat every corner of this
complicated little creature this is how
it looks when you turn it upside down
four legs on each side two claws and
it’s got this head here does contain a
lot of me now I’ve got myself set up
with a board on a tray and the reason
for this is that there’s often quite a
lot of water inside the crab or juices
and you don’t want to lose them they’re
really delicious and all tasty and
flavorful so that’s why I got the tray
here so I can collect it or if I just
have my board on the table it run all
over the place and I lose them so I’ve
got my board my tray I’ve got a plate
and a tray nearby that I can place my
picked meat and my shells and things
like that on so that I’m not creating a
mess all over my table and we’re very
glad you did this when it’s time to
clean up you want to crab juice all over
the place so in terms of it or equipment
I’ve got a little cramp pick here so
what it looks like to the forked end one
end and it’s got a sort of a flat picker
on the other end and this is what you
need to get in to all of those little
bits and pieces and the crab and pull
out all the white meat now if you don’t
have one of these you can use the end of
a tea spoon that’s quite a good
alternative for leaving me out the other
thing I’m going to use is a pestle from
water and pestle and that is really just
something heavy to crack the shell with
so if you don’t have a pestle and pestle
and water the end of a rolling pin will
do or maybe even a hammer up from the
toolkit first thing to do turn a crab
upside down and this flap here just pull
out I go straight in the bin
next thing to do is pour legs off and
it’s really quite easy to do they just
snap them off like that now I’m not
going to pick these right at the minute
so I’m going to take them and put them
on another plate
and keep them out of the way while I
deal with the rest of the crowd so legs
on the other side and then the claws
claws are just a little bit bigger than
the legs but you break them off in
exactly the same way so this is the head
of the crab inside this head there’s
some delicious brown meat and to get to
it we need to take the main body of the
crab away so to do this the head upside
down flat on the board your fingers here
in two thumbs you just push up like that
takes a little bit of pressure what you
get is the body going right away from
the head now these things here these
gray things with it like sponges they
called dead man’s fingers and they’re
not good to eat pick them off so that’s
the main body of the crab I’m going to
pop this on my plate with the rest of
the legs just for the moment and we’ll
get myself a plate get myself a spoon
and just scoop this out onto my plate
make sure you get right into the corners
underneath the shell now this orange
stuff here is roll so it was it was a
female crab these are eggs but that’s
all perfectly good to eat
really delicious and it’s brown me
although you know it may not look the
most appetizing meat in the world is
really really super delicious so don’t
waste it you’ve never tried it before
at least trial
it’s really taste it’s well all flavor
isn’t a crab so now I’ve picked all
around me and got to get rid of the
shell now for the claws I’m going to get
myself another bowl for the white meat
and keep the white meat separate from
the brown meat and this claw I’m
basically just going to break open and
pick out all the lovely delicious chunks
of white meat there’s two chunks right
on the end here just going to pull them
off and then will it crack the crab claw
a crab this size is really quite easy to
break it open with your hands don’t need
to be overdramatic with it
same thing on this bit pull the white
meat off and in here I get my little
crap okay there’s only moves bits of
meat in there and then again tonight I’m
happy that’s pretty much picked and
there’s nothing left inside it so that
goes in the bin
and now it’s time to pick the claw
itself I’m going to crack this claw lay
it flat on the board and just give it a
good whack you’re not looking to
pulverize it just to break the shell now
once it’s broken
carefully pick the bits off and make
sure you get all a little bits and you
really just pick your way through it
in the middle of the claw there’s this
flat piece of it sort of bony cartilage
really you don’t want to meet click
around that put it in the bin this
little joint here just pull the knee out
once you start doing this you begin to
see quite quickly how to do it and it’s
not really that hard time to the next
claw scoop out whatever is in here
for a Bosch
now some people’s hands react when they
touch crab so if your hands start
itching any point then you’re probably
one of them but don’t panic it’s not
going to turn into anything terrible at
worst they’ll just stitch what I tend to
do is just have a bowl of water or sink
of water nearby so if I started to get
itchy or my hands a little bit funny I
just give them a rinse and it feels
better quickly so obviously it takes
quite a while to do this so if you’re
having people round for dinner
you really are best to do this ahead of
time there’s nothing wrong with doing
this in the morning on the afternoon I’m
putting the crab in the fridge whilst
you go on the rest of things you need to
do with a rest you meal all right this
is one of the legs and you basically do
the same thing as you do with the claw
let’s break it into bits pull the meat
off you think there’s any meat inside
the shell pull it out now that’s all the
leg meat picked now for the body
it looks very bony you’re not very nice
but there’s actually a lot of really
nice meat in here and it’s perhaps the
most delicate part so you got to pick it
quite carefully first of all what I do
is go into the leg joints it’s four
there and then the claw joint here and I
take the end of my pick oh and just pull
joints off pull sockets off that I pick
all the meat off these I’m being quite
thorough Withings obviously you don’t
need to be you don’t have to pick every
single little last bit of crab I might
as I’ll show you how to do the whole job
properly and you can decide which Betsy
do don’t want to do it’s all the sockets
done no the body is the last bit and
then hold in the palm of my hand and
just any bits of white flaky meat you
see in here just echo
now you have to be quite careful this
because there’s a lot of delicate little
bits of crab bone in here and if you’re
too rough with it they’ll snap and then
you’ll get a bit of bone in your crab
when you’re eating it and that’s not
ideal what you have to keep telling
yourself about this meat in here is it’s
the sweetest and most delicious bit of
the whole animal now it makes you feel
better about spending time in it okay
now if you look at that you can see not
much left inside there at all so now
I’ve got my white meat my brown meat and
what my board here what was lovely juice
on that I’ve managed to save I can pour
back in to the meat then the next thing
to do is to check the meat for any
splinters a bone or shell that you might
have in there so take a clean tray and
just put all your pick white meat in
then pick the way through it see if you
can see any pieces of bone a little bit
there and if it’s a shell that’s that
and I’ve the brown meat just the
fingertips is enough to check through
and make sure there’s nothing there yep
that’s okay right now my crabs cracked
and picked rid of all this stuff and put
all my white meat into one plate and on
my brown meat onto another so here’s
your picked white me you picked brown
meat delicious juicy flavorful white
meat and fantastic creamy rich brown
meat ready to go into whatever dish
you’re going to put them in whether it’s
a salad whether it’s on toast whether
it’s pasta dish whether it’s risotto or
a fish soup it may not look like a lot
of meat for all the effort you put into
it but remember that crab is really rich
and decadent and delicious and little
goes a long way so that’s how to pick
the crab
you
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