CORNISH CRAB, CRUMPET, THAI PUREE & YUZU
Cornish Crab, Crumpet, Thai Puree & Yuzu by Rupert Taylor using the Crustastun
Rupert Taylor, Executive Chef or Bowood Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort created a stunning dish of Brixham crab with Thai puree and yuzu. This dish is extremely popular in Shellburne Restaurant, a Two AA Rosette grand restaurant with views across the practice golf course.
Rupert said:
“It was great to work with Mitchell & Cooper’s Crustastun to create some delicious recipes made from humanely dispatched crab and lobster. There is much to be done in terms of educating chefs to think more carefully about causing less stress to crustaceans, now it has been proven that they do indeed feel pain. Customers are always asking about how their food is sourced and how it reaches their plates and its great to be able to tell them that we promote sustainable sourcing and humane dispatch of crab and lobster in our restaurant, making for the best possible dining experience.”
There is a belief in kitchens that the best way to achieve flavour in shellfish is to hold it alive until the last minute and then quickly kill it and cook it. This method has stood the test of time. Lobsters and crabs are routinely plunged, alive, into boiling water in the mistaken belief that they don’t suffer.
Having a device that can be promoted on a menu to demonstrate that live shellfish and crustacea have been humanely killed prior to cooking is proving to be a big draw for chefs.
Ingredients
• 1 x 1kg whole fresh crab
Thai paste
• 6 medium green chillies
• 2 banana shallots
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 bunch of coriander
• 2 lemon grass sticks
• 1 lime
• 8 kaffir lime leaves
• 2.5cm galangal
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp black pepper corns
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 3 tbsp rape seed oil
Thai puree
• 30g finely chopped
• lemongrass
• 4 x limes (juiced)
• 250g butter
• 16g garlic crushed
• 20g ginger
(peeled and chopped)
• 10g Thai paste
• 1kg sliced onions
• 100ml water
• 300m fish stock
• 500g baby spinach
Crumpets
• 1 litre whole milk
• 850g plain flour
• 4 tsp instant yeast
• 4 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt
Yuzu gel
• 160g yuzu
• 120g stock syrup
• 80g water
• 3g agar agar
Method
Preparing the crab
1. Place the crab in the Crustastun to dispatch.
2. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil use 50g of salt per litre of water.
3. Place the crab in the boiling water to cook – a 1kg crab should take 8–10 minutes.
4. Remove the crab from the water and leave to cool in the blast chiller before preparing.
5. Lay the crab on its back and twist off the legs and claws.
6. Holding firmly on to the shell, push the body section out with your thumbs.
7. Pull off the ‘dead man’s fingers’ these are tough and inedible and should be discarded.
8. Scoop out the brown meat from the shell and reserve.
9. Cut the body section in half (try not to shatter the cartilage), using a small spoon or lobster pick, carefully remove the white meat.
10. Crack open the legs and pull out the meat with a lobster pick.
11. Twist apart the claw sections then break the claws with the end of a heavy knife. When doing this, try to use just enough pressure to crack the shell. Remove the meat with a spoon or lobster pick.
12. Finally, pick through the crab the minimum of 3 times to check for any stray shell.
Thai paste
1. Place everything in a Paco Jet, freeze and blitz until smooth.
Thai puree
1. Sweat the lemongrass, garlic and ginger in the butter.
2. Add the Thai paste, saffron and lime and cook out for a minute.
3. Add the onions and sweat until completely soft.
4. Add the water and fish stock and cook slowly until all the liquid has evaporated.
5. Blend for 5-10 minutes until smooth.
6. Place in a Paco Jet container and freeze.
Crumpets
1. Warm the milk to 37c.
2. Mix all the other ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
3. Add milk and whisk until smooth (no lumps). Leave to rest for 20 minutes until doubled in size.
4. Spray metal rings with pan spray and fill the ring ¼ of the way up with the batter.
5. When all the bubbles have come through to the top remove rings and flip over.
6. Remove the pan from the heat and leave top rest for 5 minutes.
7. Remove from the pan and cool on a rack.
Yuzu gel
1. Add all ingredients to the pan and bring to the boil.
2. Boil for 3 minutes.
3. Leave to cool until hard, then blend until smooth.
