Spider-crab Salad with Cornish Earlies

Ingredients:

1 spider crab
1kg (2 1/4 lbs) Cornish early potatoes

For the Mayonnaise:
sunflower oil (or a blend of olive oil and sunflower oil)
1 egg yolk
1 pinch of chilli powder
dash of white wine vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 fresh lemon juice
20g (3/4 oz) chives, snipped

Method:

Begin by preparing the spider crab according to the instructions below:

Begin by preparing the spider crabs: Crabs should really be killed before being cooked. This is both humane and it prevents them from 'shooting' (ie discarding) their claws and legs when plunged straight into boiling water.

Killing a crab, however, is not hard. Turn the crab onto it's back and underneath, towards the back of the shell you will see a small, triangular, pointed, flap. Lift this flap up and you will see a small hole in the shell. Take a small, pointed, screwdriver and pierce down through the hole. Use a hammer or the heel of your hand and give a sharp tap on the screwdriver until you feel it hit the other side of the shell. Now move the handle of the screwdriver sharply towards the back of the shell then withdraw it. Now turn the crab the right side up and allow any fluids to drain.

The crab is now dead and ready to cook.

Take the largest pan you have (a pasta pan or stockpot is ideal) then half-fill with fresh water and add plenty of salt (about 35g per 1l water is right). Stir until the sugar has dissolved then bring the pan to a vigorous boil.

Drop the crab into the water and bring back to a boil. As soon as the water starts boiling, begin timing. As a general rule, a 1kg crab will take about 20 minutes to cook. Above this weight add 5 minutes per 500g.

At the end of the cooking time, turn the contents of the pan into a colander then was the crab in plenty of fresh water to remove any surplus salt. Set aside to cool, then dress your crab.

For all crabs, the part that you absolutely MUST discard are the gills (known as the dead man's fingers). They act as the crab’s main barrier to bacteria and can make you ill should you consume one.

When the crab has cooled, turn it on it's back and twist off the legs and claws. Now hold the crab upside down with its eyes facing away from you. Use your thumbs to push the body where the rear legs attach and the body will 'pop' away from the main part of the shell.

Once the body has been separated from the main sell, take a spoon and scrape away the brown meat from the inside of the shell. Set the shell aside.

Now take the main body. Locate the to rows of feathery finger-like gills on either side. Carefully remove and discard these. The centre of the shell also contains a little more brown meat. Extract with a skewer and add to your brown meat pile.

Using the handle of a small spoon (or a crab picker if you have one) work your way around the remaining carcass and pick out all the white meat that you can find. When it's all extracted inspect it for any shell pieces then place in a pile separate from the brown meat.

With spider crabs you have the option, you can either crack the claws and legs with a rolling pin and then extract the meat, or you can divide the limbs into pieces by breaking at the joints, and serve with the meat.

As the crab is cooling, ready for the meat to be extracted, prepare the mayonnaise.

Beat together the mustard, egg yolk and chilli powder in a small bowl. Add a few drops of oil and beat hard to emulsify. When the oil has been incorporated and the mixture is glossy, slowly add more oil in a very slow, steady, stream, beating constantly all the time. When the mixture starts getting very thick (this will be after a few minutes), thin the mayonnaise to your desired consistency with a little lemon juice. Season to taste then stir in the chives.

Bring a pan of salted water to a boil, add the potatoes and boil gently for about 20 minutes, or until tender (when the point of a knife passes easily through them with little or no resistance). Be careful not to boil the new potatoes too hard, or they may split and become mushy.

Drain the potatoes, allow to cool slightly then cut into bite-sized chunks. Combine the crab meat with the potatoes then toss in the mayonnaise to dress.

Serve whilst still warm, accompanied by a crisp, green, salad.