Storing crab

Live

Ideally, crabs should be cooked as soon as possible when they are delivered (see below for how to cook a crab).  If you are unable to cook them straight away, store them in the salad area of your fridge with a damp tea towel over them. 

Cooked

Cooked crab should be stored in a suitable bowl or dish and covered with clingfilm, ideally with ice.

Crabmeat

Store as per the instructions on the packaging.  The colder the better!

How to prepare crab

Hand picking a crab can be a messy business. Professional crab pickers at Wings hand pick hundreds of crab every week – here, Chef Simon tells you the best way to go about it and what parts of the crab you can eat.

Watch our short video on how to prepare and pick a Cornish cooked crab >>

 

How to cook crab

Unlike a lobster, crab needs to be sleepy before being cooked, otherwise it will “shoot” its claws and legs.
Put your crab into a pan of cold water and leave for half an hour; this will make the crab sleepy.

Boil a large pan of salted water, place the crab into the boiling water and simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove the crab from the water and rinse with cold water and leave to cool, ideally for a couple of hours.