Brown crab

Tourteau

What it is

Two entirely different foods live inside one shell: white claw meat, sweet and fibrous, and brown body meat, soft and intensely savoury. Most people only meet the white and never learn what the brown can do to a sauce.

In the kitchen

Buy it live and heavy for its size. A light crab has recently moulted and its shell is half full of water.

Goes with

Egg Lemon Chives Cream T65 bread flour Chili pepper Butter Parsley

Also used with

Bonnotte de Noirmoutier Pomelo Crab tomalley (kani miso) Fish maw Chinkiang vinegar Shaoxing wine

In season alongside

Cuttlefish Hairy crab Velvet swimming crab Bonito (katsuo) Brill Arctic char

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