Cooking fun, Crab in Black Bean Sauce.

Coating the crab just before serving.

Some would consider doing anything other than simply boiling crab and picking the shells for the meat they contain as sacrilege - but this recipe is truly delicious - the flavour from the crab meat and the black bean sauce combine into something special - and a breeze to prepare.

Palm sugar on the left and two kinds of yellow lump sugar that are the preferred means of sweetening in many Chinese dishes.

Use raw crab if possible. Remove the legs and body section from inside the main shell. After taking off the dead man's fingers use a big knife to cut the remainder in half first laterally and then two leg portions. Set aside. The crab will be cooked in the shells so the next step is to crack the claws - a rolling pin is good!


Sauce quantities for two: (Chan's in Penzance, like all good Oriental Shops keep all the ingredients)


1 tsp ketjap manis, a sweet soy sauce
1 tbsp fermented black beans (these need soaking for 30 mins and then rinsing before use)
1 tsp palm sugar
oil for cooking
4 spring onions finely sliced on the diagonal
1 oz peeled finely chopped ginger 
1/2 oz peeled finely chopped garlic
20 fresh curry leaves (not so easy to get hold of - try the local garden centre and grow your own)
1 tbsp coarsely crushed black peppercorns
1/2 oz butter
1 red chilli - your choice for heat


Mix the ketjap, black beans, palm sugar, and three tablespoons of water.


Heat 3 fl oz of oil till smoking and add the crab in shell and cook for 2-3 minutes. Set aside on kitchen paper.


Remove all but enough oil and add the spring onions, ginger, garlic and curry leaves and stir fry gently - don't brown!


Add the black pepper, stir in and then add the black bean mixture and then add the partially cooked crab, cover with a lid and cook through for 4-5 minutes if using raw crab, half the time for cooked. Once cooked, stir in the butter and red chilli turning the whole lot until all the pieces are coated.


Garnish with some of the sliced spring onion. This is a hugely messy and fun dish to eat and requires a finger bowl or two and the kitchen roll a hand - literally finger licking good!

Bisque and Barra Gwen.

There are plenty of variations on the classic Bisque recipe - but this simple thick soup is a great way to make use of the leftover shells from crab, langoustine and spider crab (lobster, velvet crab and crayfish too) - after sweating finely chopped onion, celery, carrot and a bayleaf in 3oz of butter and the broken shells (bash them down further with the end of a rolling pin) and add a shot of brandy and allow it to evaporate then add 4oz of toms, a dash of tom puree and a glass of dry vermouth (Shiaohsing or white wine will do) and reduce for a while before adding 4oz of rice 2.5 pints of fish or chicken stock (avoid using stock cubes for this classic dish!) - add a good pinch of cayenne pepper and bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes before using a blender to liquidize the shells.........

if your blender is not up to the task then make the best job possible breaking down the shells with the rolling pin in the early stages.......

 and pass the cooling soup through a sieve or conical strainer - pressing the liquid through the sieve with the back of a wooden spoon.......

after straining, add 4fl oz of cream or crème frâiche and give a quick whiz........

simply serve with white or brown bread and butter - barra gwen or barra brenn - and a squeeze of lemon - magnifique!