Centollo Cocido Gallego

Centollo cocido is Galician: a whole Atlantic spider crab boiled in briny water, opened, and served with its sweet leg meat and coral-rich body gathered back into the shell. Nothing is added to cover it. That restraint is what distinguishes centollo from dressed crab that tastes mostly of its dressing, and it belongs at a Galician Christmas table as naturally as the bread beside it.

The method that decides it is the start. Put a live centollo into cold, properly salted water and bring it steadily to the boil. The gradual rise in temperature helps keep the legs attached and cooks the thick body evenly. Count the cooking time only once the water reaches a full boil: twenty minutes for a crab weighing 1 to 1.2 kilograms. Pésalo, no lo adivines. Weigh it, don't guess.

If you are far from Galicia, ask for live European spider crab. When that cannot be found, buey de mar, European brown crab, is the substitute a Galician kitchen would use for a mariscada. Its claws are meatier, its body less delicate, and the result is no longer centollo, but the same plain method serves it well. No hace falta haber pisado España.

Keep the shell level while you open it, because the clean juices inside belong in the dish. Fold the loose white meat through the orange coral and brown cream, then return it all to the shell without mayonnaise, chopped egg, or sauce. The Margin beside this recipe says only, "no pierdas el jugo," don't lose the juice. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.