Centollo Cocido Gallego

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Tall stockpot with lid, 10-12 litre capacity
• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Long sturdy tongs
• •Large rimmed tray
• •Heavy kitchen shears
• •Crab crackers and seafood picks

Instructions

1. 1

   Check and weigh

   Buy the centollo alive from a fishmonger with good turnover and cook it the same day. It should feel heavy for its size and move when touched. Weigh it before cooking, because the timing follows the weight. Keep it cold beneath a damp cloth until the pot is ready, and handle it from behind with sturdy tongs.

   A female has a broad, rounded abdominal flap beneath the body and is more likely to contain the prized orange coral. Buy only legally landed crab from a licensed seller, never an egg-bearing animal.
2. 2

   Make the briny water

   Pour 5 litres of cold water into a tall 10 to 12 litre pot. Add 300g coarse sea salt and the bay leaves, then stir until most of the salt dissolves. The ratio is 60g salt for every litre of water. If your pot needs a different volume, recalculate it rather than judging by handfuls.

3. 3

   Start from cold

   Lower the live crab into the cold salted water and make sure it is covered by about 3cm. Set a loose-fitting lid on the pot and bring the water steadily to a full boil over medium-high heat. Starting a live centollo cold helps keep its legs attached and gives the dense body time to heat through evenly.

4. 4

   Boil for twenty minutes

   Begin timing only when the whole surface reaches a strong, rolling boil. Reduce the heat just enough to prevent the pot overflowing while keeping a steady boil, then cook a 1 to 1.2kg crab for exactly 20 minutes. Lift it out promptly with tongs; leaving it in the water makes the meat woolly and washes away its sweetness.

5. 5

   Rest shell-side down

   Set the crab on a rimmed tray with its domed back shell underneath and its legs pointing upward. Leave it for 15 minutes, until it is comfortable to handle. This position keeps the savoury liquid inside the shell. Do not rinse it or plunge it into water.

6. 6

   Open without spilling

   Work over the tray. Twist off the legs and claws, turn the crab over, and pull away the abdominal flap. Hold the top shell level while you lift the body out so the clean liquid and coral remain inside. Discard the feathery grey gills, the hard mouthparts, and the small stomach sac directly behind the mouth.

7. 7

   Dress its own shell

   Spoon any clean liquid from the tray back into the shell. Gently mix the orange coral, creamy brown meat, and loose pieces of white body meat already inside, breaking up large pockets but not beating them smooth. Add nothing else. Here, dressing the shell means returning the crab to itself, not burying it beneath a sauce.

8. 8

   Crack and serve

   Cut the central body into six pieces through its natural chambers with sturdy kitchen shears. Crack each claw and the thickest leg joints once, just enough to give the diner an opening without crushing the meat. Arrange the body pieces and legs around the filled shell and serve warm or at cool room temperature, with picks and plenty of bread.

Chef Tips

• •Choose the crab by weight and liveliness, not by the shine of its shell. A good centollo feels unexpectedly heavy because the body is full. A light one gives you plenty of shell and an argument over very little meat.
• •Cold water is for a live crab. If the fishmonger has humanely dispatched it immediately before cooking, or you are using a raw thawed crab, lower it into water that is already boiling so the legs remain attached. Never cook a crab found dead unless the seller can confirm when it was killed.
• •If European spider crab is unavailable, use a live buey de mar, European brown crab, of the same weight. The claws will be fuller and the body flavour less fine, with less coral. It is a sound Galician substitute, but it is a different crab.
• •Keep the salt ratio exact at 60g per litre. Table salt packs differently from coarse salt, so use a scale. Pésalo, no lo adivines.
• •Serve an Albariño from the Rías Baixas or a dry Ribeiro alongside. The wine belongs in the glass, not poured into a good centollo.

Advance Preparation

• •The centollo can be boiled up to 6 hours before serving. Let it cool for no longer than 1 hour, refrigerate it whole and covered, then take it out 30 minutes before the meal. Open and dress the shell shortly before serving so the meat stays moist.
• •Once opened, refrigerate any remaining meat within 2 hours in a covered container and eat it within 24 hours. Keep the coral and body meat together with a spoonful of their own liquid.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 120g)