Chef Isabel
Acedías Fritas de Cádiz
Acedías fritas belong to Cádiz: tiny wedge sole, salted, dusted in frying flour, and dropped into very hot olive oil so the rims crisp while the fish stays tender.
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Txangurro a la Donostiarra
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Txangurro a la Donostiarra is Basque, from San Sebastian: spider crab folded into a slow onion and leek base, lifted with brandy, then baked back in its shell.
Appetizers & Snacks
Spanish
Dinner Party
Christmas
Special Occasion
45 min
Active Time
45 min cook•1 hr 30 min total
Yield4 servings
Txangurro a la Donostiarra belongs to the Basque coast, and more exactly to Donostia, San Sebastian: spider crab cooked, picked clean, mixed with onion, leek, tomato, and brandy, then baked back in the shell. The crab is sweet and delicate. The base must be slow and dark enough to carry it without burying it.
The method that decides it is the sofrito, the slow onion base. Cook the onion and leek low until they go soft, golden, and almost jammy before the tomato goes in. Rush that part and the filling tastes wet and sharp. Give it time and the brandy has somewhere to land. That little glass of brandy is not decoration here; it is what makes the Donostiarra version taste like itself.
If you can't find a live spider crab where you are, use a good cooked whole brown crab, Dungeness crab, or picked fresh crab meat with a little brown meat mixed in. What changes is the shell and the depth: spider crab has a fine sweetness and a sea-brown richness that picked white crab alone won't give you. Use the best crab you can buy, not the cheapest tub. No hace falta haber pisado Espana, but the crab has to be worth eating.
Pick the meat patiently, feel for shell with your fingers, and keep the filling moist, not soupy. Spoon it back into the cleaned shell, cover with breadcrumbs and a little butter, and bake until the top is crisp at the edges and the crab underneath is glossy. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Txangurro a la Donostiarra is tied to San Sebastian, where Basque cooking has long treated shellfish with both thrift and ceremony: the whole crab is cooked, picked, seasoned, and returned to its own shell for the table. The dish is often linked to the city restaurants and sociedades gastronomicas that helped fix Donostia's cooking identity, but its logic is older and domestic: nothing sweet from the shellfish is wasted. The brandy, onion, leek, and tomato make it distinct from plainer boiled crab served cold along the coast.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
cooked spider crab
Quantity
1, about 1.2kg to 1.5kg
meat and brown meat picked, shell reserved
picked fresh crab meat with brown crab meat (optional)
Quantity
450g white meat plus 80g brown meat
olive oil
Quantity
45ml
unsalted butter
Quantity
30g
divided
onion
Quantity
200g
finely chopped
leek
Quantity
120g
white and pale green part only, finely chopped
carrot
Quantity
80g
finely chopped
garlic
Quantity
2 cloves
minced
ripe tomato
Quantity
180g
grated
canned crushed tomato (optional)
Quantity
160g
brandy
Quantity
60ml
fish stock or crab cooking liquid
Quantity
80ml
parsley
Quantity
1 tablespoon
chopped
salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
fine dry breadcrumbs
Quantity
25g
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| cooked spider crabmeat and brown meat picked, shell reserved | 1, about 1.2kg to 1.5kg |
| picked fresh crab meat with brown crab meat (optional) | 450g white meat plus 80g brown meat |
| olive oil | 45ml |
| unsalted butterdivided | 30g |
| onionfinely chopped | 200g |
| leekwhite and pale green part only, finely chopped | 120g |
| carrotfinely chopped | 80g |
| garlicminced | 2 cloves |
| ripe tomatograted | 180g |
| canned crushed tomato (optional) | 160g |
| brandy | 60ml |
| fish stock or crab cooking liquid | 80ml |
| parsleychopped | 1 tablespoon |
| salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| fine dry breadcrumbs | 25g |
Equipment Needed
- •Crab pick or thin skewer
- •Wide frying pan or saute pan
- •Small baking dish
- •Coarse salt to steady the shell
Instructions
- 1
Pick the crab
If using a whole cooked spider crab, pull off the legs and claws, lift off the top shell, and save the shell for baking. Pick all the white meat from the body, legs, and claws, and keep the brown meat and coral if there is any. Work slowly and feel through the meat with your fingertips for bits of shell. Pésalo, no lo adivines: you want about 500g crab meat in all.
- 2
Clean the shell
Scrape the reserved top shell clean, rinse it, and dry it well. Set it in a small baking dish or on a bed of coarse salt so it sits steady. Heat the oven to 200C.
- 3
Cook the sofrito
Warm the olive oil with 15g of the butter in a wide pan over low heat. Add the onion, leek, carrot, and salt, and cook gently for 18 to 22 minutes, stirring now and then, until the vegetables are soft, golden, and sweet. This is the step that decides the dish. If the onion is still pale and watery, keep going.
- 4
Add tomato and brandy
Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the grated tomato and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until the tomato has reduced and the oil begins to show at the edges. Pour in the brandy and let it bubble for 2 minutes so the raw alcohol cooks off but the perfume stays.
- 5
Fold in crab
Add the fish stock or crab cooking liquid and simmer for 3 minutes. Fold in the white crab meat, brown meat, parsley, and a little black pepper. Cook only 2 minutes, just until the filling is hot and glossy. Taste for salt. The mixture should be moist enough to spoon, not loose enough to run.
- 6
Fill and bake
Spoon the crab mixture into the cleaned shell. Mix the breadcrumbs with the remaining 15g butter, crumbled small, and scatter over the top. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the surface is lightly browned at the ridges and the filling glistens underneath. Serve at once with bread for the juices.
Chef Tips
- •Spider crab is the first choice, tal como se hace alli. If you can't get it, use a cooked whole brown crab or Dungeness crab. Picked fresh crab meat works, but add some brown meat if you can, or the filling will taste sweeter and flatter.
- •Do not drown the crab in tomato. The tomato is there to bind the sofrito and give colour, not to turn the filling into sauce.
- •Use brandy, not wine, if you want the Donostiarra taste. Wine makes a fine crab filling, but it is not this one.
- •Serve it as a first course for a dinner party or Christmas meal. One large shell gives four small portions, rich enough because crab carries itself.
Advance Preparation
- •The crab can be cooked and picked up to 1 day ahead. Keep the meat covered in the refrigerator and save the cleaned shell separately.
- •The filling can be made up to 6 hours ahead and refrigerated. Fill the shell just before baking, and add 3 to 4 extra minutes in the oven if it goes in cold.
- •Do not add the breadcrumbs until the last moment, or they soften before they brown.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 270g)
Calories
375 calories
Total Fat
20 g
Saturated Fat
6 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
14 g
Cholesterol
130 mg
Sodium
1160 mg
Total Carbohydrates
18 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
28 g
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