[Sca-cooks] immersion blenders

[Philip & Susan Troy]

>>>Case in point: at a Provencal restaurant I worked in, it was the
>>>practice to semi-pulverize whole, live, blue-claw crabs to stir into
>>>several of the fish stocks, thus giving them an intense crab flavor,
>>>suitable for a-la-minute-pseudo-bouilliabaise and variants thereof.
>>>
>>
>>The WHOLE crab??? Guts, shell and all???
>>
>>I'm sure this would increase the calcium content, but still...
>>
>>Stefan
>
>
>I presume they were soft-shell crabs.  Soft-shells are the same critter
>as the hard-shells, but at a different stage of their molting.  They are
>traditionally eaten whole, guts and all.  I've had them sauteed on a
>sandwich, fried, all kindsa ways.

Sorry about the earlier blank reply...

No, these were pretty much the whole crab, since there's not a whole
lot to the crab that isn't edible, except the stomach sack and the
gills, and, of course, the shell. But then, a lot of what goes into
fish stock is considered inedible by many people, too. These were,
IIRC, whole, hard-shell crabs (which are way cheaper than soft-shell
crabs, sufficiently so that they could be used, effectively, as
almost a seasoning, rather than as a food, per se. They got ground
up, simmered in fish stock for their flavor, finely ground/pureed,
shell and all, to get the last bit of crab flavor out of them, then
strained through a very fine strainer, leaving an almost clear stock
with a slight reddish tinge, perfect for boulliabaise.

It tasted good, contained nothing toxic in any significant amount,
and all objectionable solids such as shell and gill bits were
strained out. As for calcium, I'm not sure how it works out, but crab
shells are chitinous, more cellulose-based than calciferous, I
believe.

Mmmmm. Bugs...

Adamantius