How to Prepare Shellfish: A Beginner's Guide

It’s Not as Scary as It Looks

I see it all the time. Someone walks up to the counter, clocks the lobster, has a good long look at it, and then says “I wouldn’t know what to do with that.” Fair enough. Most people didn’t grow up cracking crab claws at the kitchen table. But shellfish is honestly a lot more straightforward than it looks once someone shows you what to do.

So here’s me showing you.

Prawns

Easiest place to start. Most people have cooked prawns before, even if it was just frozen ones from a bag. Nothing wrong with that by the way, but once you try raw ones, bloody hell, the difference is something else. Fresh ones very rarely become available.

Raw Prawns (Shell-On)

Three steps and you’re done:

1. Twist off the head. Hold the body in one hand, pinch the head with the other, twist and pull. Comes right off.
2. Peel the shell. Start from the underside where the legs are and unwrap it like a little jacket. Leave the tail on if you want it to look nice, handy for dipping too.
3. Devein it. See that dark line running down the back? That’s the digestive tract. I know. Cut a shallow slit along the back with your knife and pull it out with the tip. It’s not dangerous to eat but it’s not exactly pleasant to think about either.

Raw king prawns are brilliant in curries, stir-fries, or just pan-fried in garlic butter with a bit of crusty bread. Had a customer last month who’d never cooked raw prawns before. Did the garlic butter thing. She was back three days later buying twice as many.

Cooked Prawns

Nothing to do here: they’re already done for you. Peel and eat. Good in salads, prawn cocktails, sandwiches. We sell shell-on cooked prawns ready to go.

Mussels

Cheap as chips, quick to cook, and a big pot of moules mariniere looks like you’ve spent hours when it actually takes about 10 minutes. Great one for impressing people.

1. Check them first. Any that are sitting open, give them a tap on the counter. If they close, they’re fine. If they stay open, discard them. They’re dead. Same for any with cracked shells.
2. Pull off the beard. That stringy bit poking out the side. Grab it and pull it towards the hinge end of the shell. Comes right out.
3. Give them a scrub under cold running water. If there’s barnacles on the shells, scrape them off with a knife.
4. Cook them. Big pot, high heat. Good glug of white wine, couple of cloves of garlic, some shallots if you’ve got them. Lid on. 3-4 minutes and they’re done: they’ll all open up. Any that stay shut, bin them.

Serve it with crusty bread to mop up the juice. That liquid in the bottom of the pot is absolute gold. That’s a proper meal for about four quid a head. Try getting that at a restaurant.

Crab

Right, this one takes a bit more patience. But it’s worth it, especially from September to November when the Dorset crabs are at their best. When you pick one up, it should feel heavy for its size. A light crab isn’t empty, but it’s most likely watery inside, so put it back.

Dressed Crab (The Easy Way)

Just buy it dressed. Seriously. We sell it ready done: shell cracked, meat picked, packed back into the cleaned shell. All you’ve got to do is eat it with some bread and a squeeze of lemon. Job done. No shame in it.

Whole Crab (If You Fancy a Project)

If you want to do it yourself (and it is satisfying, I’ll give you that) here’s how:

1. Pull off the legs and claws. Twist them off at the body. Don’t be gentle about it.
2. Open the body. Push your thumbs under the flap on the underside and lever the body away from the top shell.
3. Remove the dead man’s fingers. Sounds grim, I know. They’re those grey, feathery bits around the body, the gills basically. Not poisonous or anything, they just taste horrible. Pull them off and bin them.
4. Scoop out the brown meat from the top shell. That’s the rich, creamy stuff. Some people aren’t keen but I think it’s the best bit personally.
5. Pick the white meat from the body and the legs. This is the fiddly bit. A skewer helps. Stick the radio on and take your time with it.
6. Crack the claws with the back of a heavy knife or a rolling pin. The best meat of the lot is in there.

Lobster

The big one. A whole lobster is a proper treat: birthdays, anniversaries, or just a Tuesday when you’re feeling flush.

If You Buy It Cooked

1. Twist off the claws. Crack them with a heavy knife or lobster crackers, or the back of a rolling pin in a pinch.
2. Split the tail. Turn it upside down and cut through the underside with a sharp knife, then open it up like a book.
3. Pull the meat out. Should come away in big, beautiful pieces. That’s the stuff.
4. The green stuff in the body is the tomalley, basically the liver. Some people love it, some people won’t go near it. Totally edible, quite rich. I’m in the “love it” camp but I know I’m in the minority there.

If You Buy It Live

Live lobster and crab are available to order in advance. If the idea of cooking one puts you off, that’s fair enough. We sell them cooked as well.

One Thing to Remember

Fresh shellfish should smell like the sea. Clean, salty, like a rock pool on the Purbeck coast. If it smells properly fishy or there’s any hint of ammonia, don’t buy it. Doesn’t matter if it’s prawns, mussels, crab, or lobster: that rule applies to all of it.

That’s why buying from a proper fishmonger makes a difference. We turn our stock over every single day. Nothing sits around getting tired. Browse our shellfish or order online for next day delivery across all BH postcodes.