Iberia · Volume 05, The Rías, the Feira and the Road to Santiago
Centollo
Coastal Galicia
Illustration
- Time
- 40 minutes
Spider crab, protected by a closed summer season that coincides with its own offshore reproductive migration: a mature female stops moulting after sexual maturity, her abdomen visibly broadening as she prepares to carry eggs, which is how an experienced buyer sexes a live centolla at the fishmonger's.
As tradition built it
About 20 to 25 minutes in the pot, plus at least 15 minutes' resting.
Ingredients
- 1, roughly 1.5 to 2kg live centolla (spider crab)
- to cover well-salted water
- 1 lemon, for squeezing
Method
- Boil the live centolla in well-salted water for 20 to 25 minutes depending on size.
- Remove and leave to cool and rest for at least 15 minutes before opening, so the meat firms and settles rather than being picked straight from the pot.
- Open the shell and remove the meat. Serve dressed simply back inside its own washed shell, with nothing more than a little of its own coral and a squeeze of lemon.
What a modern chef changes
A controlled court-bouillon poach, and a coral emulsion
Method
- Poach the centolla in a court-bouillon built with a splash of Albariño rather than plain salted water, holding it at a controlled 90°C rather than a rolling boil, gentler and more even than a home hob typically manages.
- Rest and shred the meat by hand as tradition does.
- Fold the meat back through a light emulsion made from the reserved coral, a touch of the poaching liquid and Galician olive oil, worked together in a high-power blender until it just holds, a mechanised version of the coral-and-oil dressing tradition already applies by hand.
Notes
Culler de Pau, in Pontevedra, treats spider crab this way, shredded and served out of the shell with mussels and seaweed powder rather than plain lemon, a genuine restaurant precedent for this elevation.