The Bering

King crab claws & picked leg meat, saffron butter, fennel & samphire

Draft recipe. This method has not yet been cooked and timed against a finished box by our chef. Times and weights will be confirmed before the first Founding 100 delivery.

Method

1. 01

   Thaw overnight in the fridge

   Claws and picked meat both, on a tray, in the fridge, overnight. Same rule as every crab dish here: slow, cold, no shortcuts.

2. 02

   Shave the fennel and shock it

   Slice it as thinly as you possibly can and drop it straight into ice water for 10 minutes. It curls, goes glassy and turns crisp. This is what stops the dish being rich butter on rich crab with nothing to cut it.

3. 03

   Warm the claws — 4–5 minutes

   Steam them, or foil and a 150 °C oven. Cooked already; warming only. The claw meat is denser than leg meat and it is even less forgiving, so watch it.

4. 04

   Melt the saffron butter gently

   Lowest heat, in a small pan. Give the saffron 2–3 minutes in the warm butter to bloom and release its colour and scent. Do not let it boil — saffron turns bitter and metallic if you cook it hard.

5. 05

   Warm the picked meat in the butter

   Off the heat, fold the picked leg meat through the warm saffron butter for about a minute. Residual heat only. Put it back on the flame and you will shred it.

6. 06

   Plate

   Claws to one side, the buttered picked meat beside them, drained fennel and samphire over and around, the rest of the saffron butter spooned across, lemon.

At the table

• —Crack the claws at the table — it is the part of the meal people remember.
• —Warm plates, but not hot ones: the shaved fennel wilts and loses the point.
• —Taste before salting. Samphire brings its own.