Inspired by the rise in popularity of pickled foods during lockdown, Liam Sweeney, head chef at The Corn Stores in Reading, has shared one his favourite dishes from the restaurant’s newly launched menu; crab and Jersey royal salad, featuring perfectly pickled dulse seaweed and an elderflower pickle gel.
In its 2021 Food and Beverage Report, Waitrose noted a 222 per cent growth in searches for ‘pickling’, as more and more people have become attuned to the extraordinary health benefits of this centuries-old practice, which is proven to improve digestion, strengthen the immune system and promote good gut health.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 fresh crab (at least 2kg)
500g Jersey royal potatoes
20g sea aster
20g sea purslane
20g samphire
10g sea lettuce
20g salted butter
To make egg yolk puree
12 large eggs
For the pickled dulse
50g dulse seaweed
30g rice wine vinegar
10g water
20g sugar
To make the crab stock
Smashed crab bones
1 fennel
1 onion
1 sheet kombu
½ bunch of tarragon
½ bunch thyme
¼ bunch coriander
2L water
200ml white wine (Chablis)
4g coriander seeds
4g fennel seeds
2 bay leaves
For the cured yolk
1L soy sauce
4 egg yolks, carefully separated
To make the leek ash
1kg leeks
For the elderflower gel
100g elderflowers
250g pickling liquor (3 parts white wine vinegar, 2 parts water, 1 part sugar)
4g agar agar
Method
To prepare
- To cook the crab, once humanely dispatched and allowed to drain, steam at 90c for 25 mins and allow to cool before carefully removing the meat from the shells.
- Prepare the sea aster, purslane, samphire and sea lettuce by picking and washing. Set aside to cook later.
To pickle the dulse
- Wash the seaweed thoroughly and allow to drain.
- Mix the vinegar, water and sugar together, then place the seaweed and the pickle in a bag and leave in the fridge for at least two days.
To make the crab stock
- Roast the crab bones at 150c for 10 minutes. Be sure your oven is not above this temperature as the bones will quickly become bitter if over-roasted.
- Place into a suitably sized pan, add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 1 ½ hours. Strain and put back on a high heat to reduce the stock by a third.
To make the yolk puree
- Cook the whole eggs at 64c for 1h45.
- Separate the yolks and whites, discard the whites, then blend the yolks to make a thick puree. Season with salt.
To cure the egg yolks
- Drop the yolks into a bowl and cover with the soy sauce, turning every hour. They will take approximately three hours and are ready once they have formed a thicker skin on the outside.
- Carefully remove the yolks from the soy and dehydrate until they are dry enough to grate.
To make the leek ash
- Place the washed leeks in the oven at 100c overnight, or around eight hours. Once they are fully dry and roasted, blend to a fine powder and put into a shaker.
To make the elderflower pickle gel
- Place the elderflowers in the pickle for at least one month.
- Take 200g of the elderflowers and pickle, and blend to make a liquid, stalks and all.
- Place in a pan with the agar agar and cook until it reaches 90c. Hold that temperature for two minutes, then pour into a tray and allow to set.
- Blend the resulting jelly to achieve a fluid gel, then place in a piping bag and set aside.
To cook the potatoes
- Place the potatoes into a pan and cover with just enough crab stock to cover them. Season heavily with salt and cook slowly until they are tender. Leave to sit in the crab stock until needed.
To finish the dish
- Warm the potatoes in a little fresh crab stock and a generous spoonful of butter.
- Season the picked crab meat with salt.
- Remove the potatoes from the pan and place the sea vegetables into the leftover liquid to gently wilt them.
- Place a suitable sized ring on the plate and lightly crush the warm potatoes into it, leaving a gap in the centre.
- Pipe the yolk puree in the middle.
- Carefully spoon the crab on top of the potatoes, remove the ring.
- Top with dots of the elderflower gel, pickled dulse and wilted sea vegetables.
- Grate the cured yolk over and finish with the leek ash.
