A celebration of Devon crab

A CELEBRATION OF DEVON CRAB
Here in Devon we have the best crab to be sampled in the world. It is unique in its sweet flavour and can be created into many wonderful dishes. Having spent many hours as a boy catching crabs in Bigbury Bay and picking them out for the many restaurants and inns, I have a pasion for this unique local product from the sea and encourage young and old customers to join in sampling world class crab with us.
Our Famous crab Bolberry Busters Sandwiches have been enjoyed by customers from all over the globe. This unique "meal in its self" is made with lightly buttered brown bread with a top layer of crisp local salad and the bottom layer a mix of sweet Devon white crab meat and the tasty rich brown meat. We do not add mayonnaise, vinegar or salt and pepper, which we think spoils a beautiful product, but offer it as an accompaniment so that guests can decide on their own personal preference.
There is no "correct" method of preparing a crab sandwich which makes every sandwich unique.


At Port Light we serve Devon crab in many forms.
Our rich crab bisque is made from a closely guarded recipe which was gained from one of the fishermans wives in Hope Cove when I was a boy. I was taught to make it using spider crab which has a stronger flavour than brown crab, but now we always use Devon brown crab.
Our crab salads are made using the best local crab with nothing added !
Crab cakes are widely available in many local restaurants and inns but sadly, many are "bought in" for convenience. We are proud that ours are homemade every day using our quality crab with a few secret ingredients added to give the unique flavour.

A cook's Tour of England by Maurice Hassall

As many of you know, my Dad is one of the last "Old School" classic chefs. He is a past examiner
for City and guilds of London Institute, and the Hotel Catering and institutional Management association. Chairman of the Judges, at International festivals of culinary arts. He was also Head of catering at Plymouth College of Further Education before he took on the challenge of Hotelier which he did for 20 years ! He is now retired in Cyprus and spends his time writing about food and looking for new ideas as well as watching some on the new food trends with a smile on his face, sometimes with disbelief !! I therefore think he is experienced enough to get involved with my thoughts on the Great Devon Crab crusade. I told him about my conversation with Mitch Tonks and his enthusiasm about promoting Devon Crab, Dad has now got excited and has been talking "Crab" for the last 7 days, having returned to Devon for a holiday. He referred me to an extract in his recent book:
Seated around the gnarled round wooden table were about ten fisherman all wearing baggy trousers and with knives strapped to their legs. Each man wore a dark blue polo-necked thick oil wool hand kniotted pullover and heavy full-length boots that fought for a place under the table. They were singing words about life spent at Sea in a cornish dialect whilst cracking open a mountain of boiled Crabs scattered over the table. I knocked on the door ! " Come in me 'ansome and take off your wet clothes". I had only ever had an offer like this before when I visted a Gorl Guides camp! Then these kind fishermen made me a Crab sandwich. A thick round of bread was plastered with Cornish butter, piled high with white Crabmeat then a good layer of darl body meat. Only the dead men's fingers and sack had been discarded. no refinements like serving the meat with mustard, salt, pepper and vinegar and adding soft white breadcrumbs. The meat went directly from the shell to the top of the white meat. " we do not put salt, pepper and vinegar on our tasty crab like those foreign English people from up the line" said one of the cornish fishermen. He knocked back another pint of cloudy white Scrumpy and I was given directions to the youth hostel.

This is another example of how Devon crab can be enjoyed !