"Brown Crabmeat" ?

[Fernwood]

I am looking at a recipe for Crab Curry which specifies separate quantities of "brown crabmeat" and "white crabmeat" to be treated differently in the course of preparation. I didn't know what brown crabmeat is, so I googled a bit and found many references, most of them on British sites. (The recipe is attributed to Jamie Oliver.) On this page Gordon Ramsay describes how to extract white crabmeat from claws and body, then he says to "scrape out the brown meat inside the main body shell...." It sounds to me as though white could be equivalent to "lump crabmeat" in US retail. Is brown crabmeat commonly marketed in the US? I live in New England and eat soft-shell crabs often enough, but I guess I don't have much experience in dissecting crabs and classifying the meat. Is the brown crabmeat actual muscle meat, or is it really the 'other stuff'?

Please educate me! Fern

[HungryC]

I'm not sure how British cooks employ the term "brown crabmeat" (or even what species of crab they might be using). Regarding the blue crab (callinectes sapidus), "white" (aka lump) crabmeat is from the body of the crab. "Brown" crabmeat is from the claw segments--it isn't snowy white, but rather has a brownish tint to the outer layers from the shell's pigment. Brown/claw meat is slightly cheaper, but just as delicious as lump.

[Carlovski]

Brown crabmeat refers to the brown, gooey stuff you find in the cavity of the shell. I'm not exactly sure what it is anatomically - the crab equivalent of a liver I guess! It has the most intense crab flavour, but a lot of people don't like the look of it, or the texture.

It quite often gets incorporated into sauces rather than served on it's own.

If I'm making pasta with crab (One of my favorite dishes) I make the sauce by gently cooking the brown meat with garlic, chilli and olive oil, add the pasts and just through in the white meat right at the end to warm through. I have made it with just the brown meat too, when I'm saving the white for something else.

[nikkib]

Brown crab meat is the body meat as opposed to the finer white claw meat. It has a richer, meatier flavour which is why it would be in the curry to give a stronger base flavour. Brown crab is also a common variet of crab obver here in the uk and i would imagine that would be thevariety used in Gordon/Jamies recipes.

[djyee100]

Brown crabmeat refers to the brown, gooey stuff you find in the cavity of the shell. I'm not exactly sure what it is anatomically - the crab equivalent of a liver I guess! It has the most intense crab flavour, but a lot of people don't like the look of it, or the texture. It quite often gets incorporated into sauces rather than served on it's own.

Agree, or so a British chef once told me. The "brown crabmeat" is the soft yellow-brown & white stuff found in the cavity of the top shell. The yellow-brown stuff is a gland; the white stuff is crab fat. Usually added to a sauce for a savory flavor. Taste a little before you use it. Sometimes it can be bitter (then I discard it).

ETA: Oops, taste it if it has been cooked. Not sure if your recipe calls for cooked or raw crab.

Edited May 27, 2009 by djyee100 (log)

[Prawncrackers]

I remember posting this a while ago on the Dinner II thread <click> (remember this topic - needs an update!!). Freshly steamed sloppy brown crab meat from brown crabs is one of my ultimate treats, yum yum. For me the reason to eat crab is for the brown meat, the white stuff i cook for others.

[Doodad]

I just bought Ramsey's book "In the Heat of the Kitchen" and he addresses this with the explanation that the species is different and yields two types of meat.