Crab Meat For Mac And Cheese

Our answer

Nigella's Crab Mac 'N' Cheese (from COOK, EAT, REPEAT) is a deluxe dish that has a sauce made with nutty Gruyère cheese and sweet crab meat. For preference, the crab should be a 50/50 combination of white and brown meat.

Brown crab meat comes from the main body of the crab and has a smoother, more pâté-like texture than the white meat. It is also higher in natural fats and stronger in flavour than white meat. You are most likely to find the brown meat if you buy crab direct from a fishmonger, usually as a dressed crab, where the meat is picked from the crab and then put back into the crab shell with the brown and white meat separated out. You may need to order this in advance. Some supermarkets also sell containers of mixed brown and white meat. In the US if you can't find the brown meat then the meat sold as "crab claw meat" is the best alternative. It comes from the swimming fins of the crab and is slightly darker in colour and stronger in flavour than the white meat, though it still has the flaky texture of white crab meat and is not as intense as brown crab meat.