This month we look at the yabby ‘left overs’ from last month’s freshwater yabby cocktail recipe.

Well, actually not quite leftovers; some say that the claws are the best bit, especially when presented in the cutsie half-claw, semi-in-the-shell finger food presentation like we have here. These claws are twice cooked. The ‘arm’ meat is once cooked.

As we did last month, first cook the freshwater yabbies, I put my yabbies in the freezer to quieten them down.

Then put about four litres of water into an 8 litre stock pot. To this water I add 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar for each litre.

Next put the pot of seasoned water onto the stove and bring it to the boil. When the water has reached a rolling boil, you can then add the yabbies to the boiling water.

1

Taking the yabbies out of the cooking water.

2

Pull the head away from the body (and vice versa)

3

Working on a cooked yabby. Break the claws away from the head of the yabby. Do this by gripping the ‘arm’ at the joint closest to the body and then lever the arm ‘backwards’. Then use kitchen shears (or kitchen scissors) to crack the claw in the area shown. Using either of these cutting tools allows you to reliably get the claws looking about the same length.

4

Flip the claw over and cut the other side so that you can separate and discard the unwanted piece of shell.

5

The accompanying piece of cray meat (cooked once) comes from the next largest piece of the full claw. Use the scissors to split the segment and lift out the piece of delicious cooked cray meat.

6

Both pieces of crab meat from each claw.

7

Beat an egg. Dip the claws in the beaten egg and then coat the exposed yabby or cray claw meat in Panko bread crumbs. Then deep fry the claws until the breadcrumbs turn golden brown.

8

The finished recipe….the twice cooked half-shell crumb coated cray claws – the accompanying piece of cray meat (cooked once) comes from the next largest piece of the full claw. Serve with a seafood dipping sauce and enjoy!

You can use the same Thai cocktail dressing from last month as a tasty dip, and\or you can offer the alternate seafood sauce as follows:

1/2 cup sour cream or mayo

2 tbs tomato sauce

A good pinch curry powder

A couple of dashes of Tabasco sauce

Stir these ingredients together until they are well combined and serve in a separate bowl or dish.