Crabbed

We usually take a fair bit of crab when we are on holiday on the Isle of Wight and I remember taking tinned crab from John West, as an occasional treat in a salad, as a child.  While back in 2018, the best I could do was rather inferior tinned crab from Vietnam, as noticed at reference 1.

Then the other day in Waitrose, I came across some tins of crab from Kingfisher, an outfit which turns out to be based in nearby Reigate. With the snap above being lifted from reference 2. I took a can of shredded at around £2 and a can of jumbo at around £4.

I could find nothing on the tins about country of origin, which I suppose means that, by default, the crab had been landed somewhere in the UK. Where from or by whom being another matter.

We tried the shredded first, finding, as seems to be usual with tinned fish, that you got a lot of brine for your money.

First up, a crab sandwich, on white sour dough from somewhere near Seven Dials. This did not work terribly well as the very mild flavour of the still soggy crab was dominated by that of the bread. Which did much better with cheese or as toast.

The shredded crab did rather better on top of an improvised green salad.

The following day we did the jumbo, which as we had by then suspected, was rather less soggy.

Taken, stirred up in a little olive oil, with a rather more organised salad. This was rather more like it, if still some way from the real thing.

Verdict: shredded probably fine for fish cakes, but otherwise stick to the jumbo. Assuming that is that we can't be bothered to get over to Fowler's of Polesden Lacey, who sometimes has real crabs' legs for sale. For which see reference 3.

PS 1: my mother's father was something of a salad master, this being in mid 20th century Montreal. Then as a child, I was quite often permitted to compose the Sunday tea-time salad, usually built around tinned tuna. While my mother had a story about being accorded similar permission when she was a child, but disgracing herself by letting a large green caterpillar through onto the Sunday tea-time table. Livestock which was alive and present in my time, but now largely extinct.

PS 2: BH's side of the family contributes a crab salad bowl, complete with matching serving spoons. Some notice of which, along with this post, can be seen at reference 4.

PS 3: a little later in the day, news from Cypress, Texas. Big game party packs. For the game itself, later today, read all about it in the Cod Fish Times at reference 5.

But have a care. These clocks do not all show the same time. And, following the remarks about advertisements for these games at reference 7, a selection of same is offered at reference 6.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/05/show-off-time.html.

Reference 2: https://kingfisherfoods.co.uk/.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/12/festive-lacey.html.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/search?q=crab+salad+bowl.

Reference 5: https://eu.capecodtimes.com/story/sports/nfl/2025/02/09/super-bowl-2025-what-time-is-kick-off-how-to-watch-on-tv-streaming/78337175007/.

Reference 6: https://youtu.be/_Car_LUPpVE.

Reference 7: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/02/jigsaw-20-series-3-report-no1.html.