Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Carefully lower the crab into the boiling water, cover and cook for twelve minutes. Remove and plunge the cooked crab in iced water. The rule for cooking crabs is boil for fifteen minutes per kilo, then add three minutes for each additional five hundred grams.

Remove the crab from the water and allow to thoroughly drain. Twist off the two large claws and break each in two at the joint. Use a pick or skewer to remove the meat from the smaller piece of claw and set aside.

Using a crab claw crack open the larger part of the claw. If you don’t have a crab claw wrap the piece in a thin tea towel and tap with a small hammer. Carefully remove the claw meat in as large a piece as possible and check to remove any small pieces of shell.

Break off the smaller crab legs and pick out the meat with the pick or skewer. Insert a dessert spoon into the back of the main body of the crab and lift up the central body piece from the shell. Remove the greenish coloured dead man’s fingers and discard.

Carefully cut through the centre of the body and pick out the white meat and place in the bowl. This will need to be really carefully checked for any small bits of shell. Place all of the picked crab into the fridge.

Take the main shell and spoon out the brown meat into bowl. Wash the shell and set it aside for later. Generously season the brown meat, add the breadcrumbs and lemon juice and mix together. Place in the fridge.

Shell the boiled eggs and separate the white and the yolks. Sieve both the egg whites and yolks and set aside and finely chop the parsley.

Fill the shell first with flaked white crab then the prepared brown crab. Top with lines of grated egg white and yolk and top with the freshly chopped parsley. Serve with homemade mayonnaise, lemon and brown bread and butter or salad and buttered Jersey Royal potatoes.