A challenging product that will amaze you.
While people have been enjoying the legs of the king crab for ages, all other parts have been cleaned out in the factories and gone straight to the garbage. One edible part that has been thrown away, is the king crab tail. But for wrong reasons, as this is very delicious when it’s prepared correctly.
For us, it all started ten years ago when we visited the king crab factory in Repvåg with our team. The founder of King Crab House, Håkon Karlsen, also CEO of North Cape King Crab delivering our crabs, knew the tail to be edible. However, the problem was to get it out from the shell without destroying both looks and texture of it, as it’s stuck to the shell completely. But as Håkon always says, there are never problems, only challenges.
So, challenge accepted.
Our cooks tried to get the meat out nicely, but nothing seemed to work. Until our sous chef during this time, in desperation, threw one tail in the deep fryer. The meat separated from the shell perfectly and gave us hope to continue with this odd-looking, but beautiful, piece. But we still had one essential problem. Erhm, challenge. The tail’s taste was so nice, but it was way too chewy! This was the moment a serious development of the product started.
From that day it took our kitchen a few more years to get the king crab tail all the way to our menu. But it was well worth the work, as we have sold almost 10000 dishes with the tail only last year, and at the same time reduce the waste in the factory with nearly 2000kg* a year!
The deep fryer turned out to be unnecessary in this case, we found our way to tear out the meat without it. Once the meat is separated from the shell, we cook it in 68 degrees Celsius in the circulator for 10 hours and then pan fry in butter to get a nice crispy finish before serving. It gets soft and tender, but still has its quite meaty texture, almost chicken like. (cliché) The flavour is something you must experience. While being the same, it’s something totally different than the meat in the king crab legs. More intense and so usable in different dishes.
At the moment you can enjoy this zero-waste product cut into pieces during lunch in our king crab salad, pasta and risotto. In the a la carte we also have it in the much-vaunted King Crab Soup. And naturally, it is also part of our best-seller, the King Crab House Seafood Platter, where it’s served whole in one piece. Highly recommended.
No wonder this part is a new favourite for many, while others prefer the milder delicate meat of the legs. Which part is your favourite? There’s only one way to find out. Book your table now!
Oh. And the tail’s shell… That we use when we make our king crab broth. Zero-waste.
*) we used 1845kg king crab tail in 2022, but we also use other anti-waste products nowadays, so the total reduce of waste in the factory is even more.
Stories of the King Crab House 