velvet crabs can be made into a delicious crab bisque. Most caught off the coast of Ireland end up in Europe. You can get them frozen in Lidl. This is what i do.
1 Defrost the crabs
2 open them get out the grey dead mens fingers like you do with the big boys
3 smash them up and put them in a saucepan
4 add 2 chopped carrots , 2 chopped sticks of celery, 1 lge chopped onion, 2 smashes garlic cloves, handful of parsley, a few turns of ground pepper
5 a large glass dry white wine add to pot
6 a tin of tomatoes and 2 tbspns of tom puree
7 pour on 75cc of water and a good slug of knorr touch of taste fish stock concentrate 9I find this the best to use
8 you can add an anchovy or two or a dollop of anchovy essence.
9 bring the pot to the boil, then simmer for an hour gently
10 pound the contents in the pot or put into a liquidizer if its a strong one
11 strain, reheat, taste reduce to concentrate the flavour if you need
12 serve with swirls of cream and good crusty bread
you could add brandy at the reheat stage if you want to but its not necessary
Enjoy!!!!!