Add the white wine, then slowly add the fish stock, stirring to avoid any lumps. (Doing this in a plastic bag stops the shells flying everywhere and saves on the clearing up.) If the meat is still in the crab remove the green feathery gills known as “dead man’s fingers”.Heat the vegetable oil in a large heavy-based saucepan and fry the crab shells over a high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring every so often until they begin to colour. Add the onion, leek, garlic, fennel seeds, thyme and bay leaf, and continue cooking for another 5 minutes or so, until the vegetables begin to colour. Then – whether or not you have already removed the meat from the crab – use the back of a heavy chopping knife or the flat side of a meat cleaver to break the crab body and legs shells up into small pieces. If you can’t get whole crabs, use cooked or raw prawns, with the shells and heads on, and just follow the recipe in the same way.
1kg freshly cooked or raw whole crab, or the same weight of shells 1tbsp vegetable oil 1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped 1 small leek, trimmed and roughly chopped 3 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped 12tsp fennel seeds A few sprigs of thyme 1 bay leaf 40g butter 2tbsp tomato pur?3tbsp flour 1 glass of white wine 1.5 litres fish stock, or a couple of good fish-stock cubes in 1.5 litres of hot water hot water 100ml double cream Salt and freshly ground white pepperIf you have live crabs, plunge them into boiling water for 2 minutes. For crab bisque you can remove the meat from the crab first and use it for the crab cakes, salads or a sandwiches, and make up the weight with extra shell A fishmonger might save you some shells. Bisque refers to a shellfish soup with cream.

The name is thought to have come from the Spanish Biscay region. With this type of soup the flavour really comes from the shells, and after I’ve cooked shellfish at home I always keep the shells in the freezer for this. Take the skillet off the heat and put the whole thing on the table Add a handful of chopped coriander. Then tuck in with the bread – dip it in the oil, it’s delicious. Oh, and a bottle of pinot grigio always goes down well.Patrick McGrath’s latest novel, ‘Port Mungo’, is published by Bloomsbury, priced £16.99.

Rub them with sea salt, to bring out the flavour, then rinse them – that way you don’t have too much left on there. Pat them dry.Take a big skillet and heat plenty of olive oil in it. Throw the whole peeled cloves of garlic, then add the cumin and paprika. Slosh it about to colour the oil, then in go the shrimp – as many as you have, they’re best fresh, so there’s no point saving any extras.Cook, stirring, until they colour up nice and pink, and nothing’s opaque. My wife and I have a wooden beach house in southern Belize, it’s a wonderful place to read and write. When we’re there I often drive into Placencia – a drinking village with a bit of a fishing habit. A bag full of fresh shrimps – at least two dozen (add more according to greed) 6-8 garlic cloves Olive oil for frying 1tsp cumin 1tsp paprika A handful of coriander, chopped (optional) Some good, fresh white breadRoll up your sleeves and peel all the shrimp.