Crustastun and Brixham Crab at the Berry Head Hotel With Chef Jolly

To see is to believe. There is no better way of demonstrating the value of a Crustastun than to see it in action, so our Project Director, Kat Cooper and The Chefs’ Forum team headed off to Brixham to put it to the test. Chef Jolly and local chef Canon Vas from the Berry Head Hotel joined them.

Mitchell & Cooper are proud to manufacture Crustastun at our family-run factory in Uckfield in East Sussex.  We are carrying out a series of live trials at the moment. We are systematically receiving hugely positive feedback about the improved eating quality of crab and lobster, humanely dispatched, using our patented cutting-edge, humane, technology, while raising welfare standards in the processing of live crustaceans in a professional kitchen environment.

The purpose of the Brixham trip was to meet the fishermen and market traders at the chalk face of the fishing industry and then to see the wonderful creations produced in the kitchen by top Indian fish chefs, all using Crustastun to stun the freshest live Brixham crab and the results were truly amazing.

Project Director and Crustastun Manufacturer Kat Cooper said

“We have had a brilliant time in Brixham with The Chefs’ Forum and the brilliant chefs we have met along the way.  To be shown around the fish market by the Rockfish chefs was such an amazing experience and the passion and excitement from the chefs in our party was infectious.  I am really excited about the future of Crustastun and how well it has been received by the chefs who are using it. Crustastun is especially dear to us as we manufacture it and it is so great to see it being tested by top chefs in the field.”

We were joined by David Markham from the Blue Seafood Company in neighbouring Paignton, who supplies beautiful Brixham Crab to Rockfish and is also a Brand Ambassador for Crustastun.

David said

“There is this issue going on around sentience and the population is behind it. And when anyone asks, we explain that we use Crustastun and it is compassionate. We’ve done our part to make sure our restaurant dispatches crab in the most humane manner.

“We’ve very quickly started to adopt the Crustastun technology, from a humane perspective mainly. We use it in our larger crab business, Blue Sea Crab, and when we opened our restaurant, The Crab & Hammer in Paignton, it was a natural progression to use a smaller version in the kitchen.

“We’ve had comments from the likes of Raymond Blanc and The Waterside Inn how they can really notice the difference in the flavour of the crab and we were truly amazed with the difference to the improved eating quality of the crab meat when it is humanely stunned, it is less stressed and more tender as a result.

International Celebrity Chef Jolly d: concluded

“It was an absolute privilege to see the fish market and we are so grateful to the Rockfish chefs for the tour and the fantastic surf and turf breakfast they kindly prepared for us afterwards in Rockfish.  It is wonderful to see the care and passion that runs through everything the team do and take in the beautiful harbour views or trawlers, fishermen and general market activity.  I felt much better about using Crustastun to humanely dispatch Brixham crab, then creating a wonderful Kerala crab curry in a cook-off with Canon in his kitchen and the quality of the crab coming out of Torbay is simply sensational –The crab meat really was really tender and stunning crustaceans is definitely the future in professional kitchens.  I had a great time and will certainly be visiting Brixham and Rockfish again soon.”

The Chefs’ Forum is looking to stage a larger version of this event as we feel it is important for chefs to see where their fish comes from, at source and all of the hard work and passion that goes into supplying professional kitchens across the UK and beyond.   Any chefs who would be interested in attending such an event should contact catherine@redcherry.uk.com.