His most elegant donostiarra recipe was born to compete with the then appreciated American lobster. Today, the 'txangurro' has not only remained in its most classical aspect, but also inspires new -and exotic- creations, based on the powerful marine flavor of this crustacean
His name is that of the bug and, by extension, that of the recipe. In parts: changurro or txangurro comes from txangurru (in Basque), which is nothing but spider crab, that species of sea spider that is a decapod that goes through its reproductive cycle in summer to prepare for its best time in autumn. But, at the same time, that denomination has been extended to that of a recipe or, rather, several, always made with the shredded meat of that crustacean , that is, its interiors that add body and legs of white, brownish, reddish tones (including tasty corals) and even greenish. "Popular Basque dish made with cooked and crumbled spider crab in its shell", resolves the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy to define the term accepted as a recipe: changurro .
The txangurro a la San Sebastian is, in any case, its most popular recipe: it consists of opening the spider crab, leaving its shredded meat inside, and then gratinating it as it is in the oven . Its historical origin dates back to the beginning of the 20th century and it seems that it was born with the vocation of being the Basque version of the American lobster, elegant and luxurious elaboration of the time signed by Pierre Fraisse, with a tomato, garlic, onion sauce , maybe cognac and white wine a fish fumet.
The creation of the recipe for the Donostiarra can be awarded with almost total security to Félix Ibarguren, known as Xixito or Shishito , who, without a restaurant, was dedicated to teaching classes and who dreamed of giving the spider crab and sea ox with an elaboration similar to the American lobster, with a sign of main identity: a cover of breadcrumbs that is gilded after baking. Pure vanguard for the time.
Thus, Basque cuisine finds the Donostiarra in Txangurro (first documented in 1928 in the Adriana Juaristi Cookbook), an exception: in the face of dishes of mostly popular origin, this creation of Ibarguren emanates rather from the field of high kitchen. "The baked txangurro or the donostiarra was once a breath of fresh and popular air in the majestic and immutable great cuisine of the early twentieth century," they say from the Basque Academy of Gastronomy, where they say it is "the only traditional Basque demonstration that comes from haute cuisine ".
With the disappeared Casa Nicolasa as a reference in the memory of gourmet veterans (because there the great José Juan Castillo embroidered the recipe), there are several clues to try it today. There are safe values such as Rekondo , in San Sebastián, where it is served freshly baked in the shell itself and, sometimes, in a mini-txangurro ration within a small bowl. In the same city, Saltxipi offers it to both Donostiarra and cream.
This almost mythical elaboration is also found in Madrid in seafood restaurants such as O'Pazo or El Pescador , which serve the crab au gratin if the client asks for it; as well as in recent openings such as PerretxiCo , tavern of the Basque Josean Merino (with a mother house in Vitoria), which makes it a kind of pintxo with the txangurro to the golden donostiarra.
From ravioli to cannelloni
But that baked preparation is not the only one capable of cataloging within the txangurro universe . As one of those wonderful recipes that manage to maintain its past modernity, there is the txangurro and prawn ravioli in its consommé, which Hilario Arbelaitz serves in Zuberoa , his great house in Oiartzun, very close to San Sebastián. That tasty consomme can be accompanied by vegetables in julienne and even some teas peas in season.
Not far from the concept of using a thin paste to wrap the crustacean are the crab cannelloni, which Héctor López prepares at Restaurante España , in Lugo: "We make a seasonal dish of a crab cannelloni with hedgehog. It is a very juicy stew txangurro type with a spicy touch and the sauce is very light bechamel type with the hedgehog, "describes the chef. And the false lasagna of txangurro and hedgehog, a whole emblem in Sacha, dating, according to this hotelier, "easy, thirty years ago," calculates Sacha Hormaechea, owner of this botillería and stove in Madrid, where, "first, the Ravioli was only from Txangurro as an evolution of a previous recipe and, more or less eight or ten years later, as hedgehogs began to be found regularly in Madrid, it was cooked with hedgehogs and the original changed, "he details.
With the marine power of the interiors of this crustacean , that crumbled meat of spider crab or, sometimes, sea ox is a good asset for multiple recipes that test its versatility, without forgetting its nutritional properties . Coming usually from the Cantabrian or the Galician Rias (areas whose cold waters guarantee the best pieces) and with more meat and flavor the female in front of the male, it must be taken into account that, in any case, a crab is a sum of iodine, sodium , zinc, selenium, proteins, vitamins E and B, polyunsaturated fatty acids, water and magnesium (with the risk, yes, like other shellfish, uric acid can rise).
Options to eat it? In Verdejo Taberna , mix the txangurro with free range eggs and shrimp; Meanwhile, in the Madrid-based Ve-Ga Bar , it becomes a salad to be served on a roasted avocado. In Pepe Vieira (Poio, Pontevedra), Xosé Cannas evolves the typical Galician recipe of presenting the crab prepared with its crumbled meat inside, with the crab with brioche bread crumbs and Padrón peppers.
In addition, it can be stuffed with a fish, with classic recipes such as hake stuffed with txangurro, shipped in La Solana (Cabañas, La Coruña); or a brioche, like the one prepared in Arima , Basque concept in Madrid.
It can also become an ingredient in liquid recipes, such as green garlic (a white pistachio garlic) with txangurro and anchovies from the Cantabrian, which Samuel Moreno makes, in Molino de Alcuneza (Sigüenza, Guadalajara); like a sea and mountain, the cabbage and lacon soup with txangurro available at LAV (León); or the acidified soup of crustaceans and fennel fermented with the incorporated txangurro, a dish of Cobo Vintage (Burgos). "The soup is, in fact, a tiger's milk in which we introduce a fumet to take away a point of acidity; on the other hand, we skip the heads of the carabineros and the crab corals, we pass it through a passage and we get a juice, which is a gelé of the heads themselves. The result of unifying everything is an acidified soup of cold crustaceans. At the same time, we make a panacotta or iota from the head and interiors of the txangurro and on it a layer of steamed crab meat. It's about cooking in different places, "says Miguel Cobo, owner of this restaurant in Burgos.
In the field of haute cuisine, creativity is applied to this marine product. In the 2019 season of Aponiente (El Puerto de Santa María), Ángel León dispatches the maximum concentration of the spider crab in the essence of txangurro, a subtle dish "with which we achieve the maximum flavor of this crustacean," says the chef.
Globalized Recipes
Fusion and globalization also reach the product and even the classic recipe. It is shown by dishes such as noodles with txangurro thai , an exotic recipe served on the shell of the crustacean, served in Gunpowder . If, in this place opened a few months ago in Madrid, it intersects with the Asian, there are examples that tend to the Peruvian or Mexican. Thus, the cause of txangurro can be proven in Topa Sukaldería , a concept that crosses the Basque and Latin cultures of Andoni Luis Aduriz, in San Sebastián: the Peruvian recipe of crushed potatoes is crowned here by the crumbled meat of the spider crab. At Punto MX , Roberto Ruiz signed a txangurro soup last year, so he served the seafood on a small fried corn tortilla of a certain thickness.
In Bacira , Asian-Mediterranean format of Gabriel Zapata, Vicente de la Red and Carlos Langreo, in Madrid, you can try txangurro croquettes with spicy red curry. For the preparation with bechamel, José Miguel Bonet, from Es Ventall , has also opted for his summer pop-up on Radio ME Ibiza Rooftop Bar, terrace of the Hotel ME Ibiz. Like the healthy food format Bowl Bar , which serves txangurro croquettes.
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