By Tan Weiyun (Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-10-23 11:13

How to cook and serve

Authentic or not, a hairy crab has no way to escape its destiny: to end up on the dinner or banquet table, and then in your stomach.

There are dozens of ways to cook a crab. It can be boiled, fried, braised and sauted with pork, mushrooms, tea leaves or seafood. But the most famous and favored cooking method, the one that drives Shanghainese crab-lovers crazy, is simple: just steam the crab with ginger and herbs. Serve with dark rice vinegar, a trace of sugar and minced ginger.

The crab's legs should be tied with strong twine. It should be flipped on its back for a while so that its shell collects the delicious roe and the gao of the males, a glutinous whitish substance. Then it should be tossed into a pot of boiling water, steamed alive.

After about 20 minutes in boiling water, the crab turns to a gorgeous shade of tangerine, then it's time to roll up your sleeves to savor the delicacy.

And now, dig in

Many people find it quite complicated, tedious and messy to eat a crab: Sometimes little hammers and special implements are used to crack the large claws and withdraw the tasty flesh.

However, for a Shanghainese, 10 fingers and a pair of chopsticks are the best crab-eating tools.

First, take off the shell. The yellow fat and thick reddish roe of female crabs is underneath. October is the best month to eat female crab for its extra roe that makes the crab so tasty - and that gourmands live and die for. Crabs are harvested before they swim out to the ocean to mate. November is the time to eat males for their gao, which is under the "lid" or shell.

Then pull the crab apart. After eating the roe, gao and the yellow fat, pull off the legs. Replace the shell to keep the body warm.

Eat the legs first. You can either use a chopstick to push out the white, sweet and fragrant meat or suck it out, as most locals do. The leg shells may need to be cracked. The process can be laborious but it's rewarding.

Then, eat the body, after removing the inedible parts, the cellulose-like gills. The body is segmented with very thin shells, so you need to patiently dig out the meat with chopsticks, or other implements.

Note: The meat is delicious, but don't eat too much. According to traditional Chinese medicine, crab is "cold" or yin, so when eating crab, it's best to drink rice wine, which is "hot" or yang, to balance the energy in the body.

To find information about nice crab restaurants, click
Catching a taste of crab this season

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