How to Eat Hairy Crabs: A Step-by-Step Guide
The end of October means crab season, which lasts from mid August until early January, is in full swing. Yangcheng Lake in nearby Suzhou is exporting hairy crab by the bushel this year and plenty of the succulent seafood is landing on tables around town. We dropped in on David Du, head chef at the Hyatt on the Bund’s upscale Chinese restaurant, Xindalu to find out how to eat this renowned Shanghai delicacy.
He demonstrated on a female crab, which peak earlier in the season (Males are best after the beginning of November since they mature later) and are distinguished by their slightly smaller size and greater amount of roe (that’s the bright yellow stuff) inside. Du says he prefers a simple, steamed preparation for the crabs and that he doesn’t add any additional flavors that might detract from the crabmeat.
Waiters at Xindalu are on hand to help you open your crabs if you choose, but we couldn’t wait to dig in and get dirty. Here are ten easy steps to eating 大闸蟹 like a local. Hint: don’t be afraid to use your teeth!
2. Cut or pull apart the legs at the joints (you can also use your teeth to do this).
3. Open the shell to get the meat out of each segment of the legs.
4. Use a nutcracker or your Batman-like strength to break the shell on the front claws. There is a lot of delicious meat in this part.
5. Next, pull the tail off the body of the crab.
6. Open the body in half. The yellow bit is the roe and is one of the tastiest parts of the crab.
7. Remove the internal organs. The heart resembles a small tea bag and the lungs look like shark fins. These parts are inedible, so simply put them to the side.
8. Cut the body down the middle or pull it apart with your fingers to separate into halves.
9. Cut in half again to create quarters. This will make the meat inside most accessible. Dip the crab into the vinegar and ginger mixture (Xindalu bakes their ginger before adding it to the vinegar so that the flavors fuse together) and then use chopsticks to pick the meat out or just suck it out with your mouth. This is actually the most effective and fun way to do it.
10. Enjoy!
A female crab costs around RMB20 per 150g at most markets. Males are RMB16 per 200g. Yancheng Lake crabs are higher quality and will set you back RMB80 for a female, RMB70 for a male.
Hyatt on the Bund serves Yangcheng Lake crabs at Xindalu, but you can also enjoy all-you-can-eat hairy crabs at their international buffet, Aroma along with all-you-can-drink Huangjiu (黃酒), a type of yellow wine that complements the flavor of the crabmeat.
Crab season here makes me miss the SF dungeness experience. Did David mention how long he steams these for? At home, we steam hairies for 20 min then turn off the heat and let sit covered for five before serving. Nice pics.