Severe flooding in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces during early July is expected to push up the price of hairy crabs this year, state media reports. Hairy crab is a much-cherished autumn delicacy in Shanghai, and across China, and the little fellas are also exported to other Asian countries, including Japan, Korea and Singapore. The first hirsute crustaceans of the 2007 season are beginning to arrive in local markets, with prices reported to be up 10 to 20 per cent on last
year. Below is an article about the revered hairy crab that we wrote last year for Asian Hotel & Catering Times magazine.
Below is an article about the revered hairy crab that we wrote last year for Asian Hotel & Catering Times magazine.
Getting Crabby
It’s that time again. While elaborate mooncake promotions bestride
hotel lobbies across China, kitchens in Shanghai are busily preparing
another cherished seasonal treat: da zha xie or hairy crab.
For two short months, mid October to mid-December, Shanghai gourmands
go ga-ga for the sweet-tasting meat and roe of these hirsute
white-bellied, golden-legged crustaceans who spit foam constantly and
hit the scales at between 180–250g.
As regional delicacies go, this one is hard to beat – ancient poets
even inscribed verses it its honour. Today, hairy crabs head Autumnal
menus across Shanghai and throughout China, while restaurants from
Singapore to Sapporo pay top dollar to import them. And its reputation
has a global reach: during the 2004 launch of the ZAGAT Survey Shanghai
restaurant guide, one of the first questions Nina Zagat, owner of the
New York-based publisher, asked was “Where is the best place in this
city to eat hairy crab?”
“It’s the seasonality that makes the hairy crab such a delicacy,” says
Emmanuel Souliere, Executive Chef at the Hilton in Shanghai. “Around
the world, people like to eat foods that are only available for a short
time – nature has evolved in this way to create healthy, seasonal
foods,” Souliere says. “During the season here, you can’t miss the
hairy crab – it’s everywhere from the airport to the markets to the
streets.”
Souliere, a Frenchman who has worked for several years in Asia, prefers
the traditional, simple Shanghainese preparation. “We tie the crab legs
together and steam the crabs for 8 to 10 minutes,” he says. “The best
way to eat it is just with some vinegar on the side, this helps you to
savour the sweetness in the crab meat. Then crack the shell and start
eating.”
The provenance of the Shanghai hairy crab explains its highly-coveted status.
Though hairy crabs are now bred and reared in lakes across Jiangsu
province and the Yangtze River Delta, the “real deal” – the most
prized, expensive and succulent hairy crabs – are harvested from
Yangcheng Lake, about a one-hour drive from Shanghai. Different
maturation rates, however, mean that the female crab is eaten first, in
October – with the male meat ready in the second month of the season,
once the air and water temperature has dropped significantly.
“Yangcheng lake crabs are the authentic hairy crabs,” says Ye Wen
Chian, Executive Chinese Chef at Pudong Shangri-La. “A few decades ago,
it was the only place that you could get them. The size, remote
location, and, most importantly, depth of the waters of Yangcheng Lake
are what make the crabs so popular. Because the water is very deep, and
therefore cooler, the crabs who live near the bottom have tighter,
tastier meat. No other crab has the same flavour. We can tell the crabs
that lived in the upper waters, as their shell is lighter.”
To mark the seasonal harvest, the Portman Ritz Carlton hosts a Culinary
Academy Master Class, which includes a day trip to Yangcheng Lake and a
hairy crab farm to see how the crabs are bred. The Ritz-Carlton’s
Hanagatami Japanese restaurant usually prepares an eight-course menu,
featuring a crab meat and seaweed cocktail, Wasabi Tobiko salad with
apple cream dressing, miso-grilled crab meat with herbed crouton and
honey mustard, and deep-fried crab meat tempura with Konbu stock.
When it comes to the hirsute crustacean, Ho Wing, Executive Chef at the
Ritz-Carlton’s Summer Palace restaurant is a traditionalist. “We wash
the crab and steam the whole thing without cutting it,” he says. “I
also sometimes like to add in three Chinese medicinal elements, red
date, Chinese gooseberry and danggui, to help reverse the chilling
effect of the crab meat on the stomach.” The cold impact on the human
body can also be alleviated by eating minced ginger with the crab, or
by drinking warming, yellow Shaoxing wine.
As for the best way to eat hairy crab, Chef Ho laughs, “It is hard to
eat the crab with good manners. You have to get your fingers messy.”
Uncertainty about how exactly to crunch the crab is, Ho says,
noticeable among unaccustomed diners. “Many foreign guests love to eat
hairy crab but they don’t know how to open the shell and will ask the
service staff for help. You should eat the legs first, then the body,”
he says.
Ye Wen Chian of the Pudong Shangri-La agrees. “Different parts of the
crab have different flavours, so we provide a demonstration to all our
service staff so that they can help guests to eat and enjoy them. The
service staff is very important during the hairy crab season.
Last year, the Pudong Shangri-La’s Gui Hua Lou Sichuanese, Shanghainese
and Cantonese restaurant served a special menu, featuring 14 special
crab preparations; including braised bird’s nest with hairy crab meat
and roe and sautéed pea sprouts and bamboo piths with hairy crab meat
and roe, as well as the traditional steamed dish – was easy to put
together. “The hotel has been serving hairy crab specialities for many
years, so we are familiar with what customers most enjoy,” Ye says.
“Each year, we compare the market prices and quality and check which
were the most popular dishes last year. It only takes one to two weeks
to finalise the menu.”
Other Shanghai hotels also offer innovative takes on the traditional
serving style. “Our hairy crab preparations offer an expansive a la
carte selection, including braised abalone with crab roe, stir-fried
hairy crab meat with egg white, and Chinese vegetables-infused hairy
crabs,” says Chef Law Lip Lam, Chinese Banquet Executive at Ai Mei, the
signature Chinese restaurant at the new 770-room Le Royal Méridien
Shanghai, which opened on People’s Square in late September.
When steaming the hairy crab, Chef Law has adopted the Cantonese
cooking style, with the vinegar – mixed with gingered rice – slightly
different from the traditional Shanghainese flavour. When steaming the
hairy crab, Chef Law seasons it with basil to “remove the natural smell
and refresh the flavour.” Diners are served a refreshing post-meal cup
of ginger tea to reheat the body.
Shanghai hairy crab is far from being the exclusive preserve of hotel
kitchens, however. Any restaurant worth its salt will be eager to sate
the seasonal demand of hungry urbanites. Jereme Leung, Founder and
Executive Chef of Whampoa Club at Three on the Bund, and a new sibling
restaurant in Beijing, has spent several years studying Shanghainese
cuisine. He has honed a contemporary approach to preparing and serving
its signature dishes as he seeks to create: “A Chinese fine-dining
concept which the world is not really familiar with yet. Almost every
other national cuisine has been adapted to fine-ding, except Chinese
food,” Leung says.
In 2006, the Whampoa Club’s Crab Feast Tasting Menu included drunken
hairy crab, crunchy pickled vegetable, sweet vinegar shave ice and
stir-fried hairy crab powder, asparagus and mini taro for appetisers.
Main courses included stuffed crab claw with shrimp mousse, hairy crab
meat and roe jelly and, Leung says, “a duo of hairy crab shark’s fin
creations: Braised hairy crab roe with shark’s fin, and crispy hairy
crab dumpling with Chinese consommé.”
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