Down-home cooking vs. restaurant cuisine
The famed poet Su Shi once wrote: “If you never get to Lushan, in vain were you born with eyes. If you never eat crab, what a terrible waste of a stomach!” In Taiwan, if you fail to taste Wanli crabs, you really have thumbed your nose at one of the better things Mother Nature has to offer.
Zhang Yongyao, proprietor of the Hung-Li Seafood home delivery service as well as a local fish products business, is a crab guru. He points out that female crabs are plumpest in the ninth month of the lunar calendar, while male crabs are at their best taste and texture in the tenth month, but in fact crabs are available all year round.
According to Zhang Yongyao, “Crucifix crabs are most abundant in the summer and fall, and three-spot swimming crabs come out in force around the time of the northeast monsoons, while ridged swimming crabs are more plentiful in the winter.” He further explains that crabs molt, and have less meat when their shells are soft; when the shells get hard, the crabs are plumper. As winter approaches, they prepare for hibernation, and this is when they have the most caviar, roe, and flesh.
To promote Wanli crabs, the New Taipei City Government last year created the “Wanli Crab” brand name and hired the marketing firm Niche imc to run a marketing campaign. Liu Pei-pei, who is in charge of Wanli crab branding at the firm, explains that since last year some 31 seaside restaurants in the ports of Yeliu, Dong’ao, Guihou, and Wanli have been approved to use the Wanli Crab logo to promote their Wanli crab dishes, such as Wanli crab congee, grilled Wanli crabs, fried Wanli crabs, and salt-and-pepper Wanli crabs. The variety is endless.
In addition to the local seaside restaurants, big international hotels in Taipei, Hsinchu, Taoyuan, Taichung, and Kaohsiung have also jumped on the bandwagon by rolling out seasonal dishes featuring Wanli crabs.
At the Ambassador Hotel in Taipei, the Canton Court Chinese restaurant offered a special crab dish in October, expertly combining Wanli crabs with the Canton Court’s famous fried white radish patty. Patrons have been bowled over by the delicious result! Another crab dish launched in October features crabs together with various other seafoods, and is going to be a perfect choice for restaurant-goers when the cold weather of November and December rolls around.
Canton Court head chef Lin Chien-lung explains that most crab dishes are steamed or boiled. If overdone, the meat will become tough, so it’s important to get the timing just right. A ten-ounce crab, for example, comes out nicely if you place it in boiling water, put the flame on low, and cook it for seven minutes.
Even Western-style restaurants have gotten in on the act by putting limited-time crab dishes on the menu during the peak Wanli crab season. Head chef Michael at Lawry’s The Prime Rib, for example, cooks up three-spot swimming crabs in three different ways: steamed, broiled with garlic butter, and boiled in dark beer. In addition, there are parmesan crab cake appetizers, crab and roast potatoes, and various other Wanli crab delights.
Lawry’s The Prime Rib serves up steamed crabs, crab and roast potatoes, and other Western-style crab dishes.