Food Intelligence King

Chapter 76 Crab Roe Buns

There's an old saying: "In the lower reaches of the nine rivers, crabs are cheaper than rice."

This is really an old saying.

Buying crabs on the street these days is not cheap at all.

People have such an enormous appetite and such a sophisticated way of eating that it's rare to hear of anything edible that would become an overabundance in this land.

However, you can try to adapt your cooking to local conditions.

Brother He Qiang's suggestion is good.

Chen Zhou plans to use today's sea crabs to make some crab roe soup dumplings to try.

However, according to the method He Qiang shared, these steamed buns—

Today, even if you include the meat from the crab legs, you can't wrap more than a dozen crabs.

For now, we can only eat at home.

After Chen Zhou arrived home, he had just put the crabs into the sink when Ms. Lin returned with her child.

He said to his wife:

"Let's try something different today."

Ms. Lin now understands what Chen Zhou meant by "various styles".

She smiled faintly: "So what are you planning to put in the buns this time?"

She was right. Chen Zhou pointed to the crabs in the sink.

"Crab roe soup dumplings, the man taught me how to make them when I bought crabs today."

"Is that the guy we met when we went beachcombing before?"

As she spoke, Ms. Lin gathered her hair and walked toward the kitchen.

Chen Zhou gave her the spot by the sink and turned to prepare the pork.

"I feel like I can learn one or two of their signature dishes from each person."

Chen Zhou told the truth.

Ms. Lin nodded. She has two signature dishes: housewife's salad and seasonal vegetable salad.

Not too many, not too few.

Of course, it wasn't exactly delicious either.

First, clean the crabs with a small brush, then steam them.

This is not much different from eating crabs normally.

But the next steps are a bit tricky—

You need to pick out all the crab roe, crab meat, and crab paste from the crab.

The couple carried two small basins to the dining table and began their work.

Twist off the crab legs and use crab claws to pry open the crab's navel.

Open the crab shell and remove the crab's stomach and the white piece of crab heart in the middle.

Ms. Lin used a gentle touch, and after she lifted it up, she could still see a relatively intact brown film.

This is the shell of a crab before it fully matures; it's still soft.

Chen Taotao thought it tasted good.

The difference between male and female crabs is very obvious at this time of year—the crab roe and crab fat are different colors, one white and one yellow.

Turn them over and look for their back covers, which correspond to pointed and round navels respectively.

It must be said that sea crabs don't have nearly as much crab roe and crab paste as hairy crabs.

But since it's just a meal at home, there's no need to be so particular.

So Chen Taotao was also called over to help.

The little girl was in charge of putting together the crab roe and crab fat that her parents had taken out.

What kind of help can a five-year-old child provide?
It was really just to let her sneak a couple of bites.

After shaving off this paste-like substance, then comes the crab meat on the bottom shell.

When eating it normally, you can simply scoop it out a couple of times and then start eating.

Chew and chew, try to extract as much crab meat as possible, then savor the freshness of the crab, and finally spit out the remaining hard shell in your mouth.

Now we need to carefully remove the crab meat, strand by strand.
It really takes some effort.

In the time it would take to dismantle the crabs, Chen Zhou felt he could have made dozens of steamed buns.

This speed is even after he has already upgraded his [ingredient processing] to a professional level.

So after peeling two crabs, Chen Zhou turned and went to the kitchen.

"I'll make some noodles, you go first."

"Ah."

Ms. Lin answered seriously.

After Chen Zhou finished kneading the dough, he also prepared a small bowl of minced meat.

Ms. Lin, who represents the average person, was already sweating profusely.

In the past, she would at most give Chen Taotao one or two crabs, without being too careful.

She experiences the sense of accomplishment and happiness of motherhood, and also finds some enjoyment in it. If she were to peel a dozen crabs with such seriousness now, she'd almost feel like she'd lived in Bengbu.

"Honey, you should do it."

Ms. Lin's patience ran out, and she even started to act coquettishly towards Chen Zhou.

She's actually kind of cute.

"I'll do it if I want."

As Chen Zhou peeled the crab, he thought to himself:
This approach is definitely not suitable for general commercial use.

Unless you add more minced meat and less crab, you can only add a tiny bit of umami flavor.

Either raise the price. If we do as He Qiang suggested and add some chicken broth and aspic, the price of a single bun will be over a hundred.

That would have little to do with their own community canteen.

Chen Zhou felt that there was no need to rush to sell this new steamed bun product.

Once you've mastered the method, that's enough. There's a "diner activity" feature; we can use it again when needed.

After the crab meat, crab roe, and crab legs were removed, they were indeed much smaller than the original crabs with their shells on, but they still made up a substantial small basin.

If you were to eat it in big bites, it would definitely be very satisfying.

But you can't eat it right now. Nor should you mix it with the ground pork.

It also needs to be chopped up and fried briefly.

When cooking at home, there's no need to use so much oil.

After adding the crab meat, stir it frequently to prevent it from sticking to the pan or burning.

Once the crab meat becomes fluffy and firm, the crab roe will gleam with a golden sheen.

You can smell an enticing aroma when you get close.

At this point, pour the whole pot, including the crab meat, crab roe, and crab oil, and mix it with the minced pork.

Mix well.

The crab roe bun filling, made with locally sourced ingredients, is now ready.

Next, we'll make the steamed buns.

Making soup dumplings is indeed quite difficult for Brother He Qiang.

But Chen Zhou was already so skilled at wrapping them that he couldn't be more skilled.

With so little crab meat and roe, even with the addition of some pork filling, you can't make many dumplings in total.

So Chen Zhou finished wrapping it in just a few minutes.

With a little filling left, dab it a few times at the top where the pleats of the bun meet.

Then it's time to steam it.

The small steamer at home has a transparent lid.

Through the steam and mist, one can vaguely observe the process of the bun skin gradually changing from dry and rough to plump and smooth.

Finally, it appears slightly transparent.

Under high temperature, the filling on top shrinks continuously, and pale yellow oil is extracted from the small dome.

The slow transformation of the buns inside the steamer is a very relaxing and enjoyable experience.

Watching it for a while is enough to relieve the fatigue of the day.

But you can't watch it all the time, or you'll get hungry.

In the end, the crab roe buns were indeed worth the family's hard work for half a day.

The soup is both fresh and smooth upon tasting.

The crab meat and roe, with their more pronounced grainy texture, slowly melt in your mouth, releasing a rich aroma of crab oil.

The minced pork wasn't the main ingredient this time, but it still provided a rich and mellow flavor.

Although it was a little lacking in crab roe, the sea crab tasted even sweeter.

The finishing touch, which I'd like to specifically mention, is the shredded ginger and balsamic vinegar. The combination of these two ingredients not only balances the greasiness but also adds a touch of sourness and spiciness.

Chen Taotao can now even eat a couple of bites of ginger on her crab roe bun.

After finishing one steamed bun, he ended up with a messy face, with a lot of golden soup and oil stuck to the corners of his mouth.

Seeing this, the elderly mother quickly reached for a tissue to wipe her clean.

Chen Taotao pulled her head back slightly:

"I can do it this way!"

The little tongue moves left and right, not wasting a single bit.

He speaks quite fluently.

Chen Zhou remembered that the intelligence mentioned that Grandpa Yu was coming to the store for a meal.

He thought he should treat the old man to a meal.

So while he was eating crab roe buns, Chen Zhou glanced at the customer activity feed again, which clearly stated that he liked pickled cucumbers.

Then there's nothing to worry about.

(End of this chapter)