Crab Specialties Will Be Served at Dinner When Autumn Winds Rise

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A saying in China goes:”Crab specialties will be served at dinner when autumn winds rise.”

Eating crabs is not only a seasonal activity, the breeds and the regions can also determine their quality.

Crabs are subdivided into freshwater crabs and sea crabs. The meat of freshwater crabs is tender and more delicious than sea crabs. Of all the freshwater crabs, Dazha crabsare the best, and the Dazha crabs produced in Yangcheng Lake, Suzhou, are regarded as authentic. Dazha crabs from Yangcheng Lake are plump and delicious, it is said, because the bottom of Yangcheng Lake is hard and the crabs develop their strong bodies and powerful legs by walking on such a hard surface. Apart from being larger, Dazha crabs from Yangcheng Lake have special features of their own-“glistening green back, white belly, golden claws with yellowish hair.”Nowadays, almost all the Dazha crabs from other regions can appear to be “green on the back and white on the belly”after people wash them. However, the golden fine hair on crab claws is still a point of pride and is exclusive to Dazha crabs from Yangcheng Lake.

During September and October, according to the Chinese lunar calendar, that is, the current October and November, female and male crabs mature respectively.

The time that it takes for both female and male crabs to mature simultaneously is even shorter, no longer than 10days, to be exact. So the best time for enjoying crabs is fleeting. When the season for crabs arrives, the Dazha crabs from Yangcheng Lake are flown to various cities so that people’s appetites can be satisfied.

The Chinese people’s love of crabs is time-honored-people eat crabs not only to fulfill their desire for food, they also see the spirit of eating crabs as a leisurely and carefree mood to which they aspire.”Enjoying crabs,””drinking wine,””feasting their eyes on chrysanthemums”and”composing poems impromptu” are pleasant, indispensable golden autumn activities for ancient, learned Chinese men.

Cooking the delicious Dazha crabs is unusually easy the crabs with purple perilla are put into boiling water over a roaring fire. Within 20 minutes at most, the once arrogant and ferocious crabs become the people’s dish on the dinner table, their shells turning golden red and the meat brimming with fragrance. Crabs are associated with art and culture connoisseurs, yet it is difficult to maintain refined manners when eating them because retrieving all the shiny eggs and white meat from its shell is a huge, meticulous project. Today, most people resort to using both hands and teeth to conquer the likes of the Dazha crabs. This way of eating crabs is aggressive and unrestrained, but it will unavoidably cause some loss of the meat. As a matter of fact, the ancients had already invented professional tools for eating crabs, namely the “eight tools for eating crabs.”It is said that the professionals who are skilled at using the”eight tools foreating crabs”can take all the meat out of the crab withoutdamaging a single bite, and the crab can be restored to its original shape if the empty shells are pieced together.

As far as food goes, crabs are cold. In addition, people need to have vinegar mixed with minced ginger. Minced ginger and vinegar are capable of both adding flavor and dispelling the cold. People who are particular about how they eat crabs also need to have high-grade Shaoxing rice wine and, after they’ ve had their fill, they finally have a cup of hot ginger tea, which warms their stomachs as well as their hearts.