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| The best way to eat! A bit of silky egg white and a bit of luscious crab meat! |
By Ellen L. Published: 2013-10-30
We love all kinds of crab in this household, especially Dungeness Crab. It is one of the few crabs that preserves sweet succulent tenderness while also being quite meaty. Unfortunately it is quite expensive in Hong Kong.
Luckily for us, however, my 老公's mother recently arrived from Vancouver, bringing with her two beautiful Dungeness crabs, still alive and kicking! Since we had two of these lovelies we decided to prepare them different ways to settle an old argument we've been having forever: is it better to boil or steam crab?
First we cooked a steamed version. We made it a little fancy by steaming egg white with it and ended up with Steamed Dungeness Crab and Egg White, or 蛋白清蒸珍寶蟹. The silky smoothness of steamed egg white with a fragrant touch of the mellowness of rice wine complements the crab meat perfectly while the sea sweet juices of the steamed crab delicately flavor the blandness of the egg white.
Ohhhh...and don't forget the fat!! YUMM!! The Dungeness Crabs were full of fat, that deliciously fragrant ochre guck that one finds clinging to the top shell when you open the crab. Oh!!! Yummy heaven! The fat bits are so good that we fight over it.
Sometimes when we watch western cooking shows the cooks actually WASH AWAY this fat from the crab when they prep, calling it "junk" or "dirty bits" or some such nonsense. We always scream "NOOOOOOOOOOO...!! That's the best part!!" at the TV, but obviously all hope is long lost. What a sad waste! I repeat: The crab fat is the best part!
The yellowy ochre bits are the fat as discussed and if you are extra lucky and find orange bits in your crab, that would be the crab roe which are heavenly delicious in a different, denser sort of way. This dish is best with a heap of rice so be sure and make a big pot of it!
Steamed Dungeness Crab and Egg White
蛋白清蒸珍寶蟹
(Prep time: 2 mins Cook time: 5 mins) (makes 1 dish)
Ingredients:
蛋白清蒸珍寶蟹
(Prep time: 2 mins Cook time: 5 mins) (makes 1 dish)
Ingredients:
- 2 egg whites (organic or free range)
- 1 tsp Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Rice Wine
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 dungeness crab (keep in refrigerater til needed)
Directions:
Separate egg whites into a mixing bowl and add salt, wine and water. Mix together gently and try to avoid making too many bubbles.
Add water to steamer and heat over high heat. Once the water is boiling, add the crab on its dish. The crab dish should be just deep enough to hold the egg whites and wide enough for the crab. (I remove the steamer basket, place the crab on its dish in carefully and then put the steamer basket back over the boiling pot of water. You have to be careful of the steam: it can get very hot!) Put the lid of the steamer back on. Leave the heat on high and steam for 20 minutes.
Remove lid and carefully pour in the egg white to fill the bottom of the dish. Put the lid back on but leave a gap for the steam to escape. (You can stick a chopstick in-between the lid and the steamer basket) Steam for 5 -6 minutes more or until the egg white is set or "jiggles" when you gently shake the steamer basket. Remove from heat and serve hot.
Note: To have an easier time eating crab, get a pair of crab scissors
. It will make it 300 times easier to eat crab from the shell!
Crabby Recipes at The Hong Kong Cookery:
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