Food: How come this boss knows everything?

Chapter 290: Crab meat lion head, and the delicious taste that you can't really eat
Teacher Sui Bian seemed very satisfied with the shop. He also unlocked several classic Huaiyang dishes in the hidden achievement [Do It as You Like] that night.

One of them is a crab meat lion head.

The cooking method of the dish is somewhat similar to the previously unlocked [Meatball] recipe, but river crabs have been added to the ingredients.

Li Rui really wanted to try it.

So I asked the two shop assistants:
"Do you want to eat crabs?"

"Yes!" Xiao Ma nodded heavily, but then asked, "Can we eat crabs in winter? I see the river is frozen."

After all, the young man is a native of Jianghai and often goes to the vegetable market, so he has some knowledge about river crabs in winter.

"I remember there was. I think I saw it a while ago."

Li Rui: "Okay, let's go and have a look together tomorrow."

The next day, Xingfuli Vegetable Market.

Before they entered the vegetable market, the three people were stopped by an old man.

The old man thought Li Rui looked familiar.

"Young man, are you selling braised meat? It's right here."

The old man pointed in the direction behind him.

Li Rui said politely, "Yes, I sold it here for a while, and now I've moved to Fangda Plaza, on the pedestrian street, and it's called Boss Li's shop."

Li Rui felt a little embarrassed to say the name of the store himself.

I should have known what to name the building or the hotel.

The old man didn't care. He kept muttering the address, memorized it roughly, and then left with satisfaction.

"I have to try it again when I have time. I almost thought I couldn't have it anymore."

Li Rui shouted behind him:

"Take care of yourself, sir."

"Eh."

The old man turned around, smiled and waved at them.

Xiao Ma said, "This old man looks quite old."

Li Rui nodded, "Seventy or eighty years old."

Then he also walked into the vegetable market with two shop assistants.

Xingfuli Market is still very busy.
As the New Year approaches, many families are preparing for the New Year.

The three of them went straight to You Dahai’s seafood stall.

I actually saw the local river crabs.

Green shell, white belly, golden claws and yellow hair.

They look pretty much the same, and they all seem alive.

You Dahai greeted familiar customers:
"Want to buy some river crabs today?"

"Yes, pick some fat ones."

In this regard, You Dahai is very confident: "Don't worry, they are all fat."

Then he used a net bag to scoop out a few at random and displayed them in front of Li Rui.

"I'll teach you how to tell if it's fat or not. Just pinch its second little claw with your hand and it will come out."

Pony looked at the crabs curiously, "Really?"

Then he reached out, intending to find out what was going on.

But after feeling Li Rui's gaze, he retracted his hand.
"Boss, you guys should give it a try."

You Dahai thought the little girl was scared, so he took out a crab and held it in his hand.

"Don't be afraid, just pinch it, I'll help you pinch the crab claws."

Then he gestured to Majingo again.

The younger brother observed more carefully:
"Look at this crab, it's quite strong. It keeps shaking. It's really good."

Li Rui thought,

Yes, it's the crabs that should be feared, not the ponies.

The three of them took their hands one by one and pinched the crab's claws. The shell was very firm, which was enough to show that the meat was full.

Li Rui bought a bag from You Dahai.

It is said that in places with many rivers, crabs are cheaper than rice.

But that's old news. Crabs are much more expensive than rice now.

On the one hand, grain production has increased and rice prices have fallen. On the other hand, the Chinese people really know how to eat.

Crabs are such a delicious river delicacy that we will definitely not allow them to proliferate.

Even many species of crabs have been eaten up.

But what Li Rui was most curious about was why he could still eat river crabs in winter.

Boss You explained:
"My cousin lives in Qilihai. He opened a fishing park. Every winter, river crabs don't want to eat hooks, so he fishes the crabs out and puts them in a greenhouse to overwinter."

“I help him sell it every year.”

"In fact, river crabs at this time are also quite fat, having stored up energy for the winter, and are full of yellow and roe. However, there are more male crabs, weighing about 300 to 400 grams each."

Xiao Han remembered the purple crab he had heard of when he was a child.
"Were purple crabs once river crabs that could survive the winter on their own?"

You Dahai nodded, "Yes, purple crab silverfish, it used to be very famous. In winter, boatloads of them were shipped to the imperial palace. Now they are extinct."

The fate of the purple crab is a cause for regret.

Humans are the culprit for the extinction of many species, from mammoths and saber-toothed tigers in ancient times to the silver fish and purple crabs mentioned by You Dahai.

It can be said that it was all caused by human beings.

It can be said that it is a habit passed down by our ancestors.

The reason is that human activities are changing the natural environment at such a speed that many species have no time to adapt.

The pony spread his hands.
“It’s a pity if we can’t eat it.”

After cleaning the river crabs you bought, steam them in a pot first.

Li Rui and two shop assistants ate a few of them right after steaming them.

The taste is delicious and is no less delicious than in autumn.

It must be good to use it to make crab meat lion head.

Separating crab meat is a delicate job.

After peeling open the crab's navel and lifting up the crab shell, you can see a large pool of paste spread over the crab shell and the crab body.

It contains delicious crab roe, crab paste and pancreas.

There are also crab hearts, gills, and stomachs that are not suitable for consumption. Most of them are white and must be removed one by one.

It doesn’t matter if you can’t remove the crab legs and crab meat cleanly. You can just eat the rest yourself.

In addition to peeling the crab meat, you also need to prepare the pork belly.

Only take the top three layers of lean, fat and lean meat, and remove the pig skin and fat underneath.

Then cut into pomegranate-sized pieces.

After finely chopping, make a few rough cuts to make the meat cubes better shaped.

Prepare scallion, ginger and wine, and add them to the meat filling in batches.

Then add the shredded crab meat and add an appropriate amount of salt for basic seasoning, and then begin the long process of stirring, beating, and tightening.

It's a bit like pounding beef balls.

But there was no stick, so Li Rui took to the field himself.

After the meat filling is firm, add water chestnuts, and decorate the outside of the lion with crab paste and crab roe.

Each meatball weighs about half a pound. After being kneaded with starch water on the surface, it becomes shaped like a lion's head.

The balls are fully beaten into firm clumps and will not fall apart when put into cold water, but will float on the water.

After the starch is gelatinized by heat, it will further increase the tensile force on the surface of the meatballs.

When the meatballs are formed, take them out of the casserole.

After the water boils, add the green onion, ginger, and lion head.

A small amount of pepper and rice wine.

Cover the surface with a few slices of Chinese cabbage.

Reduce heat to low and simmer for four hours.

Keep the broth in the pot at about 80 to 90 degrees, almost boiling, to cook the meatballs.

Li Rui counted the number of lion heads.

Because we wanted to ensure that each lion head contained a certain amount of crab meat, we couldn't prepare a lot.

It seems that those who can eat it tonight are relatively lucky.

Moreover, crab meat lion head is more time-consuming to make, and it cannot be made and eaten immediately. It is more convenient to make a reservation in advance for the New Year’s Eve dinner.

(End of this chapter)