Do you like crabs? I'm talking about river crabs, crabs are more delicious than crayfish, and the premise of steamed crabs is that you want to know what kind of crabs to eat in what season?
Do you know how to distinguish between male and female crabs?
The season of eating crayfish has arrived, the temperature has climbed to about 28 degrees in recent days, the fresh crayfish in the vegetable market has also dropped in price, the smaller kind, buy home and use the shrimp tail to make braised shrimp balls to eat is quite cost-effective, a pound is only 9.9 yuan, although the larger crayfish taste better, but the price is expensive, not cost-effective.
In late spring and early summer, in addition to eating crayfish, in fact, there are crabs sold in the vegetable market, in the southern inland cities, most of the fish sold in the vegetable market are river crabs, my daughter-in-law asked me when choosing crayfish, is it suitable to eat crabs in this season?
River crabs are all artificially farmed, and in fact, they can be eaten all year round, and they can also be bought in the vegetable market. From March to May, everything recovers, and this is also the time when crabs are most active, the meat is fresh and tender, and the crab roe is full, especially the female crab, there is more oil in the crab roe, in fact, the crabs around the Dragon Boat Festival are also very delicious.
From June to August, summer is coming, this is the most "hot" time to eat crayfish, and it is also the best time to eat crabs, especially male crabs, river crabs "put on new clothes" after shelling, male crab crab paste is full, the taste is plump, everyone should keep in mind that in addition to crayfish in summer, there are delicious crabs, steamed, braised are the best practices for summer crabs.
From September to November, autumn comes, which is the harvest season, and both male and female crabs have extremely high edible value. Autumn is coming, crayfish are a thing of the past, crabs are officially on the scene, and everyone can taste the taste of autumn harvest at this time.
For crabs, especially river crabs, which everyone likes in the inland cities of the south, they can actually be eaten all year round. In the cold winter, although the yield of crabs is small, what everyone doesn't know is that the quality of crabs at this time is still high-quality, and the meat quality is also very firm, but eating crabs in winter is not suitable for steaming, and it is also very good to cook porridge and stew.
Crabs are rich in nutrients and contain a lot of protein, vitamins, and minerals, which can enhance physical fitness and improve immunity. When buying crabs in the vegetable market, I often meet uncles, aunts and housewives who don't know how to choose crabs, and watching them choose crabs at random, I want to go up and tell them that I need to eat female crabs from March to May, male crabs from summer to September, and from September to November.
Every time I had to go up and talk to the aunts and uncles who didn't know how to pick crabs, my daughter-in-law would grab me and say that maybe they didn't have a concept of crabs and couldn't distinguish between male and female.
Think about it, I didn't know how to distinguish between male and female crabs before, when choosing crabs, didn't I also choose at random, take this opportunity today, to tell you about the skills of selecting crabs, how to distinguish male crabs from female crabs?
1. How to distinguish male and female crabs?
Some people like to eat male crabs, and some people like to eat female crabs, one is to eat crab paste, the other is to eat crab roe, from the sales price comparison, often the price of female crabs will be more expensive.
Don't be presumptuous and think that male crabs will be larger and more tender, but I have to say that male crabs are indeed more developed. If you don't care about crab paste and crab roe, and only love crab meat, you really don't need to know the difference between male crabs and female crabs.
1. How to distinguish male crabs? Distinguish male crabs and female crabs mainly through the details on the navel of the crab to distinguish, the navel of the male crab is slender, with a sharp angle, the male crab has crab paste, and the crab meat of the male crab is more than that of the female crab, and the taste will be more tender, and the taste of the female crab crab meat will be thinner.
2. How to distinguish the female crab The navel of the female crab is as shown in the figure below, wider and more rounded, which is obviously different from the navel of the male crab, the navel of the male crab is slender and has a sharp angle, and the navel of the female crab is obviously much wider than the navel of the male crab.
However, the navel of the female crab is not only this style, there is also a kind of female crab whose navel has no sharp corners and is not rounded, like an equilateral triangle, but it is indeed wider than the slender navel of the male crab, and the navel of this style is also a female crab, but this is a female crab that has not been mated with a male crab.
2. How to choose crabs?
There are skills in choosing cabbage, leeks, tomatoes, and oyster mushrooms, as well as pork belly and pork ribs.
1. The first is to check the color of the navel, you can choose male or female crabs according to your preferences, the role of the navel is not small, you can distinguish the male and female of the crab, and you can also tell us whether it is fresh.
The navel should be white, if the navel is not only white, but also bright, it means that there is more crab paste for male crabs, and if it is a female crab, there are more crab roe.
The crab in the picture below is not very clean on the navel and has brown spots, so the crab meat and crab paste will disappoint you.
2. Take a closer look at the texture on the navel, the texture on the navel is relatively easy to distinguish, and you can see it at a glance, indicating that the meat of such crabs is delicious, whether it is crab roe or crab paste, there are a lot of them.
The physique of crabs can also be distinguished from the texture on the navel, we naturally want to choose fatty crabs, those crabs with lighter textures are usually relatively thin, not only do they not have crab roe and crab paste, but even the crab meat on the body is not too much.
3. Try to choose crabs with thick crab legs, pinch them with your hands, the crab legs are firm and full, indicating that the crab surface is fat, and the crab paste and crab roe may be more.
To sum up, buy crabs, male crabs and female crabs are very different, keep in mind that 3 buy 3 do not buy, to buy a white and shiny navel, deep texture, crab legs thick, this is easier to understand.
"3 Don't Buy" means:
The crab legs are flattened as soon as they are pinched, don't buy the soft feel, everyone knows to choose fresh crabs, don't buy the crabs that are not very "active", and the other point is that don't buy crabs with a lighter feel, the crab roe and crab paste are less, the meat is less, they are all empty shells, and they are naturally lighter.
3. How to steam crabs?
I believe everyone likes to eat steamed crabs, but you have to distinguish the focus of your crab eating process, if you are more concerned about crab roe and crab paste, then use a boiling underwater pot to steam crabs; if you like to eat crab meat, then use a cold underwater pot to steam crabs, two different water temperatures, will bring two completely different tastes, the following will tell you, steamed crab skills?
1. Steaming crabs in the steamer, if you choose to boil the water in the steamer first, and then put in the crabs, this operation, because it is boiling water to start steaming, shortens the crab's struggle time, the crab legs will be broken much less, and the crab roe and crab paste can also be quickly solidified, which is the advantage of steaming crabs in the boiling water pot.
2. Add cold water to the steamer, and then put in the crab, the steaming process of the crab is the same as the water temperature, it is the process of slowly heating and heating, the crab struggles for a long time, the crab legs fall down more, and the appearance is not good at the same time, but the taste of the crab meat will be more tender than the boiling water pot steaming, if you don't like to eat crab roe and crab paste, you can take the cold water pot to steam the crab.
3. Whether it is steamed crab in hot water or steamed crab in cold water, everyone should pay attention to the fact that when the crab is put into the steamer, the side with the navel should be facing up, so that the part of the navel can be exposed to more steam, and the cooking will be faster.
4. There are many parts of crabs that are inedible, such as: crab stomach, crab gills, crab heart, crab intestines, etc.
5. The crab is delicious, before steaming in the pot, the cleaning steps are also very important, use an old toothbrush, scrub the crab shell, navel part, and scrub off some dirty things left on the crab shell.
6. Whether it is steamed in a pot with hot water or steamed in a pot with cold water, you can put a little ginger slices and cooking wine in the clear water, one is to remove the smell and increase the fragrance, and the most important thing is to add fragrance to the crab and promote appetite.
Writing here, I would like to say a few words, buy crabs, male crabs and female crabs are very different, keep in mind that 3 buy 3 do not buy;
Whether it is steamed in cold water or boiling water, the start of the time needs to wait until the water in the pot boils before starting to calculate, the crab is steamed in the pot for 10-15 minutes, and the steaming time is determined according to the size of the crab.
Delicious steamed crab is best eaten with some ginger and balsamic vinegar dipping sauce, which can neutralize the "coldness" of the crab, of course, this way, the taste of the crab is also the most suitable.
I like to express love with food, believe that giving love is the best way to make yourself happy, and deeply believe that food is the only way to soothe people's hearts.