Now, it is the time when the west wind is getting stronger and the orange crab is fat again. Crab, for the universe's most delicious Great China, no matter the north or south of the river, is a delicious food. Its practices are also different, and all kinds of crabs have various ways to eat. Crabs (especially the famous lake crabs in Jiangnan) are eaten directly raw, which is quite rare today, or there is almost no other than the unique drunken crabs in Gangnam (pickled raw crabs in wine).
But can crabs be eaten raw? Looking at the food memories of the ancients, the answer is, yes! Especially in the dynasty where Chinese literary and artistic youth gathered together, the great Song Dynasty with unique style and yushu.
According to the Song Dynasty's Gao Xiangsun "Crab Sketch" (eating crab is an ancient document, Gao Xiangsun's "Crab Sketch" is sublimated on the basis of the "Crab Spectrum" of Fu Qiu, a foodie of the same Song Dynasty. One Crab Plain, Crab Elephant, Roll Two Crab Township, Crab Utensils, Crab Products, Crab Zhan, Roll Three Crab Tribute, Crab Food, Crab Dumpling, Roll Four Crab Ya, Crab Zhi Fu Yong. Under each door, a separate record) introduced that the Song Dynasty called crabs eaten raw as "crab raw". It falls into two approaches:
One is the "drunken crab" mentioned above, and at that time there was a name called "wine splash crab raw".
The Great Song Dynasty produced a lot of foodies, such as Su Shi Su Dongpo is also a senior gourmet, in the "Ding Gongmo Send Cockroaches" wrote: half shell contains yellow Yi order wine, two claws xue xue to persuade to add food. This "cockroach" is commonly known as the "pike crab" today. This poem is to eat "wine and crab raw", how vivid. According to the "Crab Sketch", the Song Dynasty used salt and wine to marinate the minced crab, and then mixed with ginger, orange meat paste (it seems that orange meat puree is rarely used as a mixture now, which is commonly used in the Song Dynasty) and so on.
In the Qing Dynasty, "wine splash crab raw" is more elaborate. The famous Qing Dynasty recipe "Tuning Ding Ji" has a dish of "fresh crab carp": chop live crabs into pieces the size of dice, sprinkle some salt, and then mix fennel powder with white wine, heat until boiling, and pour on the crab pieces. Wait until the fennel liquor has cooled, then drizzle with sesame oil and minced peppercorns and mix well. Marinate for half a day and serve. This raw crab eating method is the re-development of "wine splash crab raw".
The second is to mix the seasoning and eat it raw. Crabs that were eaten in this way were then called "hand-washing crabs." Fu Qiu's "Crab Recipe" records that after washing, it can be eaten, and the purpose is "washing the crab". It means that diners wash their hands before eating, and after washing the dish, they are ready to eat, simple, rough, fast, and of course, delicious.
"Hand washing crab" in the Song Dynasty can be described as a popular dish, "Tokyo Dream Hualu" has written, in the Northern Song Dynasty capital, now Kaifeng) large and small restaurants have this dish. Diners sit down, wash their hands, and eat as they please, eating the freshness, fatness and beauty of live crabs. Later, in the Southern Song Dynasty, they all arrived in Jiangnan, just next to the crab (lake crab) production area, in the restaurant of Lin'an (now Hangzhou), "orange thick hand washing crab" and "wine splash crab raw" are essential dishes.
It is introduced in "The Past Affairs of Wulin" that october of the 21st year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty was the time when the crab was fat in autumn. Emperor Gaozong of Song drove the home of Zhang Jun, the powerful minister, and Zhang Jun took over the feast, and the "hand washing crab" appeared on the table.
Regarding this "hand-washing crab" that can be eaten raw, Lu You, a great patriotic poet of the Song Dynasty, also wrote: "Phi Mian Zhen Zhen Is Ripe, and The Snow Double Claw Washes The Hand Offering."
Back to the orange meat puree as a mixture, as mentioned earlier, including the "vinegar orange hand washing crab" in "Tokyo Dream Record", that is, vinegar and orange meat are beaten into puree as a mixture to eat. As early as the Tang and Song Dynasties, the main flavor and fishing effect of seafood on the river was to use orange meat puree, with the natural fruit acid and fruit aroma in the orange meat to hang the fresh tenderness of the water. In the Song Dynasty, some people added vinegar because the orange meat was slightly dull, forming a "vinegar orange hand washing crab".
In Fu Qiu's "Crab Recipe", there is also another spice for "washing hands crab", called "plum brine". The plum fruit and salt are pickled, sealed in a container, placed in the open air to dry, and after a long time, the green plum juice will come out, which is "plum brine". It is said that the "plum vinegar" in Japan today originated from this. Pour the "plum brine" over the raw crab pieces, then mix with the orange meat puree and minced peppercorns. It is said that the acid is tinged with hemp, the crab is fresh and the orange aroma is slightly sweet, and the taste is unique.
This is how crabs can be eaten raw, and eat out of flavor, eat elegant Song people.