Recent reports of elevated levels of carcinogens in imported Chinese mitten crabs--called Shanghai hairy crabs in Mandarin--have put a damper on what are traditionally high seasonal sales of the delicious shellfish, however. The tainted crabs come from China's Yangcheng Lake, just outside Shanghai. Following discovery of the cancer-causing crustaceans, Taiwan's Department of Health banned travelers from bringing the crabs to the island and instituted a stricter testing regime on commercial imports.
The crabs are extremely popular in Taiwan. In 2005, Taiwanese shoppers bought about 300 metric tons of hairy crabs, while about 248 metric tons of local crabs were consumed on the island.
Many a Chinese newspaper article describes the autumn season thusly: "The sky in autumn is high, and the atmosphere is pleasant; the chrysanthemum turns yellow, and the crabs turn fat."
Eating crab yolk and sipping a warm cup of shaohsing liquor or kaoliang sorghum wine made on Matsu Island: For many, this is highly admirable gastronomic enjoyment that is akin to how a French gourmet might appreciate his prized goose liver or cèpe, another seasonal culinary event that comes but once a year.
Taiwanese people are known to turn down a good bottle of Chardonnay and a fat piece of grilled Norwegian salmon in favor of a hot cup of ginger tea and a plate of steamed mud crab, or Scylla serrata. Although it is known as red crab in Taiwan, the males are blue or dark green, and the females turn orange only when they are filled with eggs. They are known as blue crabs in China, but these differ greatly from the blue crabs caught in North Virginia, especially in size and weight. On average, each red crab weighs at least 300 grams and reaches 24 centimeters in width during the mating season. Crab connoisseurs love the virgin crabs, or female crabs that have been harvested prior to mating.
Traditionally, Taiwanese people consider red crabs an excellent but rare source of protein and minerals. The famed red crabs and sticky rice have been used together as a good supplement for women during and after pregnancy. Old people and weak patients likewise use them to restore their vitality. Thanks to the development of Taiwan's aquaculture industry, domestic crabs are still in high demand.
"Just over a week ago, a good number of customers came here to order the hairy crabs from China. Now, you would be lucky if you could find even one single customer asking for hairy crabs," said Kang Jyuan-hua, manager of The Beer King, a famous Taiwanese seafood restaurant. "Therefore, we came up with new dishes of red crabs, which helped us to keep customers."
She said the key to the restaurant's success is that it can seat more than 800 customers at a time. The fact that they can fill this large a space is largely due to the 53-year-old chef, Chen Han-ching, who is considered a legendary creator of Taiwanese cuisine. "In our circle, he is a celebrity," said Kang.
"I started my apprenticeship at 14, served in Moon World Restaurant and other top restaurants, went to Akasaka in Japan to teach chefs at Omiya restaurants how to master Chinese cuisine, and taught many outstanding chefs here in Taiwan," boasted Chen. He added that twelve of his best students have mastered his culinary art and now serve either as executive chefs or own their own restaurants. As soon as the topic switched to crabs, Chen could not help elaborating on his expertise in preparing mud crabs.
"Most of the chefs and customers were educated to believe that the best way of preparing crabs should be steaming, but personally, I prefer simmering the crab by first placing slices of ginger on the bottom of the wok and then placing the whole crab on top of the ginger with a bit of salt for seasoning. Finally, pour in some water for simmering with a big fire, and keep cooking it until the water is completely dried. By this time, it will be perfectly done and ready to serve with ginger sauce made of sugar, vinegar and mirin--a Japanese sweetened rice wine," explained Chen.
"In this way, the sweetness and freshness of the crab will be sealed within the cap," the chef said. "Cutting the crab in half and steaming it with water will only dilute the fresh taste and the natural flavor."
Rather than mud crab or floral crab, called Ovalipes punctatus, Chen's favorite is the so-called Taiwan hairy crab, which weighs no more than 200 grams and measures no more than 18-centimeters wide. The taste is incomparable and the firm texture of its flesh is impeccable, Chen insisted. The price is five or six times more expensive than mud crab, or about US$6 per 100 grams.
"We need dozens of crab dishes just to meet the demand and keep our customers happy," said Kang. Chen's redefined Taiwanese crab dishes include crab curry, sesame-oil crab and crab fried with balsam pear and splashed with the sauce of preserved bean-curds.
His pride and joy, however, is his masterpiece: spicy crab with soup of 100 mushrooms. He first serves a half-kilogram of mud crabs fried with hot spices, followed by a huge pot of soup made with crab legs, cap, mushrooms, spices and sauce from the fried crabs. This dish has pleased many a taste bud in Taipei, according to Kang.
Robert Lee, the sous-chef at the Ever Garden restaurant at the Evergreen Laurel Taipei hotel said that depending on imported hairy crabs to attract customers no longer works. "The demand for hairy crabs is getting worse, year by year," admitted Lee, who has devoted 36 years of his life to Shanghai cuisine.
After the government announced it had enacted measures to curb imports of Chinese mitten crabs, the restaurant replaced them on its menu with local red crabs. The chef insisted on using virgin crabs caught off the northern coast of Taiwan. Weighing about 250 grams, they are known for their tasty yolk and sweet flesh.
Unlike Chen, Lee prefers to steam his crabs the traditional way, in bamboo steamers. This is the same way he learned to cook crabs during his many years at one of the top Shanghai-style restaurants in Taipei, Shun-li Garden. He conceded, however, that the crab should never be cut in half and its juices allowed to escape.
His dish of crab with fried crushed soybean best exemplifies his culinary ingenuity. The sweet, crispy soybean and the tender flesh and melted yolk of the crab complement each other perfectly, especially when accompanied by a fruity glass of Bin 65 Chardonnay 2002 from Australia. The dish, together with more than half a dozen crab specials--such as crabs with green onion and oyster sauce, BBQ crab, and crab with seven flavors--help promote the hotel's annual autumn crab feast.
Ever Garden provides more than good food. It also has ambience, soft music, shining stemware and well-dressed, courteous waitresses, making it very inviting to Taiwanese crab lovers and foreign fans alike.