SERVES 2 AS A MAIN COURSE, 3 TO 4 AS PART OF A MULTICOURSE MEAL
Almost every day during fresh crab season, we have delivered to the restaurant kitchen an open box of spitting, clawing, bubbling, “dancing” crabs. Often to the chagrin of the cook in charge, orders are to kill, clean, and chop them, and serve them forth in short order.
Stir-Fried Dancing Crab, redolent of ginger, scallions, and black beans, is a great favorite with our customers, who lick every sliver of shell and extract every morsel of meat. I’ve cooked crab this way for years, adding or subtracting an element here or there as the spirit moves me. So while this recipe calls for the bright heat of Fresno chilis, you may indeed omit them.
Do not be daunted by the task of killing and cleaning a crab! The glory is their fresh, firm sweetness, and the work is quickly and easily done.
On the West Coast, we revel in Dungeness crabs, delicious monsters that weigh in at a pound or so apiece. On the East Coast, blue crabs are what you’re probably after. On any coast and with any species, however, they must be kept alive up until the moment they’re thrown into the pot to be splendid.
AROMATICS:
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped Chinese black beans (do not rinse them)
3 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1½ tablespoons finely minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons finely minced garlic
¼ cup thinly sliced green and white scallion rings
SAUCE:
¾ cup China Moon Double Stock (page 72) or unsalted chicken stock
1 tablespoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon sugar
2 pounds large, emphatically alive crabs (will be 2 crabs)
2 tablespoons corn or peanut oil
2 ounces coarsely ground pork butt
½ to 1 teaspoon paper-thin red Fresno chili rings
1½ teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon cold chicken stock or water
Green and white scallion julienne, for garnish
1. To prepare the aromatics, combine the black beans with the rice wine and set aside to infuse the wine for 20 minutes. Drain the beans and reserve the wine. Combine the black beans and all of the remaining aromatics in a bowl. Cover until ready to use.
2. Combine all of the sauce ingredients through the sugar in a small bowl. Stir to blend, leaving the spoon in the bowl.
3. To kill the crabs, bring a large pot of water to a gushing boil. Drop the crabs into the pot and when they stop moving, in about 1 minute, retrieve the crabs with a mesh spoon or tongs and set them aside to drain. To clean each crab, turn it belly side up. Tear off the “key” or “apron,” which is recessed in the belly. (In a female, it is shaped like a wide inverted V. In the male, it is a narrow inverted T.) Then firmly grasp the top shell at the rear end and lift it off; expect to need to tug. Discard the top shell. Discard the sets of feathery gills in the body of the crab, then rinse it with cool water.
4. To portion each crab into pieces, first snap off the legs and claws. Crack them lightly with a mallet or the handle end of a cleaver to allow the seasonings to penetrate. Then, with a cleaver or heavy knife, chop the body into 2 or 4 pieces, depending upon the size of the crabs. All the above steps may be done a full night in advance. Seal and refrigerate the ingredients; bring to room temperature before cooking.
5. About 15 minutes before serving, heat a wok or large heavy skillet until hot enough to evaporate a bead of water on contact. Add the oil and swirl to glaze the pan. When the oil is hot enough to sizzle a single scallion ring, add the aromatics. Stir until fully fragrant, 20 to 30 seconds, adjusting the heat so they foam without browning. Add the pork and toss and chop until 90 percent gray, about 1 minute, raising the heat if needed to maintain a merry sizzle. Add the chili rings and crab, and toss to combine. Splash the reserved wine in the pan, toss several times to evaporate the alcohol, and then stir the sauce and add it to the pan. Even out the crab and raise the heat to bring the liquids to a boil. Cover the pan and cook until the liquids are reduced by three-fourths and the crab is cooked through, about 3 minutes.
6. Reduce the heat to moderate, stir the cornstarch mixture to recombine it, then add it to the pan. Toss until the remaining sauce turns glossy, about 15 seconds, and clings to the crab along with a dress of meaty and aromatic bits.
7. Serve the crab immediately, piled in a dramatic manner on a large platter or heated plates of contrasting color, with a claw sticking out here and there. Garnish with a flurry of scallion julienne. Arm your guests with a crab cracker, a pick, an empty bowl for the shells, and an injunction to eat with noisy gusto.
MENU SUGGESTIONS: There might well be other possibilities, but we always pair the crab with a mound of simply fried rice and Wok-Seared Spinach Relish (page 438), and everyone thinks they’re in heaven!
Being a deeply enlightened people, the Chinese encourage what seems to us a chaos of noise in the interest of good eating. Slurping, sucking, and licking are the appropriate modes of attacking stir-fried crab! Do not let mistaken politeness deter you from this route.