When the autumn wind started last year, I went to Suzhou to taste bald butter noodles. Bald here, pronounced tei and Wu, means unique. Bald butter is actually a way to "save crabs from hunger". In the season when a large number of crabs are on the market, peel their shells, take their yellow, and cook them with lard, ginger and garlic. About a dozen female crabs can make a small jar of bald butter, which can be prepared while eating. This way of eating crabs is extravagant enough.

Speaking of eating crabs, China people have a long-standing passion for eating crabs. Zhou Eating Qingzhou Crab recorded in Li Zhouzhi is the earliest crab record in China classical works. The way of eating crabs also appeared in the barbecue in the Tang Dynasty. After that, literati and poets in various dynasties worked tirelessly to eat crabs, and they all said different things about how to eat them.

For example, Li Yu, who is known as the crab fairy, mentioned two kinds of crabs that want PK today: steamed crabs and rotten crabs.

Li Yu is obsessed with eating crabs. "Random Love" records: "The beauty of diet is indescribable and inexhaustible, in terms of its mystery; A person in a crab claw can indulge in it and never forget it. I can't describe why it can be addicted to sweetness and unforgettable. Everything, for me, is infatuation in diet, and for me, it is a monster between heaven and earth. I am addicted to this kind of life. "

Li Yu, teased by her family for "taking crabs as her life", saves the money for buying crabs early every year when crabs are not listed, calling it "life money". He also raised a "crab slave" to make and peel crabs for him. In his view, crabs are "fresh and fat, sweet and greasy, white as jade and yellow as gold", and their color, fragrance and taste have reached the extreme. So he likes steamed crabs and opposes "harmony but difference". The details of his eating crabs are also recorded in Casual Mail. "Anyone who eats crabs is only suitable for the whole body, steamed, stored in an ice tray, listed several times, and listened to the guests." It means that the whole crab should be steamed, put in an ice tray and put on the dining table, and peeled by the diners themselves. The taste of this steamed crab should probably be as Zhang Dai, a writer in the Ming Dynasty, said: "The paste is greasy and piled up like jade, which is inseparable from unity, although it is not as precious as eight treasures."

Li Yu is certainly not the only one who advocates steamed crabs as a natural way to eat crabs. As a gourmet, Cao Xueqin also thinks that steamed crabs are the most fragrant way to eat crabs.

The description of eating steamed crabs in Lin Xiaoxiang's poem "Wu satirizes crabs" in the book "Dream of Red Mansions" is detailed. The ancients thought that eating crabs, drinking, enjoying chrysanthemums and writing poems were the four romantic things in autumn, so in autumn, Daguan Garden could not help but enjoy it, and a large group of people drank, wrote poems and ate crab banquets.

A large group of ladies and gentlemen sat down. Feng ordered, "Don't take crabs any more, put them in a steamer. Bring ten crabs and eat them before taking them. " At the same time, I washed my hands and stood in front of my grandmother to peel crab meat. The first time I asked Aunt Xue, Aunt Xue said, "I eat by myself, and I don't need others to let me." Xifeng gave it to the old lady. The second time, he said to Baoyu, "Bring the hot wine." After the meal, Baoyu took this opportunity to write: "Clawing is more like the shadow of osmanthus, and vinegar pours ginger crazily. The gluttonous prince and grandson should have wine, but the rampant son has no intestines. Cold accumulation between umbilicus forgets jealousy, and fingers are stained with fishy fragrance. Originally, the world was beautiful, and Poxian had laughed all her life. "

The crab mentioned here is steamed crab. This cooking method is simple and natural, and retains the delicious taste and nutrients of crabs to the maximum extent. The reason why it is necessary to match wine is because eating too many crabs hurts the spleen and stomach, so it is most appropriate to eat it with hot yellow wine.

As for the bad crab, Li Yu recorded in "Casual Love" that "it is easy to get tired and difficult to continue, and he ordered his family to wash the urn and make wine for bad drunkenness. Bad name' Crab Bad', wine name' Crab Brew' and urn name' Crab urn'. "

Bad crabs, also called drunken crabs, are usually made of small crabs. After washing, directly choke with more than 40% white wine, and then soak in the drunk salt water mixed with old carved flowers, salt, sugar and soy sauce for at least one week. Take the drunken crab out of the jar and chop it in half. The wine is rich and the crab is fragrant.

Once upon a time, there was a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty who wrote a poem dedicated to a bad crab. The poem said, "You see, it's a miracle to die drunk, and you won't be cooked in five pots." Don't hesitate to exaggerate praise. Lu You sang about the bad crab like this: "The old friend has forgotten each other for a long time, and he has a strong taste. He will never regret when he is drunk. It seems that he is heartless. " Li Bai also has a poem: "Crab pincers and golden liquid, bad mountains and Penglai, the table beside the moon must be drunk."

The ultimate way to eat this bad crab is probably the "golden dragon, phoenix and crab" recorded in Qing Louis. One way to cook this dish is to stick a dragon, phoenix and flower cloud pattern carved with gold foil on the shell of a bad crab. At first glance, the emperor is easy to bite.

Finally, let's take a look at the stuffed crab. In "Shanjia Qinggong" written by Lin Hong in the Southern Song Dynasty, a method of brewing crabs was recorded: the orange was cut to yellow, the fishy smell was removed, and less liquid was left. The crab paste was filled with meat, still covered with branches, put in a small retort, steamed with wine vinegar, and mixed with vinegar, which made people feel fresh and refreshing. He praised the crab cloud for remembering the danger: "Huang Zhong is right, beauty is in it, and beauty is the best." This book is all about Yi, which is actually obtained by crabs. "Today, the orange crab got it again.

This kind of stuffed crab is not only delicious, but also has a nice name: stuffed crab with orange. The artistic conception is beautiful. According to the author, there are "new wine, chrysanthemums and orange crabs." I can't help admiring the mountain life in Lin Hong.

Let's look at a stuffed crab from the sixty-first episode of Jin Ping Mei: "Ximen Qing asked at a glance: What is it? The count said, eldest brother is great, and it has become a house. There is no reward. He taught his wife to cook fresh crabs and roast ducks in two ovens and invited me to sit with him. ..... Ximen Qing ordered around to open the box and see: forty big crabs were peeled, stuffed with meat, wrapped in pepper, ginger, garlic and rice balls, and made of sesame oil and soy sauce vinegar, which were fragrant and crisp. " The stuffed crab mentioned here is to dig out the crab meat and crab roe, add seasoning and cook them, and then put them in the crab cover, which not only increases the flavor, but also does not destroy its interesting appearance.

Compared with steamed crab, this kind of stuffed crab tastes more delicious, while compared with bad crab, it is less drunk. But there are more than three ways to eat crabs. Bi Shimao, a well-known expert in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, is known as the Crab God. There is a saying in Shi Shuo Ren Xinyu Dan: "When the wine is full, it is sweet all the time, so you can know both ends. Holding a glass in your right hand and a crab claw in your left hand is enough for a lifetime. " The rushing image of standing on the bow with a glass in one hand and a crab in the other is vividly on the paper. The crab is drunk, which promotes poetry and painting, and also promotes the literati to eat crabs, making various methods of cooking crabs develop and spread. Ancient talents showed their extreme creativity and wisdom in how to eat crabs.

The snacks in Hangjie Night Market recorded in Liang Lumeng are rotten crab, white crab, river crab, red crab, vinegar red crab, river crab, fragrant crab, spicy soup crab, sticky crab, vinegar washed crab, fermented crab, crab with five flavors of wine sauce and wine.

Diao, recommended by Tong Yue in Qing Dynasty, also recorded many ways to eat crabs in Yangzhou, such as steaming crabs with shells, boiling crab tongs with wine, frying shark's fin with crabs, frying pumpkins with crabs, stewing eggs with crabs, frying crab meat, mixing crab cakes, pickled crabs, pickled crabs, crab powder and pine crabs.

Yuan Mei, a litterateur in Qing Dynasty, recorded several methods of making crabs in his "Suiyuan Food List": crab soup, "peeling crabs into soup, that is, simmering in the original soup without adding chicken juice, it is better to use them alone"; Fried crab powder, "it is better to peel the fried crab now." Two hours later, the meat was dried and the taste was gone "; Steamed crab with shell removed. "Crabs shell, take meat yellow, put in the shell, steamed on the raw eggs. At the dinner table, you are a crab, but you have to remove your claws and feet. Brighter than fried crab powder. Yang Lanpo Ming Fu, it's strange to mix crab and pumpkin meat. "

In addition to the above, there are all kinds of crab dishes, such as "crab balls, hand-washed crabs and crab dishes". As far as eating methods are concerned, it can also be divided into "rough eating" and "literary eating". Rough eating means eating directly with tools. Here I want to talk about eight crabs, originally invented by a man named Cao Shu, who created hammers, knives and pliers to deal with hard crabs. It takes nearly an hour for a crab to serve on the table, but because of its complicated and slow process, it has become an elegant and unique way to eat, and eating crabs has gradually evolved into a table culture.

At the beginning of the 87 drama version of A Dream of Red Mansions, Zhen invited a banquet to the Mid-Autumn House and gave a close-up of eight pieces of crabs, which not only reflected the feelings of the Mid-Autumn Festival, but also reflected the decent behavior of Zhen and Jia, two literati.

For me, what attracts me most is eating, whether it is coarse or fine. Today, the three kinds of crabs in PK have their own flavors, and the crabs brewed in orange are delicious and poetic, which makes me drool. As a gourmet, it is only three months before the crab season. Otherwise, why don't we return to the practice of "the mountain family is clean for the supply" and make an orange stuffed crab with both historical flavor and natural beauty of the mountain family?