Why is the yellow of hairy crab bitter?

Chinese hairy crabs are a popular dish in restaurants, and the preparation of hairy crabs is relatively complicated. The mud and sand inside the crab's body need to be cleaned and disinfected. However, sometimes the roe of hairy crabs is bitter. This is mainly because the hairy crabs are not mature and the roe is relatively tender. Another reason is that the hairy crabs are not cleaned before cooking. Therefore, sufficient preparations must be made before cooking to avoid this situation.

1. In fact, people who often eat crabs have encountered this. When you peel open a lake crab, you will find not golden crab roe but a thin, light yellow liquid. It tastes very bitter when you lick it. Is there something wrong with the quality of the crabs?

Zhaixi Town in Tonglu is a well-known crab breeding base around Hangzhou. Many villagers have converted the original paddy fields into crab farms. Only Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs are naturally bred in clear water.

2. The manager of the Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs at Crab King Palace also said that the crab roe did not clump together and tasted bitter, which was indeed because the crabs were too tender and the cooking time had not yet arrived. The head chef of a Shanghai hotel that specializes in Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs said that according to his experience, the end of October to November is when the crabs are the fattest. If you want to try it now, try to choose female crabs. Male crabs in September and October are not as fat as female crabs and are relatively "empty".

3. The crab roe tastes bitter. Besides the fact that the crab is still relatively tender, there is another reason, which is that the preparation work before cooking is not done enough.

The chef said that except for Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs, all crabs must be kept in clean water for two days before being cooked. After two days, the crabs were basically “cleaned up”. A clean crab will have all the dirt in its stomach eliminated, so the crab roe will naturally not be bitter.

4. When eating crabs, remove the crab gills, crab stomach, crab heart and other internal organs. The crab gills grow on both sides of the crab body, arranged in strips, shaped like eyebrows. They are the crab's respiratory organs and are covered with germs and dirt; the crab stomach is located in the front half of the crab body and contains a large amount of sludge and germs; the crab heart is closely connected to the crab stomach and is located in the middle of the crab roe. It tastes bitter and should also be removed, otherwise it will taste bitter. Some people put crabs in clean water for a few days to clean the crab's internal organs, and they will taste much better, but don't be in a hurry.

Another common reason is that the crab is immature, the crab roe is thin, not coagulated, and has a poor taste. So it is better to eat crabs later in the day.