Food & Receipts

Make crab soup with more crab meat, clear broth, and this secret ingredient that even restaurant chefs praise

Crab soup is a popular dish in Vietnam, and one of the key requirements is that when serving the bowl of soup, there should be plenty of solid crab meat visible, and the broth should be clear.

Administrator

20 November, 2023

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Not everyone who cooks crab soup sees the crab meat clearly. Many people cook and the crab meat is disorganized in the soup, making it visually unappealing. Crab soup with pickled radish, becoming a rustic specialty of many restaurants and families in the North. If the crab soup is covered in foam and the water is murky, it does not meet the requirements. To cook crab soup with solid crab meat, follow these steps (Remember to pay attention to 2 tips to have a lot of solid crab meat and clear soup).

Choosing crab is very important

If the crab is young and has little meat, the crab meat will easily scatter and break when cooked. Therefore, choose crabs that are old enough, without signs of immaturity, crabs with plenty of meat and golden roe color. There are male crabs and female crabs, male crabs have more meat, female crabs have more roe and are more fatty. When buying crabs for cooking, many people prefer female crabs to have more solid crab meat. Whether male or female, when choosing, it is important to choose active, healthy crabs with intact legs and claws, crabs that move quickly. Look underneath the crab, if there are no eggs and the meat is full and not concave, the crab is good. If the underside is dented, has a lot of foaming or has eggs, the meat is not good. Crabs reproduce according to the lunar cycle. So if you want to eat good crabs, you should buy crabs at the beginning or end of the lunar month, crabs in the middle of the month usually molt their shells, so they are weak, thin and have less meat.

Add salt when grinding the crab to make it solid

Clean the crabs and remove the gills, rinse them to remove the black water color and the fishy smell of the crabs. If you don’t rinse them, the crabs will still have the water inside the gills, and they will have a fishy smell when cooked. When grinding or crushing the crabs, remember to add a few grains of sea salt. It takes time and is messy to crush the crabs by hand, but the taste will be better than grinding by machine. If you ask someone at the market to do it for you, remember to ask them to add a little salt to the grinding because not all crabs remember this. Adding salt while grinding the crabs will make the crab meat solidify more because the salt crystals help the protein in the crab meat solidify and bond better. You should add salt right after grinding. But add just enough so that you can adjust the seasoning when eating to avoid being too salty. Adding a little salt while grinding the crabs also helps the crabs stay fresh longer, especially when you buy them at the market.

Separate the crab meat from the shells and discard the black water, only use the crab meat. The crab shells should not be put in at the beginning of cooking because the crab shells are easily dissolved and make the soup cloudy.

Cook the crab soup with attention to heat and adding this will make the crab meat solidify more

After processing the crabs, put the crab water pot on the stove. Turn on the stove and stir the water once with a spoon, stir in one direction, and then simmer on medium heat, not too high or too low. Do not stir during the crab solidification process as it will break the solid crab meat.

Use eggs: After stirring, let the crab water pot solidify on its own. If it is a restaurant or you want more solid crab meat, you can beat an egg to let the crab meat stick to the egg and have more solid crab meat and more water in the soup. Eggs ensure that the crab meat is bonded together, and the soup is more watery. Some places add tofu to have more solid crab meat, but it will make the soup look white and less appetizing. You can add eggs to have softer solid crab meat.

When the crab meat solidifies, scoop it into a bowl. Do not let the crab solidify for too long in the pot as it will make them become tough and less tender, and when adding vegetables, they will mix with the vegetables and lose their taste and aesthetics.

When the crab meat solidifies, scoop it into a bowl. Wait for the crab water to boil again, then add the vegetables. People often cook crab soup with water spinach, morning glory, or fuzzy melon because they are easy to cook. If there is foam floating on the surface, skim it off. Season to taste.

Sauté the crab shells to create flavor for the soup

There are 2 ways to cook according to 2 tastes

Some families like the soup to be light and fresh without the aroma of oil, so the crab shells will not be sautéed to bring out the fragrance. They will only add the crab shells when the crab meat solidifies, to make them blend with the crab meat.

Others prefer to sauté the crab shells, here’s how:

Heat a pan, then add oil and minced shallots to sauté until fragrant. Then add the crab shells and stir-fry until fragrant, add a little seasoning. Pour this mixture of crab shells onto the bowl of solid crab meat.

Scoop the crab soup into a bowl, arrange each piece of solid crab meat on top. A bowl of crab soup is standard if the water is clear, the vegetables are evenly distributed in the bowl, and the solid crab meat is floating on top. Crab soup, pickled radish, roasted shrimp, roasted meat, braised fish… make a delicious and rustic meal.