How to Choose Fresh and Tasty Freshwater Crabs
To ensure that all dishes, including crab soup, are delicious, you must choose fresh and tasty ingredients. If you want to cook stone crab soup, you should buy freshwater crabs.
You should choose crabs with 8 legs and 2 claws, with the claws pointing upwards. You should prioritize crabs with a round and firm belly, which does not sink when pressed. Such crabs will have more meat. Avoid buying crabs with a sunken belly, as they will have less meat.
Proper Processing of Freshwater Crabs
To clean the crabs, soak them in water for about 30 minutes. Then, fill the basin with water, place a large sieve on top of the basin, and shake it vigorously. Repeat this shaking process about 3-4 times and change the water between each time to remove sand and dirt from the crabs.
After rinsing the crabs, separate the crab apron, the belly flap, and the gill chambers from the crab apron.
After separating the belly flap, grind the crab apron and the belly flap together. Pour the mixture into a pot with about 700-800ml of water, stir well, and then strain the mixture to remove crab shells.
Avoid Over-Stirring When Cooking Crab Soup
Pour the strained crab liquid into the pot, simmer over low heat without stirring. When the crab pieces start to float, gently tilt the pot to reassemble the crab pieces into a block. Continue cooking for about 3 minutes over medium heat, then add vegetables and the crab pieces removed from the belly flap. Gently immerse the vegetables to avoid breaking the crab pieces.
About 1 minute before turning off the heat, season the soup with a little salt and fish sauce.
Depending on personal preference, you can cook crab soup with water spinach, bottle gourd, or morning glory, and fish sauce is the ingredient that enhances the sweetness of the soup. If you use fermented fish sauce to season the crab soup, it will have a wonderful fragrant taste. Otherwise, you can use regular fish sauce, but choose a high-protein fish sauce for a better taste.
Some Other Tips for Cooking Crab Soup
There are many different ways to cook crab soup, depending on the type of vegetables or ingredients you use. Here are some recipes you can try:
Crab Soup with Water Spinach and Bottle Gourd: Pour the strained crab liquid into the pot, simmer over low heat, and stir in one direction to prevent the crab meat from sticking to the bottom of the pot. When the soup boils, add water spinach and bottle gourd, season with spices.
Crab Noodle Soup: Blanch the crab shells in boiling water, then rinse them thoroughly and put them in a simmering pot. Fry onions until fragrant, then pour the bone broth. Season the broth and add straw mushrooms to the pot. Boil the noodles until cooked, scoop them into a bowl. Boil the crabs until cooked, scoop them into a bowl. Add spring onions, cilantro, and pepper to the soup.
Crab Soup with Water Spinach: Grind or crush the freshwater crabs (separately from the crab apron). Put the crab apron into the pot, simmer over low heat without stirring. Add water spinach and season with spices.
