Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

The method of making broth using discarded parts like shrimp and crab shells is very common in both Chinese and Western cooking.

Although the flavor is not as rich as with whole crabs, it doesn’t matter; the goal is to extract as much flavor as possible from the crab shells to replace plain water.

To make a dish delicious, you must use broth. If you use plain water, you have to add chicken essence or MSG; otherwise, the overall taste will definitely be bland.

Broth can be cooked separately or prepared using techniques. For instance, white fish soup is basically broth; it’s just made with the fish itself and served together, not cooked separately.

Once all the ingredients are prepared, you can start making Crab Roe Tofu.

During the process of disassembling the crab and simmering the crab soup, the Crab Blood Tofu has completely cooled down.

Because the mold was brushed with vegetable oil, a gentle tap on the cutting board releases the mold completely.

Cut it into small chessboard-shaped cubes, then cut some ginger and green onions to remove the fishy smell.

Pour a little vegetable oil into the pan and heat it up, add the ginger and onions to the pan to sauté and release their aroma, then quickly add a big bowl full of crab meat and crab roe to stir-fry, while adding a little cooking wine along the edge of the pan.

"Sizzle"

The crab’s own juices evaporate under high heat, releasing a rich crab aroma.

Even Boss Magna, who had just eaten to fullness, couldn’t help but sniff the air constantly.

"Ahhh, it smells so good! Clearly, nothing else was added, so why does it smell so wonderful?"

He suddenly found himself very interested in king crab again.

In Western cuisine, the method for this kind of king crab is quite common, usually boiling it in water, then serving it split in half on the plate.

Another way is baking it with garlic butter, in the same way as lobster.

Aside from these two methods, the rest involve taking out the crab meat to make snacks, paired with salad or meat sauce fries, or minced meat tartare, and the like.

Lin Chen’s way of extracting all the crab meat and roe, and then mixing them together to stir-fry, was unheard of to him.

Isn’t it redundant? Can’t you just stir-fry it directly?

However, upon thinking about the tofu made with crab blood, he found this approach quite reasonable.

The crab shells are so hard; if you put them in the pot together, wouldn’t they crush the Crab Blood Tofu?

As the aroma of the crab roe became stronger, Lin Chen scooped up a spoonful of the still-warm golden crab soup and poured it in.

"Clatter"

The slightly browned crab roe at the bottom of the pot quickly released a richer umami aroma upon contact with the liquid; this is the Maillard reaction commonly used in Western cuisine.

Especially when cooking meat, as in searing steaks, it’s about using high heat to create a crust; after searing, the seemingly burnt parts at the bottom of the pan can form a delicious sauce when deglazed with broth or cream.

This layer, slightly caramelized at the bottom of the pan, is referred to by Western chefs as the source of umami.

The same method is used to make veal stock.

Although the Crab Roe Tofu recipe didn’t specify using this method, he thought it might taste better this way.

After all, chefs follow recipes, but in practice, intuition might work even better.

Due to the high heat, the crab soup added shortly before had almost evaporated.

Lin Chen scooped another spoonful of crab soup and added it in, diluting the concentration of the crab roe while letting more crab soup flavor concentrate.

Repeating this four or five times until the soup in the bowl was reduced to about a third, the pre-cut Crab Blood Tofu was added.

Gently push with a wooden or silicone spatula so that the crab roe fully coats each piece of Crab Blood Tofu.

A simple pinch of salt for seasoning, and then a bit of water-starch mixture for thickening, and it’s ready to serve.

The overall dish presents a rich golden yellow and light red contrast securely adhering to the snowy-white tofu surface, looking quite impressive.

Had Magna not witnessed firsthand that this plate of tofu was made with crab blood, he would hardly believe it was not just tofu.

Entirely one king crab, bigger than a washbasin, resulted in a small exquisite plate of tofu — no wonder it’s said to be a dish made for presidents.

How could an average person get to taste it!

Even someone with no understanding of Great Xia’s culinary culture could tell after witnessing Lin Chen’s process that the craft of making this tofu must be exceedingly rare.

"Try it quickly, while it’s hot; crab gets fishy when cold."

Lin Chen handed over two small spoons, without taking pictures, eagerly scooping up a spoonful of tofu covered with crab roe, blew on it to cool, and put it in his mouth.

Obviously, he knew his cooking well enough that he wouldn’t burn himself.

Magna rubbed his round belly, without thinking twice, scooped up a full spoonful of Crab Roe Tofu.

Eating such a high-end dish, in a way, makes him feel almost presidential~

Foreigners don’t have the habit of eating crab roe; they have only eaten crab meat, and crab shells are usually discarded or made into soup at restaurants.

The golden crab roe enters the mouth with a smooth and rich texture; the thickness of the starch coating is very thin, almost imperceptible, just suitably adding a bit of thickness.

The crab meat threads offer no discernible texture but deliver an incredibly rich crab aroma.

Additionally, there were some rough orange particles of unknown substance, also delicious when eaten.

Most likely, these were the unknown bits scraped from the crab shell, right?

"That’s crab roe, a delicacy in our Great Xia, known as the tastiest part of the crab."

Lin Chen was extremely pleased with his culinary skills. Although it was his first attempt, the taste was on par with what he’d had at high-end restaurants back home.

Seeing Boss Magna staring at the crab powder on the spoon, he kindly offered an explanation.

"Crab roe? Isn’t that just the crab’s innards?"

Boss Magna was quite indifferent to the idea of eating innards.

After all, with seafood, many things can be eaten straight from the sea and often taste sweet and fresh without any fishy smell. There’s nothing to fear.

"No, crab roe isn’t innards. But I suggest you stop asking and try it first. I’ll tell you afterward."

Lin Chen smiled mysteriously and scooped another spoonful of crab powder tofu into his mouth.

And indeed, the tofu made with crab blood had an authentic texture but, once the tongue pressed it open, it was filled with the flavor of crab meat—truly amazing.

If anything, it felt a bit like molecular gastronomy: it looked like tofu but tasted of crab meat.

He hadn’t expected eating crab blood alone to be such a fantastic experience. The protein-like substance floating on steamed crab shells always felt like egg whites, never linking it to tofu before.

It seemed his thoughts were too limited before this.

"If it’s not innards, what could it be? It can’t be blood since the blood is right here."

Lin Chen’s secrecy only piqued Boss Magna’s curiosity even more.

With crab flesh and blood all here, what’s left but the innards!

But knowing this guy, it must be something surprising. Better finish eating first and find out later.

He scooped another spoonful of crab powder and savored it. Besides the fine strands of crab meat and roe, the overarching note was the rich flavor of crab meat.

This preparation was completely different from the king crab dishes he’d tried before. The crab flavor was incredibly concentrated, like the essence of an entire crab in just one spoon.

The crucial part was it wasn’t spicy—not even a hint of heat, just the ultimate sweetness and freshness.

As several spoonfuls went down, the hot crab powder glided down the throat into the stomach, soothing the lingering burn from the spicy hotpot.

The mild burning pain in the stomach gradually vanished, replaced by a warm, healing sensation.

Fortunately, the portion of crab powder tofu was small, and since Lin Chen had hardly eaten breakfast, the two quickly polished it off, scraping the plate clean.

Lin Chen licked the leftover golden crab powder from the corner of his mouth, clearly not satiated.

He had never had crab powder before, as it was an expensive delicacy back home, often costing a fortune for just a small bowl—most people would only try it out of curiosity, unwilling to waste money.

Yet, he never imagined crab powder could taste this good!

No wonder people online raved about mixing crab powder with rice or noodles; it’s indeed appetite-boosting.

Maybe a drizzle of crab vinegar or a hint of chili oil.

Thinking about it made his mouth involuntarily water.

Glancing at the time, from the initial crab dissection to now, the process took only forty minutes—not very time-consuming.

Looks like he could dedicate a session exclusively to crab powder dishes in the future. Whether in steamed buns or mixed with rice or noodles, the results would surely be great.

Even Boss Magna, who was tired of seafood, couldn’t resist—it surely had immense allure for the average diner.

The best part was that king crab was cheap here, easy to dismantle, requiring only a pair of scissors.

Imagine the four of them tackling crab dismantling together; they could probably prep dozens in an hour.

The amount on the plate could be divided into two bowls for sale, approximately a hundred servings. Preparing two hours ahead would be ample for street vending.

If lucky, and the two newly hired chefs arrived soon, prep time could further reduce.

"I can’t take any more. Feels like I’m about to burst any second," Boss Magna wiped the sweat from his forehead, holding his round belly with a pale complexion.

This time it wasn’t the spice, but sheer fullness.

He couldn’t even dare to walk, afraid that any sudden move might trigger nausea.

Such a delicious dish couldn’t go to waste—throwing up was out of the question!

Must endure to the end!

"By the way, didn’t you say you’d tell me what crab roe is after finishing?"

"Are you sure you really want to know?"

Lin Chen’s skeptical gaze lingered on his face for two seconds. "I’m afraid you might vomit once you hear it."

Boss Magna’s face tensed up. Despite wanting to admit defeat, his words took control, bypassing his brain.

"Impossible! Tell me now! I’m not that fragile!"

"Alright then," Lin Chen shrugged. "Crab roe, as you know, is found in the crab shell along with the innards."

"So, essentially, it’s the female crab’s digestive glands and ovaries, and of course, includes the eggs."