12.5 weather in Shanghai
It is said that hairy crabs began to be listed around the Mid-Autumn Festival. Shanghai people's throats itch at this time. If you don't eat hairy crabs several times in autumn and winter, you are not an authentic Shanghainese. If you are in a little mood, you can also make an appointment with three or five friends, make a pot and enjoy flowers with crabs.
What is a hairy crab? Eriocheir sinensis, but not all Eriocheir sinensis, must be Eriocheir sinensis, and the size must be more than three or two. It is said that the name of hairy crabs is well known: at that time, crab catchers in Suzhou and Kunshan set up gates between harbors. The gate is made of bamboo, and lights are hung at night. When the crab saw the light, it climbed up the bamboo door. At this time, you only need to catch it at the city gate, so it is called hairy crab.
Usually, people compare the hairy crab to the best taste, because it has the necessary color, fragrance, taste, shape and quality of food. Zhang Dai, a writer in the Ming Dynasty, once said that eating hairy crabs "has five flavors without vinegar or salt".
Just as the ink is divided into six colors and the piano is divided into seven tones, hairy crabs also have many flavors: crab meat, crab paste, crab yellow and crab roe. Crab meat is divided into "four flavors": thigh meat, short and slender, tastes like scallops; Leg meat, long and tender, as beautiful as whitebait; Crab meat, white and crystal clear, is better than white fish; The wonder of crab roe is incomparable. After exposure, crabs are seafood treasures and the first seafood.
When it comes to hairy crabs, you can't help but mention Shanghainese. The affection between Shanghainese and hairy crabs is as inseparable as that between Northeasters and sauerkraut vermicelli, Sichuanese and boiled fish. According to incomplete statistics, every Shanghainese eats 12.5 hairy crabs every year on average during the listing of hairy crabs.
There is also a saying in Shanghai called "nine females and ten males", which means eating female crabs in September and male crabs in October. Of course, this is the ninth month of the lunar calendar.
In fact, in addition to "nine women and ten men", Shanghainese are also very particular about eating hairy crabs.
For example, because crabs are cold, there must be something warm to match: some people must drink yellow wine when eating crabs, and yellow wine must be hot; Some people eat crabs and dip them in ginger juice, which is definitely a technical job. Ginger juice tastes different from hairy crabs. Others don't touch anything when eating crabs, and drink ginger tea after eating, in order to keep the hairy crabs delicious and original, so as not to be upstaged by ginger vinegar. Everyone has different tastes and needs.
Like eating crabs for fun. The ancients had the taste of crabs and poems, and played with their moods. Nowadays, people no longer recite poems, but their mood is equally important, so people who are good at eating crabs take out a green or white porcelain plate with golden hairy crabs. After pleasing to the eye, people who eat crabs will think that crabs taste more delicious.
Also, crabs used to be picked in markets or supermarkets. The former is based on their own experience, while the latter is optimistic about the brand. Nowadays, Shanghainese only need to dial an eight-digit telephone number one or two days in advance to wait for the crab to come to the door. "30,000 hectares" Taihu Qingshui Crab creatively launched a gift crab, which really showed the Shanghai people the taste of the crab that day.
Whether crabs are the same day or not is an important criterion to judge the quality of hairy crabs, which shows that people are not satisfied with the freshness of live crabs. In addition, under the premise of all species of hairy crabs, the quality of hairy crabs is determined by the water quality. Merchants have also played their own signs. Yangcheng Lake claims that the lake is crystal clear, and the "30,000 hectares" freshwater crab in Taihu Lake has also taken out its trump card, calling out that I was born in Taipuzha, the water source in Shanghai ... which is better? You'd better check it yourself.