korean season baby crab

[origamicrane]

hi there

a new korean super market has open in central london and i saw something that caught my eye.

It was in the open fridge section next to the kimchi it was labelled

seasoned baby crab and looked like some blue crab in brown kimchi seasoning.

What i want to know is how do you eat this? is it ready to eat or do you have to cook it?

is it nice? as i might get some next time i'm there?

thanks

[eunny jang]

I haven't seen this with baby crab, but I DIG gae-jang - halved blue crabs quick-cured in chili paste. You may be meant to eat the baby crabs whole, but when faced with the larger ones, you bite down on the raw crab (the shells soften a little in the cure) and work out the squelchy, silky raw meat with your teeth and lips. Is it nice? It's AWESOME. The chili paste is generously spiked with vinegar and garlic and scallion. Repeat the process until your lips burn and you can't taste anything anymore. Eat it right out of the plastic deli tub. YUM!

[Marco_Polo]

Wow, eunny that sounds amazing! Origamicrane, where's the supermarket in London? Do you have an address, contact details? I wonder if they supply mail order or sell over the web?

MP

[origamicrane]

Thanks Eunny that does sound like (masochistic) fun

I must get some right away

*sound of slamming door and running footsteps fading into the background*

Marco the supermarket is Tottenham Court Road and is below Centre Point Sushi Bar the address is 20-21 St Giles Street and the number is 020 7379 3369. They are open from 12.00-10.00pm Mon-Sat.

Not sure if they do mail order or online shopping give them a call i guess.

[origamicrane]

in case they can't deliver it foudn a recipe for it

http://www.recipehound.com/Recipes/0922.html

[SG-]

Here's a question for you, given that these bottom feeders often come from the "pristine" waters of the Chesapeake, how well are the crabs cleaned before being cured?

[torakris]

I am not sure if they are teh same thing or not but I have had the version with baby crabs, I think they were zuwai-gani and they were eaten whole, I am not sure if they were cooked or raw.

and more recently I had at a restaurant the raw larger crabs with a similar sauce, I am still dreaming about those ones!!

[eunny jang]

Here's a question for you, given that these bottom feeders often come from the "pristine" waters of the Chesapeake, how well are the crabs cleaned before being cured?

←

Hmmm. I think eating raw crabs from any water isn't recommended for those with weakened immune systems, etc. The crabs are relieved of their top shell, guts, and gills, and rinsed. Even so, the flesh of scavengers can be crawling with bacteria and pathogens - not sure what the cure does to those.

I think it has less to do with the water they live in, though we're often warned here from eating the mustard/pancreas in the body cavity of a blue crab from the Chesapeake - high PCB concentrations in crabs caught in certain areas. In any event, the crab population here is so depleted that more often than not, the crabs you eat on a Baltimore dock are trucked in from the Gulf. I seriously doubt that the gaejang one buys in London is made from Maryland blue crabs.

[origamicrane]

well i believe that the gills and gut of the crab are the areas where the bacteria is most prominent those parts also don't taste nice.

Areas where there are high levels of pcb, heavy metal or other chemical nasties

would hopefully be banned fishing areas and the critters from those areas hopefully wouldn't reach the shops.

The cure is meant to kill of bacteria, the crab is pickled and like ceviche should cook the crab.

But if the crab is infected with any really nasty bacteria it shouldn't be eaten raw or cooked!!

In London i seriously doubt we be able to get fresh blue crab only fresh crab we get is brown crab.

So the question i must ask then is, the gaejang in this korean supermarket must be made from frozen blue crab? is this ok?

[jschyun]

I was thinking of you guys as I had gaejang today.

I'm sorry people, but that "cure" does not rid the crab of all the bacteria. But I'm guessing it does help somewhat. You definitely need to keep it refrigerated to keep the bacteria count down. I try not to eat gaejang too much.

Also, do not make gaejang with freshwater crabs, esp where the "oriental lung fluke" is prevalent. If you eat the infected crabs raw, you will get infected as well. Also don't eat other shellfish raw from these regions, like raw shrimp or crayfish (ack I just had live amaebi sushi from Japan with the shrimp guts all over it! and it was so good...). To be honest, I have not followed up as to whether or not freezing would split and kill the metacercariae (larval stage of the fluke, sort of an egg with a hard shell around it).

Paragonimus westermani, aka oriental lung fluke Basically in humans, the flukes are usually found in the lungs, but they can also go roam around anywhere in your body. They don't do much, but you can get chest pain and sometimes abscesses in your lungs and sometimes they do get into your brain. Fun stuff like that.

Here in the United States, gaejang is made with those blue crabs from Maryland. Those are okay, in terms of infection with the oriental lung fluke, because they are saltwater. My favorite way of eating it is using a chopstick to push out the meat in the body and then squeezing the legs with my fingers until the meat pops out and then I eat it.

Actually, I've had a non spicy version of gaejang. I dunno the actual name, but i suppose it is somewhere along the lines of "ganjang gaejang" (soy sauce marinated baby blue crabs)

[origamicrane]

ohmigod !!!

i just bought this crab from CPSB

THIS TASTES SO BAD FOR YOU !!!!!!!

It looks like its swimming in red thermonuclear chilli with large lumps of garlic and cucumber, scallion and chilli!!

The flesh is like crab and chilli flavoured pulp the brown meat and tamale taste like chilli crab and cholestrol!!!!!

The texture is on the silky slimy texture if you are mushy food phobic you won't like this but the flavour is so good!!!!

I just had two bits of this and was instantly addicted but after the 5 bite i realised i felt really bloated already!!! :)

you have to eat this with rice i think as eating it purely on its own would be overwhelming on the taste buds, it be like eating a block of foie gras on its own!!!

but yeah its really good but i can see why you wouldn;t want to eat this too often !!!

[torakris]

they are really addicting aren't they?!!

[Joon]

Yum. I love Gae Jang. My favorite Korean restaurant serves Gae Jang as a side dish and that alone makes the trip worthwhile!

[jschyun]

I was shocked to learn that a bunch of people around me have made this dish using dungeness crabs. Why am I always the last to know this stuff? According to those who have had it, dungeness is the king for use in gaejang.

[touaregsand]

I was shocked to learn that a bunch of people around me have made this dish using dungeness crabs.  Why am I always the last to know this stuff?  According to those who have had it, dungeness is the king for use in gaejang.

←

Beg to differ. The best are Korean blue crabs, females with roe in them.

But man gaejong breath has to be worse than kim chi breath.

[Soup]

There seems to be 3 dishes people refer to...

GaeJang - pickled raw crab in soy sauce

GaeMuChim - picled raw crab in a hot pepper paste

Small whole crabs - no idea what its called.

I love them all. GaeJang around Washington DC is made with Blue crabs from the local waters, I guess that is fresh water. They are really good (roe is the best) but I do worry about getting sick.

The small whole crabs are sweet hot and crunch. Really good. Just bought some at the local korean store.

Soup