Chapter 148: The King of Crab Kings

Zhuang Chen couldn't help pressing further, "Life always has various difficulties. What about when you encounter unhappy moments?"

"Then just don't think about them!" Chua Lam said casually. "You can escape, go eat and drink. Actually, escaping is great; you take a detour and come right back, feeling happy again."

"Back in the sixties and seventies of the last century, every family was very poor. I once saw a Suzhou man passing by a pond, seeing duckweed, bending down to scoop it home, and raising it in his house. In those hard times, to still be able to find just a little bit of fun—that is the aesthetics of life."

Zhuang Chen suddenly understood. He had once heard a saying: What is a true warrior?

It is someone who, after suffering countless hardships, still bravely loves life!

"Always remember not to think too highly of yourself. Don't look at me as if I've written dozens of books; go walk around a bookstore and you'll find that what you wrote is just one among them."

"Go take a look at the British Library, and it's even more terrifying, so it's really no big deal. Don't think about whether your works will be passed down for generations to come. A hundred years from now, who's going to know you?"

"Don't think too much in life. All difficulties and troubles are conjured up by your own mind; once you let go of them, it's nothing remarkable!"

Several dishes were served. Eating and chatting, Zhuang Chen poured another glass of red wine for him and probed, "Do you still run your tour groups now?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I?" Chua Lam picked up a piece of fish, put it into his mouth, and said with relish, "Next, we're heading to Niigata in the island nation, a place that produces rice, to eat peaches."

"Work used to be quite passive—traveling everywhere just to shoot shows. Many friends complained, 'Why don't you take us to such a great place?'"

"In the end, having no other choice, I started taking them one by one, and simply formed a tour group to take everyone out from time to time. Whenever I get everything ready, I notify everyone. The benefit is that every single penny is spent on the travel itself, and we don't do commercials for anyone."

"Last year, I went to a place called Tokamachi. In winter, snow blocks the mountains and you can't go out, so the women twist hemp into ropes to weave fabric. After weaving, they spread the fabric out on the snow. Once laid out on the snow, the cloth stands upright, thin and transparent like a cicada's wing. Wearing it doesn't touch the skin, and it's extremely comfortable. A single piece of cloth to make one garment costs about seventy or eighty thousand."

He raised his wine glass and smiled with a laugh, "And as for drinking, as long as you're happy, it's fine. Tipsiness is true happiness. Don't drink too much; too much of a good thing is bad. In the whole world, there are two things that are the heaviest: one is books, and the other is a woman who has passed out from drink."

"Drinking until you feel light and floaty and start murmuring is a happy thing. Not chasing drinks, no dizziness, no vomiting, not disturbing others, not shouting, not forcing people to drink, no bottoms-up, no finger-guessing drinking games, no karaoke, no repeating topics—these are the ten codes of good drinking etiquette. Knowing when to stop while you're ahead is a state of mastery."

"You young people, remember to be punctual, keep your promises, try to treat people older than yourselves well, and be filial. If you want to do better than others, you have to sleep a little less than others, read more, and study. Young people shouldn't sleep too much; when you're old, you'll have plenty of coffins to sleep in."

"To become someone who really knows how to eat, you must first have curiosity. Try everything; that's why my wife often says it's very easy to kill me—just poison something delicious."

"To be a food critic, first don't let other people treat you. You have to pay out of your own pocket to maintain impartiality. Try to tell the truth; of course, sympathy points still exist. Praising a restaurant opened by a good friend a little extra does no harm, as long as it's not too outrageous..."

The conversation grew more and more enthusiastic. Because Zhuang Chen was a die-hard fan and also loved fine food, Chua Lam was in high spirits, and a bottle of red wine was soon finished.

"Come, try the best crab!"

Chua Lam pointed to a large platter of crabs, his face flushed and excited, "Butter crabs were originally just a kind of mud crab. In the high temperatures of midsummer, mature female crabs laden with roe like to inhabit shallow flats to sunbathe."

"When the tide recedes, the sunlight raises the water temperature of the shallow flats, causing the roe inside the crab's body to decompose into a red and yellow oily substance that permeates every part of its body, turning the crab's shell into a color between red and yellow. About one in a hundred crabs has the chance to transform into a butter crab, which we call the king of crabs."

"Pity that these are farmed; wild crabs, also known as sea butter crabs, are exceedingly rare. Five-star hotels charge at least two to three thousand per crab—they are treasures met by chance rather than sought."

With that, he picked one up and introduced, "Butter crabs are graded. In the industry, they are divided into top-tier, second-tier, and roe-oil. Top-tier refers to the premium butter crab, where the crab oil has dissolved evenly, penetrating throughout the entire body and into every joint and every leg of the crab, distributed evenly and appearing as a full, translucent orange-yellow."

"As long as you snap a crab leg, butter drips out. They are very scarce—one selected out of a hundred. Second-tier crabs are those left over after the top-tier ones are picked. Their oil color has a reddish tint, and the joints might not have oil. The oil aroma and meat aroma are both inferior to the top-tier; this is the kind we are eating right now."

"Below that are roe-oil crabs, where the oil has not fully dispersed and contains small, hard red roe. The lowest grade is water-oil crabs, which are completely watery oil with shredded meat and very little oil."

"First, put the crab into ice water and submerge it. If you don't freeze it to death, it will struggle in the steamer, causing its body to burst. A top-tier butter crab must be completely intact; as long as there is the slightest flaw, the butter will all leak out through the cracks. For butter crabs, steaming is the most perfect method."

He motioned for Zhuang Chen to taste it, using his hands to lift off the crab shell. A special fragrance of crab oil rushed over them, and a layer of golden-orange crab roe covered the underside of the shell. Taking a deep breath, the rich fragrance of the oil was mellow, tender, and smooth—uniquely delicious.

Tearing open a crab leg, the golden roe juice blended together with the meat. Sucking on it, his mouth was filled with rich crab roe, leaving a lingering fragrance on his teeth and cheeks...

After finishing one crab, Chua Lam licked the oil from his fingers and said with satisfaction, "There is also an exquisite preparation method: specially-made Huadiao steamed butter crab. Add eight-year-aged Huadiao King wine to the ice water, submerge and intoxicate the crab, letting the mellow aroma of the aged wine pierce into the crab's body."

"Steam over high heat for 15 minutes. The soft, tender butter is golden and delicate, while the aged fragrance of the Huadiao is faint and elusive. At this moment, Jiangnan and Lingnan meet right between the teeth and cheeks."

Zhuang Chen couldn't stop praising after eating it. Truly worthy of an idol's recommendation; even the farmed version was already so stunning, and if it were wild...

"Come, try this oil-drenched flathead flounder." Chua Lam pointed to another freshly served dish and said, "If you ask me where the best seafood in Hong Kong is, there is only one answer: Lau Fau Shan!"

"The flathead flounder is a local specialty. The bigger, the better; we call it the emperor of fish. The preparation method is quite peculiar: the fish is skinned, and then passed quickly directly through a wok of hot oil."

"The speed is so fast that it doesn't even count as frying—it's like a fleeting shadow, so the fish meat is extremely tender and smooth. Diners often use a phrase to evaluate delicacies: 'melts in your mouth'?"

Zhuang Chen picked up a piece, put it into his mouth, immediately narrowed his eyes, and gave a thumbs-up. Now this is what you call truly melting in the mouth!

"Sea Dragon Emperor Soup—isn't that an imposing name?" Chua Lam personally ladled a full bowl of soup for Zhuang Chen. Golden and inviting, he smiled and said, "Nine-section prawns, mantis prawns, large green prawns, and finally topped with the most noble lobster, simmered with a few greens. Taste it and see how it is?"

"Steamed giant grouper—this is the owner's signature dish. It has a sweet taste when eaten, and knowing exactly when to steam the fish tests one's skill the most. The best state is when the middle section of the fish meat is still attached to the fish bone. If it doesn't cling to the bone, it proves it's overcooked..."

"Conpoy lotus leaf rice—the fried rice is cooked halfway, stopped, and placed onto a lotus leaf, matched with scallops, shrimp, mushrooms, and other ingredients. Wrapped tightly with the lotus leaf, it's then put back into the wok to steam..."

"Grand roasted crispy suckling pig—my favorite preparation method. All the fat right beneath the layer of pork skin is scraped away, leaving only the thinnest piece of pig skin, enclosing alternating layers of fat and lean pork belly. Every single slice of skin tastes both crispy and fragrant..."