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Thursday, September 22, 2011

How many crabs could an esteemed chef steam ...

Boston chef Jasper White is headed to China to enjoy some freshwater hairy crabs, a delicacy he first encountered in 1986, according to this interview in today's Globe. "So what exactly makes the crabs special?" asks the reporter.
A. They’re delicious and highly steamed. And also, they’re rare. They’re found predominantly in the Nanjing Province. And they’re only in harvest four weeks, during fall.
 I don't think the reporter's transcription here qualifies as an eggcorn; it's just a garden-variety mishearing, one that's almost plausible in the context. Not that you'd want your shellfish "highly steamed," but then, the other possible reading -- "they're delicious and highly esteemed" -- isn't a very good answer to the question either. At least this version is good for a laugh.

5 comments:

  1. the irrepressible fairchildSeptember 23, 2011 at 9:44 AM

    On the other hand, http://www.cultural-china.com says this: "Steaming is the most classical way to cook the hairy crab, intended mainly to highlight the original flavor of the crab and preserve, to the utmost, its appearance, aroma and taste. Steamed crabs take on an orange color and taste fresh and delicious." So who knows?

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  2. But would one normally highly steam anything? Thoroughly steam would sound more likely.

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  3. Hey too funny!

    Thank goodness crabs are not rare because I love eating them.

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  4. Highly steamed would require a pressure cooker, no?

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  5. Most of the crabs sold as Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs are fake -- they take crabs from other places and pass them off as genuine Yangcheng Lake crabs -- so the real ones are probably hard to find. But they're even harder to find if you look for them in Nanjing province, since there is no Nanjing province in China.

    Does anyone else think it sounds strange to say "the Nanjing province"?

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