Blue Crabs

First time cooking Blue Crabs!

I've eaten blue crabs all my life, but I've never prepared them and cooked them myself!  I did it the Chinese way... ginger, scallions, soy sauce, water, black pepper and salt.  After cleaning the crabs, I stir-fried them in my outdoor wok.  It was a lot of fun!  Gotta do it again.

Plenty of smoke and flame generated from the wok helped give the crabs a nice "Wok Hei" flavoring.  Wok Hei means the "Breath of the Wok."  It's what gives Chinese food that restaurant quality flavor that you can't seem to get when cooking on your own stove.  Constant moving of the wok to get the flame onto the food is what creates that smoky Wok Hei flavor.

In the past few years, my interest in cooking seems to have taken off.  But I only like cooking in my cast iron skillets, dutch oven, or in this wok!  I'm a "gadgets" kind of guy in that I need gadgets to fiddle with.  These cooking tools make cooking fun for me.  If I had to just cook with regular teflon pans on a gas stove, I don't think I'd be as interested.

I like the concept of doing something that's a bit difficult for others to do.  Cooking with cast iron is relatively easy and non-stick, but unless you know how to do it properly, many people end up with food that just sticks to it.  With wok cooking, there's a technique to it as well.  If you want that Wok Hei flavor, you have to know how to do it.  I'm not 100% there yet, but I'm getting closer every time I try cooking something on the wok.  Playing with the right temperature, tossing the food with the right amount of oil and water as well as timing seems to be a key to success in wok cooking.  I'll get there eventually.

This website has a good explanation on how Wok Hei is achieved.  Click here.

Spam Musubi

My brother-in-law made Spam Musubi for me when I was in San Francisco last week. I had not eaten Spam since I got married and perhaps even up to 5 or more years before that... so roughly 36 or 37 years ago!

Spam Musubi is actually a popular thing in Hawaii. Seasoned with Furikake, sushi rice (rice with vinegar) is wrapped together with Spam and a sheet of Nori (seaweed) to make Spam Musubi.  My brother-in-law took the easy route and didn't shape the rice like this, but rather just gave me a bowl of rice with the Spam and the toppings. Still tasted pretty good no matter how it's shaped!

I purchased my first can of Spam in 37 years... ok... it's my first purchase ever since I never bought Spam, my dad did and fed it to us!