When the autumn winds pick up, “the chrysanthemums bloom yellow and the crabs run plump,” as the old saying goes. King crabs and snow crabs are flown to Taiwan from Hokkaido, while the famed Chinese mitten crabs of mainland China’s Yangcheng Lake also find their way quickly to tables here. But despite all the to-do over arthropods from afar, the fact is that some of the tastiest and most reasonably priced crabs on the market in Taiwan are local critters trapped off the northern coast and brought ashore in the fishing ports of Wanli.
Did you know that about 80% of all sea crabs sold in Taiwan come from Wanli District in New Taipei City? They’ve now been branded “Wanli Crabs” in a big marketing campaign.
With the crab season just now peaking, we decided to head up to the north coast and have a look around.
When Typhoon Fitow grazed northern Taiwan in early October, the fishing boats of Yeliu Fishing Harbor were uncharacteristically all at anchor in the harbor at one time.
The 50 crab boats there had been working around the clock after the arrival of peak Wanli crab season in September, until the typhoon forced them all to take refuge in the harbor. Even then, however, the local restaurants continued to do brisk business. In and around the fishing ports of Wanli, Yeliu, Guihou, and Dong’ao, a big red Chinese character for “Wan” in the shape of a crab is the logo for Wanli crabs. At market stalls and restaurants, pennants flapping in the wind sport the “Wan” logo, and crabs are the most popular item on offer. Prices are posted separately for crucifix crab, three-spot swimming crab, and ridged swimming crab, all of which struggle valiantly in their captivity.
Fried Wanli crabs
Taxonomically, crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura. Some live in marine environments, others in fresh water. Among the world’s roughly 5,000 species of crab, about 80–90% are marine.
Ocean currents and location combine to produce a large variety of crabs—an estimated 500-plus species—in the waters off Taiwan. Freshwater species such as mud crabs (Scylla serrata) thrive in rivers, and can be raised in farming operations. In Taiwan the male mud crabs, the virgin females (containing “crab caviar”—unfertilized eggs), and fertilized females (containing “crab roe”—fertilized eggs) are sold separately under different names. Marine crabs, however, cannot survive long out of water, and must be trapped in the wild.
Compared with farm-raised crabs, marine crabs trapped in the wild are noted not so much for any abundance of caviar or roe, as for their tasty, tender flesh.
The best crab fishing is done 50 nautical miles off the coast of Wanli in the Northwestern Fishing Ground, east of 120° 40' east longitude and south of 26° north latitude. Some 80% of all marine crabs in Taiwan come from here, and the harvest is worth an estimated NT$400 million per year.
The three types of crabs caught off Wanli are the crucifix crab, the three-spot swimming crab, and the ridged swimming crab, and each has its own unique flavor and characteristics.
The crucifix crab, its orange shell punctuated by an ornate brown pattern, is caught here all year round. The caviar and roe are tastiest and most abundant in summer (around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival) and in autumn, and the meat is also at its best around these times. The crabs sell for about NT$400–600 per catty (600 grams).
The dark green shell of the three-spot swimming crab is ornamented by three conspicuous purple spots. Highly prized by the locals in Wanli, the crab is especially plump in the autumn, and sells for about NT$250–350 per catty.
The shell of the ridged swimming crab is harder and rougher, but the meat is pleasingly firm. It sells for much the same price as the three-spot swimming crab.
As the poet wrote: “If you never eat crab, what a terrible waste of a stomach!” In Taiwan, if you never eat Wanli crab, you’ve thumbed your nose at one of the better things Mother Nature and the Wanli fishermen have to offer.
Crab trapping is one of the more distinctive sights you will run across in Wanli.
There’s no mistaking a crab boat, with its square hull topped by a superstructure of metal racks, from which some 2,000 crab traps are hung.
Lin Dewang, managing director of the ROC Association of Fisheries and Fishing Vessels, reports that Taiwan’s crab fishers have stopped using trawling nets and seine-haul fishing, and now instead use more environmentally friendly crab traps. They bait the traps with saury or striped tuna and leave them in the water for 16–20 hours before pulling them up again.
“Crab fishermen are a tough bunch,” says Yan Fuqing, secretary general of the association. Crabbers head out to sea at high tide, he explains, which is when crabs are more likely to be out hunting for food. It takes about five or six hours to get to the crabbing ground, and once there, crew members spend every minute lowering traps, pulling them in, and tying up crabs. The crabbers work non-stop for 14–15 hours at a stretch.
Once a crab trap is hauled aboard, crew members immediately tie up the crabs’ pincers to keep them from attacking each other. As the task proceeds, crabs under minimum size are picked out and thrown back into the sea. The rest go into the hold, where they are kept alive in seawater.
Crab boats range from 40 tons on up to 100 or 200 tons. The need to keep the crabs alive in the hold means that any boat, no matter how large, will have to return to port within five days at most to unload its catch before the crabs start dying.
Once a crab boat arrives in port, its catch is
immediately dumped on the pier, where the crabs are graded, packed, and rushed onto trucks for delivery to markets and restaurants.
Taiwan’s crab fishers have stopped using trawling nets in favor of more environmentally friendly crab traps.
They say that crabbing is a roll of the dice. Lin Dewang, who has been crabbing for over 20 years, says he still has no way of knowing when he heads out to sea whether he’ll come back with a big catch or empty traps.
“It’s a bit like farming, with a few good years followed by a few bad ones,” according to Lin, who says that it’s usually three bumper years, then a string of years that are not so good. He especially remembers bringing in huge catches in 1999, the year of the 921 Earthquake, and speculates that perhaps the quake unsettled the crabs. He would bring in 5,000 catties in three days that year, where the normal catch is usually about 1,000 catties a day.
Crabbers from Wanli have all staked out their respective territories, so no one gets in disputes. But you can’t use fish sonar to detect the presence of crabs. Some crabbers often take in big catches while neighbors strike out.
Boat captain Yan Fuqing says that when the crabs aren’t taking the bait, an entire set of 360 traps can come up empty, but when things are going well, you can pull up traps full of crabs after just three hours. “Even the most experienced captain has no way of knowing.”
Interestingly, crabbers very rarely eat crab while out at sea. Captain Yan explains that there’s no time for it. The only exception is when crabs are not getting caught. It was during a slow patch that Yan invented his own recipe for grilled crab: the crab is split in half, stood upright, and grilled for 10 minutes. The fresh crab is so delicious on its own that there’s no need for any seasoning at all.
The Ambassador Hotel offers a special dish that combines Wanli crabs with the hotel’s own famous fried white radish patty.
The famed poet Su Shi once wrote: “If you never get to Lushan, in vain were you born with eyes. If you never eat crab, what a terrible waste of a stomach!” In Taiwan, if you fail to taste Wanli crabs, you really have thumbed your nose at one of the better things Mother Nature has to offer.
Zhang Yongyao, proprietor of the Hung-Li Seafood home delivery service as well as a local fish products business, is a crab guru. He points out that female crabs are plumpest in the ninth month of the lunar calendar, while male crabs are at their best taste and texture in the tenth month, but in fact crabs are available all year round.
According to Zhang Yongyao, “Crucifix crabs are most abundant in the summer and fall, and three-spot swimming crabs come out in force around the time of the northeast monsoons, while ridged swimming crabs are more plentiful in the winter.” He further explains that crabs molt, and have less meat when their shells are soft; when the shells get hard, the crabs are plumper. As winter approaches, they prepare for hibernation, and this is when they have the most caviar, roe, and flesh.
To promote Wanli crabs, the New Taipei City Government last year created the “Wanli Crab” brand name and hired the marketing firm Niche imc to run a marketing campaign. Liu Pei-pei, who is in charge of Wanli crab branding at the firm, explains that since last year some 31 seaside restaurants in the ports of Yeliu, Dong’ao, Guihou, and Wanli have been approved to use the Wanli Crab logo to promote their Wanli crab dishes, such as Wanli crab congee, grilled Wanli crabs, fried Wanli crabs, and salt-and-pepper Wanli crabs. The variety is endless.
In addition to the local seaside restaurants, big international hotels in Taipei, Hsinchu, Taoyuan, Taichung, and Kaohsiung have also jumped on the bandwagon by rolling out seasonal dishes featuring Wanli crabs.
At the Ambassador Hotel in Taipei, the Canton Court Chinese restaurant offered a special crab dish in October, expertly combining Wanli crabs with the Canton Court’s famous fried white radish patty. Patrons have been bowled over by the delicious result! Another crab dish launched in October features crabs together with various other seafoods, and is going to be a perfect choice for restaurant-goers when the cold weather of November and December rolls around.
Canton Court head chef Lin Chien-lung explains that most crab dishes are steamed or boiled. If overdone, the meat will become tough, so it’s important to get the timing just right. A ten-ounce crab, for example, comes out nicely if you place it in boiling water, put the flame on low, and cook it for seven minutes.
Even Western-style restaurants have gotten in on the act by putting limited-time crab dishes on the menu during the peak Wanli crab season. Head chef Michael at Lawry’s The Prime Rib, for example, cooks up three-spot swimming crabs in three different ways: steamed, broiled with garlic butter, and boiled in dark beer. In addition, there are parmesan crab cake appetizers, crab and roast potatoes, and various other Wanli crab delights.
Lawry’s The Prime Rib serves up steamed crabs, crab and roast potatoes, and other Western-style crab dishes.
So that gourmands need not battle the crowds that throng to seaside restaurants during peak crab season, the New Taipei City Government this year has begun granting accreditation to home delivery services for cooked crab.
Zhang Yongyao, who had trapped crabs for a number of years before opening a home delivery service for fish products, points out that crab is the only seafood that is delivered cooked.
According to Zhang, a marine crab usually dies once it’s been away from the sea for 30 minutes, and starts to taste of nitrous acid even before it has died. Frozen raw crabs lose moisture when they’re thawed out. Only crabs that have first been cooked before refrigeration or freezing keep their flavor and moisture.
There’s a trick to cooking crabs. Before cooking, you must put them in ice water for 15–30 minutes to knock them unconscious. Otherwise, if you cook them while they’re conscious, the crabs will struggle and lose their legs. Not being intact, they won’t sell well.
When a typhoon grazed northern Taiwan recently, the crab boats of Wanli Fishing Harbor were uncharacteristically all at anchor in the harbor in the middle of peak crab season.
What with seaside restaurants, creative Wanli crab cuisine at hotels across Taiwan, and cooked crab home delivery, Wanli crabs are making a name for themselves.
Crabbers in Wanli took in a combined catch of about 6,600 tons last year. At this level, crabbers don’t worry that crabs will diminish in number due to overfishing. What they do worry about is the damage to crab habitats caused by mechanized trawlers from the Chinese mainland.
Lin Dewang relates that ten or 20 years ago he used to trap ridged swimming crabs off Penghu every year in the months when the northeasterly monsoon winds were the strongest. For seven years, he could fill up his hold in just two or three days, but catches eventually declined due to habitat destruction caused by boats from the mainland. By five years ago, there were no longer any ridged swimming crabs to be caught there.
The Northwestern Fishing Ground is now the only remaining crabbing ground for fishermen from Wanli. Lin Dewang says that crab traps used to get broken all the time by the nets of mainland Chinese trawlers, but Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration now patrols regularly to protect Taiwanese fishermen. Whenever a mainland fishing boat is found in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone, between 12 and 24 nautical miles off the coast, it can be fined NT$50,000 to NT$500,000. This has greatly reduced losses for the people of Wanli.
Working at sea is tough. You have to struggle with the ocean, and you also have to manage a lot of foreign crew members. It has long been the case that “when catches are small, it’s a seller’s market; when catches are big, prices crash.” Fortunately, now that the New Taipei City Government has created the “Wanli Crab” brand, this old problem is no longer quite so nettlesome. The fishermen of Wanli are all hoping that the “Wanli Crab” brand will thrive for many long years to come.
Wanli crab congee
The New Taipei City Government last year created the “Wanli Crab” brand, and this year has gone a step further by rolling out crab-themed T-shirts, ceramics, mugs, and other items that have gained still further name recognition for Wanli crabs.
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