EVERY August, if you walk around the old lanes lined with shikumen (stone-gate) buildings, it's common to see some locals moving their dining tables outside. The whole family sits around enjoying liuyuehuang, a small hairy crab usually available in July and August. From crab belly to pincers, people eat slowly and carefully for fear of missing any of its tasty meat and roe. Adults usually pair with a pot of Shaoxing Huadiao, a kind of Chinese yellow wine, while children consume it with soft drinks.

Compared with the better known hairy crab, bountiful in autumn, liuyuehuang is much smaller, ranging from 100 grams to 200 grams. Hence, it contains less meat which tastes lighter, is soft and not as sweet as hairy crab. Since its shell is not so hard, the tools required for serving hairy crab such as scissors and pliers are not necessary.

Based on those differences, people cook liuyuehuang in special ways. "Its meat tastes light which is suitable to be given flavor by adding other savory ingredients and sauces," says Jiang Liyang, a famous Shanghai food critic who has served and written about the crab for more than 50 years.

Jiang says that for a crab weighing 200 grams, steaming and soaking in wine is appropriate to highlight its original flavor. If the crab is only around 100 grams, he recommends jiangbao, quick fried with soybean sauce, and miantuo, wrapped with flour and then deep fried - both traditional Shanghai cooking methods that add flavor and texture to the crab.

Since liuyuehuang is not as expensive as hairy crab, it's popular among ordinary Shanghai families, and has even become a summer food tradition in the city. Besides the serving methods Jiang introduced, nearly every Shanghai housewife, including my mother, has their own secret crab recipe.

Ever since I was a child, every time I saw my mother returning from the fresh market with small crabs wrapped in straw and a bottle of vinegar, I knew a delicious crab feast was going to be served later that day.

We introduce six authentic ways of serving liuyuehuang and recommend some places in Shanghai where you can try them.

Steamed liuyuehuang

The preparation for this dish is quite simple, only taking 15 to 20 minutes to steam the crab until it is well done. However, crab used for steaming should be fresh, big enough and produced in top areas such as Yangcheng Lake. Since the meat itself does not contain enough sweetness, more sugar is added in the dipping sauce blending Zhenjiang vinegar, a kind of black vinegar featuring a dark color and malty flavor originating in Jiangsu Province, soybean sauce, shredded ginger and spring onion.

The eating process is similar to hairy crab. First, remove the legs and pincers, then open the shell. Next, devour the roe and dip the crab meat into the sauce. Finally, enjoy the balanced taste of sweet, sour and a little saltiness. A unique feature of consuming liuyuehuang is that its shell is soft so that diners can slowly break open every bit of the crab with their teeth, and the sweet and umami juice locked inside the shell can be sucked out.

Drunken liuyuehuang

People living in east China, especially in Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces prefer using liquor to marinate various fish, crabs and shrimps. Drunken crab is a representative dish of these areas.

Live crab is directly submerged in a container filled with a spirit with high alcohol content, typically gaoliang, a kind of distilled liquor made from sorghum, and various seasonings including sugar, star anise, cinnamon, Chinese pepper and orange peel. After being marinated for several days, it can be served. Alcohol here plays the role of adding aroma and disinfection. Crab is served live hence it should be fresh enough and grown in a clean water area.

Drunken crab is also one of the most controversial dishes in China. Two divergent opinions exist. Alex Xing from Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, where there is a tradition of serving live seafood said, "For me, drunken liuyuehuang is the best way of highlighting the flavor and texture of the crab. Only gaoliang has the effect of strengthening the aroma but keeping the original taste at the same time."

However, Alice Wang argued that it's impossible for alcohol to kill all the bacteria inside the crab which may lead to intestinal disease. "I cannot imagine serving the crab alive. It's bloody," she said.

Regardless, the taste is fabulous and deserves trying. The spirit made of rice gives the crab a unique aroma. Other seasonings add rich flavor to the crab meat, with some herbal and fruity notes. The crab roe is quite different, when cooked it is very creamy and sweet.

Jiangbao liuyuehuang with niangao

Jiang in Chinese means sauces, mainly referring to soybean sauce, while bao means quick fried. Jiangbao is a representative Chinese cooking technique popular throughout the country. Niangao is a kind of Chinese cake made of glutinous rice with a nice sticky texture.

Shanghainese make slight changes in terms of jiang. "Locals prefer a sweet and salty taste. Hence, a certain amount of sugar is added to soybean sauce. On one hand, sugar is capable of developing the luscious taste of the crab meat and roe, on the other, it has the effect of coloring and shining the dish which improves the final presentation," said chef Zhang Zuomin from LYNN, a restaurant in the city providing authentic Shanghai cuisine.

Cooking is not complex, carving the crab into halves so the meat better absorbs the sauce and then quick frying it. Zhang emphasized that concise heating control and sauce-making is decisive to the taste and texture. Experienced epicures can recognize whether the chef is Shanghainese simply by sampling the sauce.

When eating, we recommend trying the niangao first. Niangao, with little flavor of its own, is given rich flavor from the sauce and the crab. The flavor of niangao, and whether it has a fishy taste, partly shows the quality of the crab. Then, serve the tasty crab. Since the crab has been fried in advance, it is much easier to bite.

Liuyuehuang steamed with salted pork

Crabs are cut into halves and each one is steamed with a slice of salted pork. Pork from Jinhua in Jiangsu Province with a perfect proportion of lean and fat is the best.

"Pork cutting is important here, influencing the final taste of the crab," said Zhang. He further explained that if the pork is sliced too thin, its saltiness and fatty aroma is not strong enough to be absorbed by the crab, if sliced too thick, its strong flavor will cover the original sweetness of the crab.

Old Shanghainese often steam the two with green soybean to add flavors and textures.

When the dish is on the table, experienced diners first dip the pork in its own and the crab's juices and oil spilled during steaming. Sweet, salty and nicely oily elements create a pleasant balance in the mouth with a long aftertaste.

Miantuo liuyuehuang

Miantuo is a representative cooking method in Shanghai cuisine, often used to cook fish and shrimps. Liuyuehuang is first coated in thick flour then deep fried, and finally braised with specially made sauce.

It is said that the dish originated among the working class of Shanghai around the 1930s. Although the crab was not too expensive, people with little money could not afford to eat a lot. Therefore, they chose frying and braising the crab wrapped in flour to augment the dish.

Since flour has a satiating effect, thrifty people serve the dish over two days. On the first day, they serve all the crab meat. On the second day, they serve the rice with the leftover braised sauce, mixing flour and crab roe together.

Using flour provides a muddy presentation which is considered by middle-class diners as lacking in standing. The dish is popular among Shanghainese but is hardly found on the menus of restaurants in the city.

"The liuyuehuang tastes light plus the flour itself doesn't have strong flavor, the sauce should be rich enough. My sauce is made of vinegar, sugar, rice wine, soybean sauce and a little chili. Or you can make changes according to your personal preference," said Gao Chao, a Shanghainese who loves cooking.

He also mentioned that ginger and spring onion, which are of yang (hot) nature, are necessary because thet cannot only cover the crab's fishy taste but also balance its ying (cold) nature.

The presentation doesn't influence the taste. Flour absorbs the flavor of the crab, together with the sauce, to taste moist and rich. A little salty soybean sauce develops the sweetness of the crab meat. Ginger and spring onion strengthen the whole aroma.

Bifengtang crab

Bifengtang literally means a shelter for fishing boats during typhoons. Here it refers to special cuisine culture originated in Hong Kong. Crab is wrapped in flour and then deep fried with garlic, scallion, red chili and sesame.

The dish with a golden color creates a strong aroma mixing garlic and sesame. A salty and spicy flavor dominates the tongue which to some extent covers the sweetness of the crab.

Liuyuehuang served in this creative way is popular this summer in some restaurants offering crab dishes.

Places in Shanghai where you can order liuyuehuang:

? LYNN

Address: 99-1 Xikang Rd

Tel: 6247-0101

? Chenglonghang Crab Palace

Address: 216 Jiujiang Rd

Tel: 6321-2010

? Dragon Phoenix

Address: 8/F, 20 Nanjing Rd E.

Tel: 6138-6880