[soothing instrumental music playing]
[narrator] This is an encounter between the distant past and present.
It’s the ancient cooking methods and the fresh, modern ingredients
that makes this Chaoshan specialty possible.

CHAOSHAN
HONGYANG TOWN, PUNING CITY
It is ten o’clock at night.
Li Yiangsheng and his daughter are preparing his stall(摊) for late night dining, which is locally called “daleng.”
Most of the foods have been prepared in advance.
Just a bowl of plain rice congee with a few side dishes and it is a perfect late-night meal.
The Li family’s stall has been operating here for over 20 years.
What attracts many customers is their signature dish…
Marinated raw crabs.
The crabs, which have been marinated beforehand, are already quite flavorful.
Before being served,  an additional sprinkle of a handful of cilantro (BE coriander),
an aroma-booster, can bring out the full aroma of the marinated crabs.

MARINATED RAW CRAB
LI XIAOYAO
Twenty-year-old Li Xiaoyao has been helping her father with their stall for three years already.
It takes her less than a minute to slice a marinated crab.
Marinated raw crabs are being eaten everywhere in Chaoshan.
However, the pouring of a thick marinade (/ˌmærɪ’neɪd/ 腌泡汁) over the entire crab is the custom of the Puning people.
It is when the crab shell cracks that the tongue can begin to enjoy its very own culinary delight.
Fresh crabs that have been marinated have a hydrated and crystal clear meat.
The marinade, which is made up of many different flavors, matches perfectly with the sweetness of the crabs.
With just a little embellishment, the dish is now a perfect choice for a late-night meal.

[slurping]
SHENQUAN HARBOR, JIEYANG CITY
Crabs from the Li family stall come from Shenquan Harbor, which is 60 kilometers away.
This is the largest fishing port in Chaoshan.
The Chinese have been eating marinated raw crabs since the Song dynasty, which is more than 1,000 years ago.
To this day, most of the coastal areas have kept this custom of eating marinated raw crabs.
Dishes taste different in every region.
In Chaoshan, people are used to adding large quantities of spices to give the crabs a greater depth of flavor.
The Puning people like even more sophisticated flavors.
Compared to other areas of Chaoshan, the taste of the marinated crabs in Puning is even more unusual.
The taste of garlic and cilantro is particularly strong.

[bell dings]
Whether it is due to health concerns or a better taste…
FLOWER CRAB
…only live crabs are used in making this dish.
The marinated crabs need to be prepared six hours in advance to ensure that their texture will beat its best when they’re being sold.
The flower crabs being sold at the market today are even fresher.
For this reason, Li Yiangsheng has decided to marinate flower crabs.
Sea salt has always been an important source of sodium (/‘səʊdɪəm/钠) in the Teochew diet.
It is also the key componentof the marinade for raw crabs.
After six hours of marinating, the sea salt will cause the elastin and collagen in the crab meat to change in form and to soften.
The dissolved proteins will join together to slowly form a sticky, bouncy, gum-like substance.
There is one more step in making marinated crabs.
Add a large amount of rice vinegar, this will balance out the saltiness while also helping to kill germs and preserve the freshness.
Let the crabs rest for a while.
With the volatilization (挥发 v. volatilize /və’lætɪlaɪz/) of vinegar, the texture of the marinated crabs has slowly reached its peak.
The Chaoshan have many people but a very small amount of land.
For a very long period of time, there were severe food shortages and the people could only rely on seafood to survive.
Just a plate of marinated crabs with a few cold side dishes are enough to serve a fulfilling meal.
The last plate of marinated crabs is served.
The Li family is now preparing to close their stall.
Meanwhile, the time for late-night dining has just begun in Shantou, which is 70 kilometers away.

SHANTOU CITY, GUANGDONG PROVINCE
Shantou is one of the first special economic zones in China, and also the largest city in the Chaoshan region.
Here, specialties from across Chaoshan can be found.
Meaning more choices are available for daleng.
Nonetheless, marinated crabs still play a big role.

NIUTIANYANG, SHANTOU CITY
Niutianyang ocean is located on the southwestern corner of Shantou.
The Sanjiang estuary (/ˈestʃuəri/河流入海口) is where freshwater meets saltwater.
This allows marine microorganisms to be abundant in the area and provides the perfect environment for green crabs to breed.
Lin Pinshun is one of the first people to breed crabs here.

LIN PINSHUN
For the past 30 years,
he has insisted on using local crab seeds to ensure the quality of the crabs.
Fresh snails are used to feed the crabs.
Each year, over two million kilograms of green crabs are produced in the Niutianyang ocean.
Most of them are exported.
For the five million people living in Shantou City it is not that easy to eat locally-produced crabs, even though they are here all the time.
September is the best time to enjoy green crabs for they are fatter and have more crab butter.
Niutianyang ocean is less than 15 kilometers away from the center of Shantou.
It takes half an hour to get the crabs out of the water and to marinate them.
The green crabs here have become the first choice for making marinated raw crabs for many restaurants.
When the Teochew people cook seafood, they want it to be fresh, not fishy.
And tender, not raw.

MARINATED RAW MANTIS SHRIMP
In their view, marinating is the best way to ensure that.
They are very strict about keeping precise timing.

MARINATED RAW SHRIMP
It takes anywhere from a few to up to ten minutes to marinate a small-sized seafood.

MARINATED RAW OYSTER
And it takes less than 24 hours to marinate crabs with thick bodies
and hard shells.

MARINATED RAW CLAM (/klæm/ n. 蚌, 蛤)
The Teochew people consider marinated raw seafood an instantly addictive drug.
Different from the Puning people’s way of marinating crabs, Shantou marinated crab maker Lin Yuping likes to mix all the spices, herbs and condiments together so that the crabs can evenly soak up all the flavors.
Shantou people are used to replacing sea salt with soy sauce.
During the marinating process, the umami (/uːˈmɑːmi/ having a strong pleasant taste) amino acids and nano oligopeptide collagen in the soy sauce will further boost the umami taste of the crabs.
After 24 hours of marinating, the yellowish color of the crab butter has turned red-orange.
The salt has caused the crab meat and butter to become firmer and more tender.
Shantou people are particular about how the crabs are sliced and plated.
First, remove the gills and other inedible (/ɪn’edɪb(ə)l/不能吃的) parts.
Cut the crab eight times to make 13 pieces.
Every piece of firm meat must be accompanied by moist red crab butter.
And the crab meat should be placed near the edge of the plate, facing outside.
The visual appeal is where immediate temptation begins.

MARINATED RAW GREEN CRAB
A high-quality marinated crab is rich in crab butter, silky smooth and tender.
You should be able to enjoy the soft and smooth texture without chewing.
Marinated crabs are like desserts: if you eat it at the beginning of your meal, you will not be able to taste all the other dishes.
Today’s Teochew people have managed to create various flavors through this simple marinating method.
They have never stopped exploring ingredients.
Chaoshan gastronomist, Zhang Xinmin, has taken marinated crabs to a new level.
He freezes hairy crabs that have been marinated for a year at negative 40 degrees Celsius
so that their taste can be kept at their peak.
Cold water is used for defrosting.
While the frost on the shell is removed, the inside of the marinated crab is kept ice cold.
With the rapid development of cold-chain logistics, people can now choose more ingredients.
A year ago, Zhang Xinmin decided to marinate best-quality hairy crabs.
The use of a local marinating method and advanced freezing technology enabled the creation of a new flavor on these hairy crabs.

MARINATED RAW HAIRY CRAB
The defrosted marinated crabs have tiny ice fragments in their crab butter.
An ice cream-like texture can be experienced when the ice melts between the lips and tongue.

[woman] Special foods should be enjoyedon special days.
[narrator] Chaoshan marinated raw seafood, which used to be just something you eat when you were hungry, has become a Chaoshan specialty.
Whether paired with wine or plain rice congee, it remains the ultimate culinary treat for the Teochew people.
CHAOSHAN