When Ge Jinhua and Su Meihua heard that Yu Yao wanted to catch fiddler crabs, they were both a little surprised: "These crabs are too small, they don't even have much meat, why are you catching these?"
Yu Yao smiled and said, "I once ate a kind of crab sauce that can only be made with this kind of crab. When I came over, I saw so much of it on the mudflats, so I thought I'd catch some to try. If it works, it'll be another dish to eat with rice in the winter."
Crab sauce, the name itself sounds incredibly appetizing.
Aunt Ge and Su Meihua couldn't help but swallow hard, thinking of the drunken crab that Yu Yao had made before. "Is this crab sauce difficult to make? If it's easy, let's catch some and make it when we get back."
Both of them skipped the question of whether it was delicious or not; without a doubt, Yu Yao never made anything that wasn't tasty.
Yu Yao briefly explained the method, and Aunt Ge and Su Meihua both thought it was not difficult and the ingredients were not complicated.
"We brought our nets with us, so we'll go with you."
Finally, Political Commissar Qin and Regiment Commander Lei went to the reef area to continue shucking oysters, while the others took small nets to the mudflats to catch fiddler crabs.
Fiddler crabs are small, about the size of an adult's thumb. They usually live on muddy beaches, emerging at low tide and returning at high tide, hence the name fiddler crab.
When they went to the reef area before, Yu Yao paid special attention to where the fiddler crabs were most abundant. Now they went directly there, saving time in choosing a location.
Upon arriving at the mudflats, we indeed saw many fiddler crabs of different colors foraging and active on the mudflats.
Don't worry if you don't recognize fiddler crabs; they're very easy to spot. There are two characteristics that can help you identify them.
One is that their eyes protrude like matchsticks, with two small black eyes on top of slender eye stalks, looking exactly like matchsticks.
Fiddler crab. (Photo included)
Besides the eyes, another major characteristic is that one of the male crab's claws is very large, accounting for half of its total weight, while the other half of the claw is very small.
Male crab. (Image included)
This type of crab doesn't have much meat, and it's not as tasty as the blue crab or swimming crab. In this era of pristine marine environments and abundant seafood, apart from a few locals who catch them, most people don't even consider them worthwhile.
But don't think that these fiddler crabs are easy to catch.
They are agile and will quickly escape back into their burrows once they sense danger. Once they are back in their burrows, they are difficult to catch; you have to dig very deep to catch them.
Moreover, these sand crabs typically prefer to live in the intertidal zone, where there is silt and reefs, which makes them even more difficult to catch.
Yu Yao and the others had no experience catching fiddler crabs, and they all failed at first. As soon as they moved, the fiddler crabs would run away.
Yu Yao was covered in mud and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "I didn't expect fiddler crabs to be so hard to catch. If we can't catch any more, let's go back."
Lu Ze, not wanting to disappoint her, took the small net and said to Yu Yao, "Let's not split up and try catching them in pairs. Yu Yao, you stand aside and be responsible for observing and indicating the location of the fiddler crabs, and I'll be responsible for catching them."
"That's the only way we can try."
It's uncertain whether this method will work. Lu Ze and Yu Yao should try it first. If it works, Ge Jinhua and Su Meihua can then use it.
Lu Ze stood still in the mud, while Yu Yao stood on the reef observing the position of the fiddler crabs. "Lu Ze, hurry, it's running to your right."
Lu Ze noticed the fiddler crab. Its legs didn't move, only its hands. Suddenly, he scooped up a net, and the fiddler crab was caught before it could even react.
With their first successful experience, the two became more in sync and tried several more times together, succeeding almost every time.
Ge Jinhua and Su Meihua followed their method. Although their teamwork was not as good as Yu Yao and Lu Ze's, they were still able to catch the target seven or eight times out of ten, greatly improving their efficiency.
When Commander Lei and Qin Zhengwu arrived carrying a large bucket full of oysters, the four of them had already caught quite a few fiddler crabs.
Although the crabs are small, there are many of them, and catching them can be quite a lot.
Yu Yao looked at her bucket, which was half oysters and half fiddler crabs, and said to Aunt Ge and the others, "It's getting late, let's go back."
Lu Ze and his group arrived in a Jeep, with all the wooden barrels in the trunk. Fortunately, they weren't cracking down on overloading at the time, so the six of them squeezed in a little and drove back.
Back home, Lu Ze went to the kitchen to release the fiddler crabs, while Yu Yao went back to her room to get two shower tickets. The two of them took their change of clothes and soap to the bathroom and took a shower.
After taking a shower, Lu Ze was in charge of cleaning the fiddler crabs and taking out the oyster meat, while Yu Yao went to the kitchen to cook dinner.
By the time dinner was ready, the fiddler crabs had been cleaned and half of the oyster meat had been removed. The two ate dinner first, and then continued processing the remaining oyster meat.
In the end, Yu Yao kept only thirty-odd unopened oysters, planning to make garlic oysters tomorrow.
After cleaning the oyster meat, steam it on the stove until cooked, let it cool, and then take it out to dry tomorrow.
While Lu Ze was steaming the oysters, Yu Yao prepared seasonings such as salt, minced ginger, and rice vinegar. She poured the fiddler crabs into a stone mortar, mashed them, added the seasonings to marinate them, and then put them into an earthenware jar, layering crabs and salt.
After the crab sauce is sealed and fermented for more than ten hours, it becomes crab sauce. It can be used to accompany rice, stir-fry, or stew soup. If the finished crab sauce is stored properly, it can last for a year without spoiling.
During her rare few days off, Yu Yao didn't stay idle. She was either making crab sauce or going to Wu Wanying's house to dry mackerel.
Originally, we were going to sunbathe at Yu Yao's house, but we found that the sun wasn't as good at her house as it was at the shipyard's residential compound, so we changed our plans and went to the shipyard's residential compound instead.
Wu Shuhua got up to eat breakfast and heard the bicycle bell next door. She couldn't help but ask Song Yufeng, "Why does that military wife next door leave early and come back late every day? I never see her doing any work. What kind of family is that!"
Song Yufeng frowned. "Yu Yao next door is Commander Lu's wife. She works in a food factory. She has her own things to do, so don't go around asking around."
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