Nobody can cook seafood like the Chinese – certainly not celebrity chef Rick Stein
After watching Rick Stein overcook a crab on his travel show, Andrew Sun argues why Chinese – specifically Cantonese – seafood is best
There might be plenty of fish in the sea, but not everyone knows what to do with them.
Recently, I was watching a Rick Stein travel show in which the British cook toured around Australia. In one segment highlighting fresh Aussie seafood, he suggested making a Chinese-inspired stir-fried crab.
Normally, I enjoy Stein’s programmes. He is not pretentious, nor a culinary showboat. But in this unfortunate instance, he cooked the hell out of his crab.
First, it was pre-boiled off-screen. Then he dredged the pieces in corn starch and dropped them into hot oil. After flash-frying, he finished it by stir-frying in a wok. Yes, he cooked the crab three times!
Whatever delicate texture the meat might have had, I am sure it was rubberised by the time it was plated. I felt embarrassed by how the ingredient and the Chinese techniques were mangled.
