「靈湖蟹寶」的誕生歷程

 

原創概念
廚師Calvin想做一道融合餃子和湯的創新菜式，他回想起曾經在一家意大利餐廳品嘗過一道美味的餛飩，飽含新鮮蟹肉。於是他捨棄了傳統的餛飩皮，用上海餛飩皮混合剁碎的豬肉，感覺有點兒像上海著名的小籠包。第一次嘗試，推出評價是褒貶不一，例如上海餛飩皮質感偏厚，吃下去的時候會有點像吃麵粉團。另外，蟹肉的鮮味和濃味的豬肉相比，黯然失色了。

 再接再厲…...
Calvin也贊成廣東餛飩皮是比較薄身，也比較少澱粉。他決定用碎豬肉和純鮮蟹肉作為主餡料。為了使它更富特式，他在每粒餛飩中加入一小顆鵝肝。他嘗試使用廣東的雲吞湯底，是一個用魚熬煮的高湯代替雞湯。改良後的評論是有顯著的進步，大家都比較喜歡較薄的皮和美味而充盈的蟹肉，再搭上鵝肝的組合。但遺憾的是餡料的結構比較鬆散以及鵝盰在烹調過程中容易流失在高湯裡，需要儘快把它放進嘴裡，以免散開。Calvin知道他還未真正成功...
 

最終版
為了防止餛飩過早地“崩潰”，他在製作時更專注將餡料搓緊，新的改良保留了餛飩裡面鵝肝的獨特風味，還在高湯上灑上炒香的蝦子，為此餛飩錦上添花，將整個菜式升華到色香味俱全的至上境界。Calvin知道他已達標！

「靈湖蟹寶」於2014年1月隆重登場！

THE MAKING OF THE PEARLY TWIRL

When Chef CALVIN Li Kee Wei 李奇偉 first came up with the idea of a fusion dumpling soup to add into the VIRAL FUSION Private Kitchen menu, he thought of the time he sampled a tasty ravioli with blue swimmer crabmeat filling at an Italian restaurant. But instead of using ravioli skin, he used a Shanghainese Wonton wrapper and mixed in a small portion of minced pork reminiscent from the famous Xiao Long Bao. The first attempt came out with mixed reviews - the Shanghainese Wonton wrapper was a bit thick so when you bite into the wonton, the starchiness was overwhleming and the crab flavor was somewhat overshadowed by the pork.


Shanghainese Wonton wrapper was a bit thick so the starchiness was overwhleming

SECOND ATTEMPT- Chef CALVIN Li dropped the Shanghainese wrapper in favor of the Cantonese wonton wrapper which is thinner hence less starchy. He also took out the minced pork and used a geneorous filling of pure fresh crabmeat. To make it more interesting, he added a morsel of goose pate into each wonton. He also experimented with Cantonese wonton soup base which is essentially a fish broth instead of chicken broth. The tasting reviews came out much more favorable, everybody liked the thinner skin and the tasty crabmeat filling, as well as the goose pate. But the filling was a bit loose so the pate flavor was lost into the broth during the cooking process, and it started falling apart as soon you put it into your mouth.

Everybody liked the thinner skin and the tasty crabmeat filling, as well as the goose pate.

FINAL VERSION- Calvin wrapped each wonton much tighter thus preventing the premature "collapsing" of the wonton, it also preserved the distinct flavor of the pate inside the wonton. He also added a sprinkle of fried shrimp roe to the soup to give it that extra zest often found in a heavenly broth.We all knew he got a winner here!

 Viral Fusion 豐樂里 (International Private Kitchen)  www.viral-fusion.com 3/F, Pearl Oriental House,60 Stanley Street, Central. Tel: 2677 5300