A rare treat for Jakarta's crustacean lovers

Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The famed and best-loved fresh crustaceans -- shrimp, lobsters, oysters and crab -- like other fresh ingredients, have unparalleled delicate flavors and textures.

These very delicate attributes can easily be ruined by the cooking process, as any cooking technique plays a vital part in ensuring that the ingredients' tasty, sweet flavors and soft, succulent texture are retained until the dish is served.

Boiling, baking, steaming, sauteeing or deep frying are just a few of the various cooking techniques used in preparing crustaceans, but one which is rarely practiced, here in Jakarta, is cooking in salt.

"When cooked in salt over high heat for a limited cooking period, crustaceans can still retain their fresh juice and tender textures," said Malaysian chef Alex Chong Witt during a food promotion, Crustacean in Salt, at the Tien Chao Chinese restaurant at the Hotel Gran Melia Jakarta. The crustacean promotion will run until March 28, 2003.

For this event -- the first of its kind in Jakarta -- Witt has prepared three dishes with lobster (at Rp 198,000++/ person), roe crab (Rp 60,000++/person) and French oyster (at Rp 98,000++/person) as his main ingredients.

The first two dishes are cooked in salt, a method involving pouring coarse rock salt in a large wok to bury several lobster and roe crab in it.

In this particular method, the rock salt traps the high heat inside and the crustaceans are cooked quickly.

"This way of cooking doesn't need a long cooking duration. I only cook them for around 30 minutes, and since the crustaceans are buried in the salt, there is no need to turn them," said Witt, who won four medals in the 4th World Championship of Chinese Cuisine in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in July 2002.

This way of cooking not only ensures that the crustaceans have absorbed the aroma of the salt, the herbs and spices, but also ensures that the heat seals in their juices as their flesh contracts slightly to a mild tenderness.

In Cantonese cuisine, Witt added, fresh crustaceans did not need to be seasoned with too many spices, which would overwhelm their naturally pleasant tastes.

As to his dishes, Witt only uses a few spices and Chinese herbs, like lotus leaves with which he wraps the crustaceans, tangkuei, flowery knotweed, and lyceum berries, better known as ki chi.

All the spices are sprinkled on top of a halved lobster or inside the crab before they are wrapped individually.

"Each of the crustaceans is wrapped to keep them uncontaminated by the rock salt and ready to serve after cooking," said Witt, and explained that he first learned the technique in Malaysia.

Just before the crustaceans end up on the dining table, Witt seasons the lobster and the crab with a light sauce, adds salad greens as garnish and serves them with a mix of salt and ngo hiong spice powder on the side.

Besides their sweet taste, both dishes have optimally absorbed the pleasant fragrances of the aromatic herbs and spices.

As for the oysters, Witt briefly steams them and adds chili and plum sauces with cilantro leaf on top of the oysters. The sweet and mildly spicy oysters are served with tangy Chinese vegetables.