Dazong Lake Drunken Crab 大纵湖醉蟹
Dazong Lake Drunken Crab is featured among the local specialties of Jiangsu.
Dazong Lake Drunken Crab (大纵湖醉蟹) is a Yancheng (盐城) speciality in which lake crabs are soaked in an alcoholic seasoning liquid. Yancheng Evening News describes a mixture of local qu liquor, rice wine, Huai salt (淮盐), Sichuan pepper and star anise. The finished crab has a strong wine fragrance and delicate flesh, with a salty-sweet flavour.
Crabs in the seasoning jar
In his essay published by Yandu District Library (盐都区图书馆), Liu Qingbao (刘庆宝) describes selecting large, well-filled female crabs with all their claws and legs intact. They spend several days in clean water before brushing and immersion in the seasoned liquor. The upper and lower layers of crabs are exchanged after several days. The finished shells still resemble those of live crabs.
A dish for guests
Liu describes the crab as a dish offered to guests around the lake. At a banquet, scissors, forks and toothpicks help diners separate the claws and legs and pick out the roe and small pieces of meat. A plate of drunken crab also accompanies a pot of wine at a more informal gathering.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-27. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.