Ganjang Gejang

Ingredients

• 4 live female blue crabs, about 1.2 kg total
• 500 ml brewed soy sauce
• 500 ml water
• 80 g caster sugar
• 3 tbsp rice syrup or mirin
• 1 apple, quartered
• 1 onion, quartered
• 1 head garlic, halved across
• 6 cm piece ginger, sliced
• 10 cm piece dried kelp
• 4 dried red chillies
• 1 leek, halved
• 50 ml soju
• 2 green chillies, sliced, to finish
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds, to finish
• Hot steamed rice, to serve

Before you cook

• Chill the live crabs in the freezer for 30 minutes so they stop moving.
• Scrub the crabs thoroughly with a brush under cold running water, paying attention to the legs and the underside flap.
• Snip off the pointed tips of the legs with scissors.
• Sterilise a lidded glass or ceramic container large enough to hold all four crabs.

Steps

1. Put the soy sauce, water, sugar, rice syrup, apple, onion, garlic, ginger, kelp, dried chillies and leek in a large pot.
2. Bring the brine to the boil over medium-high heat.
3. Pull out the kelp after 5 minutes so the brine does not turn slimy.
4. Simmer the brine for 20 minutes, then take it off the heat.
5. Strain the brine into a bowl and discard the aromatics.
6. Stir in the soju and leave the brine to cool completely to room temperature.
7. Pack the crabs belly up in the container so they sit snugly.
8. Pour the cold brine over the crabs until they are fully submerged.
9. Cover the container and refrigerate for 24 hours.
10. Pour the brine off into a pot, leaving the crabs behind.
11. Boil the brine for 5 minutes, then cool it completely again and pour it back over the crabs.
12. Refrigerate for another 24 hours.
13. Repeat the boiling, cooling and pouring one final time and refrigerate for a further 24 hours.
14. Lift out a crab and cut it into quarters with heavy scissors, leaving the shell on.
15. Arrange the pieces on a plate with the top shell set upright and its roe intact.
16. Scatter over the green chilli and sesame seeds, and serve with hot rice spooned into the shell.