On the Olympic dais of Singaporean crab dishes, the ubiquitous chilli crab and black pepper crab are engaged in an ongoing battle for supremacy. You can think of them as the Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer of the city-state’s crab-centrism, but lurking in third place is an altogether more eccentric character, the crab bee hoon.
Crab bee hoon is something of an anomaly. Often called XO crab bee hoon (because many versions add a glug of XO Cognac instead of the more traditional Chinese rice wine) its calling card is a soupy broth based in evaporated Carnation milk.
Sounds - erm - interesting? Please, there’s no need to be so polite. Done well, it’s actually an umami-rich, beautifully aromatic thing, with whole crab lurking the depths along with the signature bee hoon (thin white rice vermicelli noodles), chicken stock, sesame oil, a little oyster sauce, spring onions, ginger and garlic.
Crab bee hoon got a shot in the arm in the popularity stakes when New York chef turned international gourmand Anthony Bourdain gave it the thumbs up in his TV show The Layover. Bourdain was at Sin Huat Seafood Restaurant, in Singapore’s Geylan foodie heart. Some, perhaps apocryphal, stories have Sin Huat’s chef inventing the dish in the 1990s. Whatever the truth of its origins, its popularity has spread across Singapore, including to the popular Melben and Longbeach restaurants (the latter, at East Coast Park, uses rice wine and mighty Sri Lankan crabs that are de-shelled by servers at the table, which certainly takes the inherent mess out of the whole crab/soup conundrum).
Melbourne-based Chinese and Malaysian food guru Tony Tan agrees that the origins of crab bee hoon are a mystery. “Singaporeans, like all Chinese folks, are bower birds. We collect ideas and draw inspiration from all food traditions,” he says. As for adding Cognac, his take on it is that it appeals to the Chinese love of luxe ingredients. “Adding Cognac is nothing new. My family used to add this when we did we stir-fry.”
Edmund Kong, owner of popular Chinatown eatery Momma Kong’s says he is similarly in the dark as to the origins of the dish - which doesn’t stop his restaurant selling around 30 to 40 serves a night.
“With regards to why some places use XO Cognac and some instead choose Chinese rice wine, it is more on a personal preference,” Kong says. He also notes that XO Cognac has a 40 per cent alcohol content whereas the Chinese cooking wine has a typical alcohol content of around 16 per cent. “We prefer to use Chinese cooking wine as we feel that XO Cognac overpowers the freshness and flavour of the crab broth.”
The slightly caramelised flavour of evaporated milk makes it a crucial element in Asian milk teas such as Malaysia and Singapore’s ever-popular teh tarik, and it imbues crab bee hoon with its subtle, silken richness.
The secret to the dish is making sure the rice noodles retain their spring in the sweetish broth. The choice of crab is also important. Male crabs on the whole have flakier flesh and meatier claws; female crabs are known for denser meat and, if you’re lucky, their creamy roe.
Throughout August, SBS Food will celebrate Asia's love of the noodle. Oodles of Noodles will include delicious new recipes, stories and tips for buying, cooking and storing noodles. Find out more .
