Welcome to another video recap, where I share tips, and secret recipes so YOU can become a chef from home! This week I collaborated with chef Jae Lee of Nowon in Brooklyn to turn a 12lb King Crab into THREE gourmet Korean dishes.

Let’s get to it!

<King Crab Turned Korean🇰🇷>

Video Link: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5tMLSWgTC6/

We’ve worked with the talented Korean-American chef Jae Lee before, but this time it’s different. Originally from Seoul, South Korea, chef Lee has a deep understanding of both Asian and Western cuisines. Today we’re challenging him to make a three course Korean meal with this $500 king crab. Although we don’t get to eat these lavish animals everyday, these recipes can be applied to any delicious sea bugs. Let’s get to it!

<Dish #1: Wood-Fire King Crab Legs with Gochujang Aioli>

1. Begin by blanching the king crab in a pot of boiling water. Add garlic, lemons, scallions, and cilantro.

2. Then make the gochujang aioli by mixing 3 tablespoons of kewpie mayo, 1 tablespoon of gochujang, and a drizzle of sesame oil.

3. After 10-15 minutes of boiling, add the king crab to an ice bath to solidify the meat for 5 minutes.

4. Using a scissor, cut the legs open so the meat is exposed like the picture below.

   

5. Cut the head open and remove the gills as they add a bitter taste to the food.

6. Collect the head meat and the crab butter AKA the intestines, and mix them together. Set this aside as it will be used for dish #3.

7. Spread a generous amount of aioli on to the crab legs and put them into the wood-fire oven at 570 degrees Fahrenheit(if you’re using an oven from home, using the broil feature should help) until the aioli is melted and develops a brown crust.

   

8. Garnish with thinly sliced jalapeño peppers, cilantro, and some lemon wedges.

9. Enjoy!

<Dish #2: KFC AKA Korean Fried Crab>

1. First add some minced garlic to a pot with a drizzle of oil.

2. When the garlic starts to change its color, add a generous knob of butter, brown sugar, and honey(if you do not like sweetness then omit brown sugar).

   

3. Add some chili oil(made by adding hot oil to chilis, and different spices/herbs of your choice. In this case chef added roasted scallion, onion, ginger, Szechuan peppercorn, star anise, and cinnamon sticks) to the honey garlic mixture.

4. Time to make the batter: Add sweet rice flour, corn starch, and cold club soda to a bowl. Mix well.

5. Dump the king crab legs into a dry batter(the above mix without the club soda) and dip it in the wet batter.

   

6. Double fry the legs once at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes and then at 350 degrees until golden brown and crispy.

7. Drizzle the chili honey garlic oil on the crab legs.

8. Garnish with some dill and enjoy!

<Dish #3: King Crab Pizza with Yuzu Ricotta>

1. Make yuzu ricotta: Start by whipping up heavy cream until fluffy and light.

2. Add ricotta cheese to the whipped cream and mix well.

3. Add a small amount of yuzu concentrate and a touch of yuzu juice. Mix well and the yuzu ricotta is finished.

   

4. Spread your pizza dough and add pieces of fresh mozzarella. Sprinkle some garlic powder, chili flakes, onion powder, and oregano.

5. Pre-bake #4 in the oven at the highest oven setting for about 5 minutes then take out.

6. Add dollops of the head meat and crab butter mixture from dish #1 onto the pizza.

7. Add the pizza back to the oven until the crab is warm and the crust is nice and brown.

8. Take the pizza out of the oven and cut into even slices. Add dollops of the whipped yuzu ricotta.

9. Add some lemon zest and garlic bread crumbs.

10. Add a touch of white truffle oil and enjoy!

That is it for this recap! Thanks for reading till the end. If you have any questions, comments, and suggestions regarding my work, please send me an email.

-Sincerely, DANNY KIM.