SHAO: So today we're going to make some mixian.

Mixian is a rice noodle made with non-glutinous rice flour.

Super fluffy, soft, airy.

SETH: And the airiness of these noodles, is that going to help them absorb a lot of flavors?

SHAO: Absolutely.

It absorbs the flavor without softening.

You can add any type of ingredient, any type of sauce, any type of broth.

We do seven different types of mixian here.

Today, we're going to make a really special mixian for you, and let me grab it for you.

SETH: All right.

Got a little bit of a surprise coming up?

SHAO: We do.

SETH: Oh my sweet heavens.

What is this, Shao?

SHAO: This is a live Norwegian king crab.

It's going to make the most tasty broth, and the meat is the best crab you can get.

We're going to steam him so that we can separate the meat from the shell.

Once we have all the good meat out and all the great head fat, we can begin making the rest of the dish.

SETH: I think I have seen it all now on Signature Dish.

How much do one of these Norwegian king crabs weigh?

SHAO: It depends.

Norwegian king crabs range from three to 12-15 pounds.

The best way to find out is to pick it up.

So why don't you do that and find out for yourself?

I would grab it by its three legs here, and the same on that side.

SETH: Oh my goodness.

[Seth chuckles] Everyone getting this?

I don't often come face-to-face with my own dinner.

Should I do the honors?

SHAO: Please.

SETH: All right.

Sorry about this guy.

Once the lid is on, Shao leaves the crab to steam until the meat is about halfway cooked.

After a quick ice bath to stop the cooking, we turn our attention to crab pickin'.

SHAO: Seth, so we're going to start on the back here, and right here, where the shell connects, is a little tendon.

We're going to snip that.

And now we can break open the head.

So here we have a lot of the fat, and we're going to pour that in here, and we'll add all of that to the broth.

Next, we're going to snip off these legs.

SETH: So, how is a Norwegian king crab different than an Alaskan king crab?

SHAO: They're actually the same species.

The Norwegian king crab comes from slightly cooler water, and the crab develops a little bit more fat in its body.

[shell cracks] SETH: Occupational hazard.

And how many dishes are you going to be able to get from a single crab like this?

SHAO: A large crab like this, we get about eight portions.

This crab costs a considerable amount of money, and so we want to get every gram of edible meat from the crab.

SETH: I thank you for letting me indulge in a little bit of luxury today.

As Shao continues to expertly clean the crab, he reserves the leftover shells for the broth.

Once we have the prized meat, it's time to get cooking on the mixian.

SHAO: All right, Seth, first, we're going to take one of our copper pots.

We have our crab head fat broth.

And so this has all of the shells, roasted leeks, and ginger, and a little bit of pork broth to give it a little depth of flavor.

So we're going to let this come up to a simmer, and then we're going to take some eggs, and we're going to whisk these in.

It's going to thicken the broth a little bit, and we'll do one egg white.

And we're going to start whisking as this comes up to temp.

We can move it to the side a little bit.

We have our warmed-up butter.

We're going to take this crab, and we're just going to warm it up again.

SETH: Got a nice steam bath before, and now it's getting a little warm butter bath.

So we took good care of this crab today.

SHAO: Yes, it's been pampered.

As you can see, the butter is starting to bubble a little bit.

And so now we're at the assembly stage.

We have our mixian, and next I'm going to start putting in crab.

And now we have some butter-poached leeks.

Here we have some butter-poached shiitakes.

Everything's poached in butter for this dish.

That's where our cooking is a little bit different from traditional Yunnanese cooking.

Here I'm dropping in some butter-poached daikon, and we have some poached carrots here as well.

SETH: Let me guess, poached in butter.

SHAO: Actually, these are poached in broth.

SETH: Poached in broth.

All right.

SHAO: I just wanted to trick you a little bit.

And I'm going to drop on some scallion for good measure, and we're just going to drop some petals in.

We love using edible flowers.

Yunnan is a very ecologically rich area, and edible flowers are found in the cuisine all the time.

SETH: It's going to break my heart when we actually have to eat this.

SHAO: I'm going to grab one of our crab heads here, along with our kettle.

And this is gonna go right on top.

We're going to strain out some of the egg solids.

And we're going to pour the broth table-side for you.

SETH: All right, Shao.

The king crab show continues.

SHAO: Let me pour this for you.

We got a little extra broth here for when you're done.

SETH: All right.

Between the broth, the noodles, and the king crab, I don't know what I'm most excited about.

But I'm going to start with a little bit of that broth.

SHAO: Please.

SETH: All right, Shao.

Next level.

SHAO: Amazing.

SETH: Buttery and rich.

I got to try a little bit of the mixian.

I think I got a little crab in here as well.

SHAO: That's a net win.

SETH: We're getting into luxury mode now.

The crab was so tender, and those noodles, they're springy, but they're also really soft and delicate.

SHAO: We love mixian because it is great at soaking up the flavor, and it's a great compliment to all of the other textures in the bowl.

SETH: Mmm, but of course, there's a big ol' king crab claw.

SHAO: Yes.

SETH: I got to give it a shot.

I mean, what can you say?

I just love crab, and I think that little bath you gave it at the end with the hot butter just, you know, took it over the top.

SHAO: Seth, I grew up in Wisconsin, the dairy state.

And so this is a great example of how we can push the two food cultures together.

A little bit of butter or a lot of butter never hurts anything.