炸金蝉 (Deep Fried Golden Cicada)
Dinner @ '老山东', a restaurant recommended by my previous assistant for a taste of his home province in Shanghai.
As explained by my friend - these cicadas were grabbed just as they emerged from the grounds during their nymph instar stage, before they had a chance to molt to develop wings to reach adulthood.
They are quickly deep-fried and served.
These were very crunchy as the exoskeleton cracked, crackled, crumbled and popped with each bite. There was a meaty almost dried pork floss like interior, which reminded me of the deep fried silkworm cocoons I had in Beijing. Unfortunately, cicada being not in season now, the critters had a slight insectile-animalic offnote which my friend deemed as undesirable. These were probably made from frozen stock from the previous Winter.
炸金蝉 (Deep Fried Golden Cicada)
Dinner @ '老山东', a restaurant recommended by my previous assistant for a taste of his home province in Shanghai.
As explained by my friend - these cicadas were grabbed just as they emerged from the grounds during their nymph instar stage, before they had a chance to molt to develop wings to reach adulthood.
They are quickly deep-fried and served.
These were very crunchy as the exoskeleton cracked, crackled, crumbled and popped with each bite. There was a meaty almost dried pork floss like interior, which reminded me of the deep fried silkworm cocoons I had in Beijing. Unfortunately, cicada being not in season now, the critters had a slight insectile-animalic offnote which my friend deemed as undesirable. These were probably made from frozen stock from the previous Winter.