Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

We in Maryland heard some good news during the past week: due to conservation efforts and weather conditions, the Blue Crab population is going to be about 35% higher this year. This is good news for crab lovers, but especially good news for the watermen along the Chesapeake, who make their livings from the 'Beautiful Swimmers'.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/chesapeakes-blue-crab-population-grows-35-percent-dnr-predicts-robust-season/2016/04/13/8bebdcbc-0192-11e6-9d36-33d198ea26c5_story.html

The first time I encountered a crab, I was a teen, lying in bed asleep, when my brother came into the room, dangled a live crab in front of my face, and yelled, "Wake Up"!

He had come home from a friend's house with a bucket full of fresh crabs and got us all up, late at night, to cook and eat them. My Tidewater-born Granny steamed them, and our Dad showed us how to crack, pick and eat them. They were very nice, but I'm not sure I was really 'sold' (perhaps I was still groggy from sleep, and from the visual shock of arthropod anatomy wiggling in front of my startled-awake eyes!)

I WAS sold, however, on my first real Maryland crab cake, which came from the Phillips restaurant in Baltimore. Long before, I had read in some popular writing that 'ambrosia' (the 'Food of the Gods' in Greek mythology) MUST have been 'oysters and champagne'; but my first taste of a good Maryland crab cake decided for ME the meaning of 'ambrosia', and I have been an addict ever since. (I will even buy the frozen Phillips ones in the supermarket, in a pinch - which frankly don't measure up at all to the ones in the restaurant.)

Here is the recipe for the very Maryland Crab Cake that has been offered in the Phillips restaurants since 1956:

http://www.phillipsfoods.com/recipe/shirley-phillips-crab-cakes/

And here's a recipe for Crab Rangoon, or Crab Wonton - which, in the average Chinese restaurant, is made with surimi - or "krab with a 'K'" - but can be easily made at home with the Real Thing, even though this recipe calls for 'canned':

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/200657/crab-rangoon/

(My favorite books about the Chesapeake are James Michener's 'Chesapeake', and William Warner's 'Beautiful Swimmers', q.v.)

-JT

[Liz]

Those are nice to have in your kitchen arsenal.

[Jamestown1630]

I wish I had more kitchen to store my arsenal in...I think it’s time to move: the *stuff* is taking over the space, and an unused extra bathroom has become storage for culinary implements.

On the upside, we recently got one of those neat veggie spiral-izer whatzits ;-)

-JT