Posted on 04/21/2016 5:43:42 PM PDT by 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'.
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
I would love to try them.
Boiled peanuts... Not so much, lol
Aint it a remoulade type of affair?
Mustard, Mayo, maybe capers, and garlic?
Donno I have never been invited to the party LOL
I’m pretty sure no capers or garlic. Mayo...iffy. They were pretty sparing of additions & just let the full flavor of the crab come through.
I am an outsider and all regional recipes are very different but I am pretty sure mayo and mustard are the basis for a remoulade
Well, it’s actually part of the GUTS of the critter...
By the way, my aunt still lives down in the inner harbor on Thames (pronounced with the ‘th’ like them, instead of the British ‘t’) just around the corner from the Admiral Fell Inn. She used to bake cheese cakes for Bertha’s, a restaurant in the area. Every once in a while we’ll see a bumper sticker: Eat Bertha’s Muscles.
lol This GA girl is not fond of boiled peanuts, mushy and murky tasting to me.
In our family we refer to them as “bolied peanuts”. There used to be a produce stand down on Peachtree St at Lenox that sold them as well as other fresh local produce. His handmade sign had boiled misspelled. Our daughter who was just learning to read kept saying bolied and every time I corrected her she said the sign says it that way. Finally we remembered to look and sure enough she was right. This was back in the late 70s and early 80s before that area got so built up and fancy.
What do I care if it is tasty?
The Viets and the Thai ferment the stomachs for sauce LOL
They would never drink it straight LOL
I do not get “Bald peanuts” LOL
you got the mushy and salty to a tee, but where’s the roasty and crunchy?
A regional thang and I will spare you my first experience with grits which I thought were creamof corn... Now we have polenta LOL
Well, you made me go look up remoulade sauce. Here’s a recipe for a sauce for crab cakes...
http://www.food.com/recipe/mini-crab-cakes-with-remoulade-sauce-45504
Doesn’t sound too bad! Kind of a spicy tartar sauce.
LOL!
I was all set up to enjoy ‘boiled peanuts’, but my friend who traveled South brought back CANNED boiled peanuts. They were horrible!
I’m wondering how to make REAL boiled peanuts...
-JT
My in laws live on the south shore of MA. When we visit we always stopped at the fried clam shacks & get whole belly clams. I would gorge. Then one summer I got violently sick after eating some. Tried it 2 more times, same violent reaction. Now, sadly, they are just a delicious memory......
: (
Dang! It’s way past dinner time and you got me drooling over Maryland crab. Had my first softshell crab sandwich as a teen, dishwasher for a restaurant. You’re killin’ me. And then your talkin’ ‘bout Crabcakes. And it’s pronounced “Bal-eh-more” for you newbs.
That is a pretty ambitious version , but basically we want a nice cream sauce with a tad of acidity to play with the seafood but not overwhelm it.
God I LOVE five and chips.
One degree of separation...... I was talking to my brother on the phone & he had gotten fresh crab & was making a crab stir fry. That just sounded wrong. I love crab, but in a stir fry????! Weird!
Sad to hear cuz thy was good in the 80’s
fish and chips
I’m not sure if this issue has to do with contaminants or poison in eaten food, or if something I’ve noticed is the case with you on anther level: but I was surprised that respiratory allergies can come on even late in life. Until about ten years ago, I was never allergic to the beautiful Spring-blooming trees - and I’ve lived in the same county all of my life.
During the past ten years, the allergies have escalated amazingly - this season, my nose is running like a faucet, with pollen counts at the top of the charts for weeks. I’ve been praying for rain.
It’s possible that it’s the same for food allergies, though I’ve never experienced that - you might develop food allergies later in life that you never had before.
-JT
Add yer fellow culinary prowess from yer port of the world.
People love seafood..
I gotta hit the sack.
Sure beats politics.
Canned are even worse than freshly boiled! Ick! My uncle eats them when he fishes, fresh in season, canned when not.
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