This month: Crab – and yet another Cake.
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-JT
Won’t be crabbing for Dungeness out here until December.
We has six hungry kids, so this was something my parents could feed us that was only limited in quantity by how many bushel baskets we came home with, so we did it often.
My mother would cover the table with newspapers, and with the big pot on the stove with water on the bottom, using big tongs, would transfer the crabs one by one into the pot. She would throw in three or four, pause, pour (not sprinkle...pour) Old Bay Seasoning all over them. Then transfer a few more, stop, and pour more seasoning, making a crab and Old Bay parfait until they were all the way to the top. She covered it and steamed them, and when they were done, she would pile all the crabs on cookie sheets and put them on the table where we would devour them. I was always squeamish about the insides, but I ate the claws and legs. I used to spike my butter just like my mom, with scads and scads of ground black pepper, lemon juice, and...Tabasco sauce! I would extract the meat, and throw it into my butter-bowl concoction to marinate for a few minutes, then take a break from cracking the claws to eat that crab in the hot butter. This was ingrained into me, this love of Blue Crabs.
I went to a conference in Baltimore some years back, and the vendor took us out to a crab house, steamed crabs covered with Old Bay Seasoning, and lots of butter, all you could eat. I tore into those things like a fox tears through a henhouse, and smashing them with wooden mallets, I was piling up carcasses while bits of crab, shell, and crab guts were flying around. The majority of the people in the group were from the midwest, and seeing their faces of fascinated horror as they watched me eat, I am certain they thought I was a brutal, carnivorous madman piling up the crab carcasses trophy-like, looking for all the world like Vlad the Impaler to them.
That multi layer cake looks delicious.
It’s highly constructed. Probably takes quite a while to create and assemble all the layers. It is probably stored inside a fridge as soon as its put together. You don’t want those layers getting warm, soft and wobbly.
I’m guessing it ends up as a rather small cake, mainly because most people would not chose to make a sheet cake with so many thin, delicate layers. Who has 14 baking pans? Maybe a professional bakery.
Best crabcake sammich I ever had was at an eatery a door or two down from The Admiral’s Cup at Fell’s Point. A kid was sitting there on the dock a few feet from us, chicken-necking. I don’t think it’s there under the same ownership or menu anymore, unfortunately. I was dating a girl back then who was new to the Delmarva, and we went into a seafood shop in Wheaton. They had a big cookie sheet lined point-to-point with jimmies. When she leaned close to the glass to get a better view, one of them swung up its claw at her like, “Git! Begone!” She didn’t know they were still alive. You should have seen her freak. LOL! That Crab Imperial recipe is similar to mine, but I add a tiny bit of diced green bell pepper into the mix. Try it. I’m a native Marylander and an Old Bay junkie, you can trust me here. Stuff the mix into a mushroom cap and broil them with a little Parmesan cheese on top. Delicious.
lets cook dem sombiches up in a pie
That cake looks really good. I’ve never tried it before.
He’s another good one:
Whipping Cream Cake
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs, room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup heavy whipping cream (do not whip)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
Spray a 12-cup bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray - preferably one for baking. This will help ensure a clean release of the bundt cake from the pan.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy - about 5 minutes.
Add one egg at a time, beating after each egg.
Alternately add the flour and heavy whipping cream starting and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides and mix to combine. Add in vanilla extract and mix until incorporated.
Start the cake in a COLD oven by placing the cake into the oven, closing the door and heating the oven to 325°F. Bake for 1 hour and 15 mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack for 45 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate.
Top with whipped cream and fresh berries.
https://www.mybakingaddiction.com/whipping-cream-cake/
I preferred Old Savannah Seafood Boil to Old Bay but they don’t make it any longer.
Oh, wow!
Looks delicious!
The only crab we get here is fake crab bits from Louis Rich.
Actually, it was sure welcome, no matter what it’s made from, during the big TX freeze. I made up a huge pasta salad with the fake stuff the night before the power outages hit. It was tasty, filling and didn’t need to be heated.
Amazing Crab Cakes or are they crabby patties?
Chef Darren McGrady gives a brief history, extolls the virtues of Cheasapeake blue crabs, warns against the use of the unsuitable Asian crab meat, and the three types available at supermarkets.
Done with humor...enjoy.
Anyone ever try hazelnut flour before? These might be worth trying:
Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Cookie
Ingredients
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (476 grams)
1 1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
8 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature (2 sticks)
1 cup sugar (200 grams)
1 cup packed brown sugar (200 grams)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
12 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (or 2 cups chocolate chips)
1 1/2 cups hazelnut or almond flour (150 grams)
Instructions
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder together.
In the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for 1 minute, until smooth. Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat for 2 minutes, until well blended. Beat in the vanilla.
Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating for minute after each egg goes in. Reduce the speed to low and add in the flour mixture in 4-5 additions, mixing only until each addition is just incorporated (about 5 seconds for each addition - don’t over-mix!)
Still on low speed, mix in the chocolate chips and the hazelnut (or almond) flour. Refrigerate dough for 2 hours or up to 3 days. If you are planning to freeze a portion - you can scoop out 1 1/2-inch rounds of dough to freeze.
Preheat oven to 350F with rack centered. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop out 1 1/2” rounds of dough onto baking sheet, about 2-inches apart.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 8 minutes, and then, using a spatula, gently press each mound down just a little; rotate the baking sheet when returning to oven. Bake for another 7 minutes, or so, until the cookies are pale brown. They’ll still be slightly soft in the center, but that’s fine- they’ll firm up as they cool. Transfer to rack to cool. Repeat with remainder of dough, always using a cool baking sheet.
https://steamykitchen.com/39303-chocolate-chip-hazelnut-cookie-recipe-dorie-greenspan.html
I had been interested in them for quite a number of years. I've been watching the Almazan Kitchen youtubes for 5 years, since they started. Out of 500 videos (I have watched over 400)I see he uses a mortar and pestle - or molcajete - in maybe almost a third of them. I had also seen a recipe many years ago for chimichurri - a delicious fresh herb sauce that was said to make your grilled steak "taste like it was dragged through a garden". I tried making it once I think I used a blender. It was OK and kind of dropped it after that.
After watching so many of Almazan's videos I decided to get one, an 8" granite made by Imusa, less than 30.00 at walmart.com. I cleaned it properly with uncooked rice and a splash of water as I had read about and made my old standby salsa recipe. Just tomato, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, jalapeno, and cilantro. It tastes totally different than the chopped version flavor wise. Because everything is crushed the flavors are released and meld together. It was really impressive.
I also had watched a Gordon Ramsay youtube where he makes a skirt steak and chimichurri and he talks about the molcajete. My favorite is either flank or shirt steak. So yesterday I made my own chimichurri - garlic cloves, onion, salt, a tiny bit of sugar, pepper, a few sprigs of basil, some fresh thyme leaves, cilantro a handful, a handful of italian parsley,and spinach about 5 handfuls, one at a time. Mash after each ingredient, add a splash of lemon juice and some olive oil at the end. Amazing how all that in an 8" work bowl reduced to just a little over a cups worth. Flavor explosion and fresh and nutrient rich. Next on the list is guacamole.
They look sooooo good!
Fried Green Tomatoes with Prosciutto and Lemon Aioli
Ingredients
4 green tomatoes sliced ¼ inch thick
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup polenta
¼ cup of grated pecorino romano
a pinch of cayenne ( optional)
2 eggs whisked with a little milk
olive oil for frying
salt and pepper
1 slice of proscuitto to top each fried green tomato
arugula for base of “salad” mixed lightly with olive oil and lemon juice
LEMON AIOLI
Whisk Together;
¾ cup of mayo, full fat
lemon juice, enough to thin it out
1small garlic clove, grated
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Have your pan ready to go with olive oil drizzled on the bottom for a shallow frying.
Set up a wire rack to place the cooked tomatoes on so they don’t get soggy on the bottom.
Place your whisked eggs in one dish, then add your flour, polenta, grated pecorino and optional cayenne in a separate dish.
Dip each slice into the flour mixture first, then into the egg then back into the flour mixture.
Then into the frying pan on medium high heat until both sides are deep golden.
Place each slice onto a wire rack and sprinkle with salt.
When tomatoes cool down a little assemble the platter with the arugula greens first, then place the tomatoes all around, topping each slice with prosciutto.
Heavily drizzle the lemon aioli all around on top.
https://www.prouditaliancook.com/2021/07/fried-green-tomatoes-with-prosciutto-and-lemon-aioli.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9845471/SOPHIE-GRIGSON-recipe-La-Dolce-Vita.html
How I found the recipe for La Dolce Vita: Stuck in a rut, cookery writer SOPHIE GRIGSON had lost her zest for life - so she sold up in Britain and bought a £50k flat in a tiny Italian town... and the result is this delicious account of fantastico food