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Maryland Crab cakesThe Maryland crab cake has been a staple of the local diet dating back to at least the sixteenth century. Maryland crab cakes were made by local Indian women who mixed the crab meat with herbs, vegetables and cornmeal, forming them into small cakes that were fried in hot bear fat. They were called "cakes of crab." The preparation technique has changed only slightly over the centuries.What remains true of Maryland crab cakes today is that different regions of the Chesapeake have their own style of cakes. On the Eastern Shore, folks prefer their Maryland crab cakes prepared simply so that the flavor of the crab is allowed to shine through. This happens by moistening the crab just slightly with lemon butter and adding virtually no filler. Since there is no binding to hold the cakes together they must be broiled and handled with great care. Folks from other parts of the Bay, particularly near the big cities find these Maryland crab cakes bland. They prefer a style of Maryland crab cake that is flavored by a spicy, mayonnaise-enriched batter with a bread or cracker binding. The crab cake is then either broiled or fried. A third version of Maryland crab cake, which is common in Southern parts of the Bay, is made by using a lightly seasoned cream sauce to hold the crab meat together. The Maryland crab cakes are then chilled to firm up and later lightly coated in bread crumbs and lightly fried. Excerpted from Chesapeake Bay Cooking by John Shields Maryland Crab cake recipes through time [1685] - "To fry Crabs Take the meat out of the great claws being first boiled, flour and fry them and take the meat out of the body strian half if it for sauce, and the other half to fry, and mix it with grated bread, almond paste, nutmeg, salt, and yolks of eggs, fry in clarified butter, being first dipped in batter, put in a spoonful at a time; then make sauce with wine-vinegar, butter, or juice of orange, and grated nutmeg, beat up the butter thick, and put some of the meat that was strained into the sauce, warm it and put it in a clean dish, lay the meat on the sauce, slices of orange over all, and run it over with beaten butter, fried parsley, round the dish brim, and the little legs round the meat." ---The Accomplist Cook, Robert May, facsimile 1685 edition [Prospect Books:Devon] 2000 (p. 412) [1932] - "Crab Cakes Baltimore. Take one pound of crab meat for each four crab cakes. Put crab meat into mixing bowl; add one and one-half teaspoons salt, and two teaspoons white pepper, one teaspoon English dry mustard and two teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, one yolk of egg and one soup spoon cream sauce or mayonnaise, one teaspoon chopped parsley. Mix well, making four crab cakes, press hard together, dip into flour, then into beaten eggs, then into bread crumbs. Fry them in hot grease pan.--Mr. W.L. Jackson, Managing Director, Lord Baltimore Hotel, Baltimore." ---Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland: An Anthology From a Great Tradition, compiled by Frederick Philip Stieff [G.P. Putnam's Sons:New York] 1932 (p. 44) Jumbo Lump Crabmeat - One Pound Crab Imperial Mini Crab Wellingtons Jumbo Lump Crabcakes - Six - 4 oz. Citrus Mini Crabcakes Jumbo Lump Crabmeat Jumbo Lump Crabmeat - Two Pounds Colossal Crab Cakes Heart Healthy Crab Cakes Rockfish with Crab Imperial Crab Stuffed Tilapia Crab Stuffed Chicken Breasts |
