Signs for steamed crabs are up now. Bay crabs are back! Chesapeake crabs are totally different from– and definitely superior to — the Asian crabmeat you get at Christmas for hot cheesy crab dip (cream cheese, grated cheddar, Old Bay, maybe a dash of hot sauce and run it under the broiler until it’s bubbly). It’s a rich treat, but it ain’t the real deal. This assertion isn’t just regional loyalty. Imported crabmeat may be good off-season when disguised with cheese and spices, but it can’t compare to wild, fresh Chesapeake Bay blue crab. Bay is better, meatier, sweeter, distinct. So there.
Yet if it’s Virginian, as the pound of jumbo lump I bought the other day was, is it really local? Depends on your definition. For some, ‘local’ means within a 50-mile radius – the state is working on a formal definition – a parameter that boots my crab salad out of the running. But crabs are migratory (unlike, say, zucchini or chickens). If not caught before it reaches the Choptank or Chester instead of being caught below the Virginia line, it would be within the arbitrary 50-mile limit. Local crab.
In some ways, crab isn’t a candidate for Sunday Cooking since you’d never buy several pounds of crab just to feed the family for the better part of the week, though you could share a bushel of steamed crabs with friends on the weekend then pick out whatever remains for several days of sumptuous eating.
While Bay crabmeat is delicate in both texture and taste, it still lends itself to a variety of recipes. Crab imperial, crab-stuffed flounder or tilapia, or crab salad with minced sweet pepper, a dash of Old Bay, lemon juice and some really good fresh mayo. Cream of crab soup, or crab loaf, which Maryland’s Way cookbook says is good for picnics (imagine the luxury of crab on a picnic!). I once had a roasted poblano filled with crab and topped with a light mornay sauce that I’ve been trying to duplicate for years. And of course there are dozens of crab cake variations, five in Maryland’s Way alone, though there is no way I’d add a hard-boiled egg to it as one recipe suggests.
For Mother’s Day, instead of pancakes, how about cold crab salad stuffed into hot sautéed mushroom caps – the contrast of cold and hot in addition to the juicy sauteed mushroom is lovely – along with and a big mimosa. Now THAT’s a Mother’s Day brunch.
The big thing with crab is it should be the star of the show, enhanced not disguised. Of course, the quintessential Chesapeake Bay crab experience is steamed crabs eaten outside with friends on a newspaper-spread table (what we’ll do when all the printed newspapers die out is a mystery). An hours-long meal of the best the Bay has to offer shared with friends. I’ll bring the beer.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/travel/bal-bab-crabrecipes0517,0,3368772.htmlstory
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Crab-and-Wild-Mushroom-Cheesecake-5816
https://www.marylanddelivered.com/crabimperial.htm
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Eastern-Shore-Crab-Imperial-107180
https://www.crabplace.com/bayside-deviled-crab.asp
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