Baltimore Crab Cakes

Guess that'd be kind of like a "hushpuppie" crab cake...

Hesitate to say anything after two excellent Maryland crab cake chefs have given definitive recipes. But, fools rush in... so here goes:
the important thing, as has been said previously. is the crabmeat - that is, all the rest is just to hold the cake together and provide a little seasoning that will enhance rather than hide the crab flavor. We use fresh breadcrumbs from French or Italian type bread for the filler (binder), and do not try to get a crunchy coating. We also (please forgive us) usually add a little finely chopped sweet red bell pepper to the mix and a little chopped chives if any are available. If you don't have
"Old Bay" in the mix it just aint a crabcake. We don't pretend to make "great" crab cakes - the great ones are found only along the shores of the Chesapeake

The point is, follow OCDreamer's recipe and you can't go wrong - then , next time , try something you think might taste good to you and have fun making and enjoying crab cakes.

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Originally posted by seafarer john

- coating. We also (please forgive us) usually add a little finely chopped sweet red bell pepper to the mix and a little chopped chives if any are available.

Just kidding!

Seafarer John!

quote:

I must add that I have made a pretty damn good crab cake at home using Maine "Jonah Crab" meat which is regurally available here at half the price of Chesapeake Blue crab.

Are there any restaurants in the Kennebunkport to Portland area of southeastern Maine that you'd recommend for passable crabcakes?

I havent been there in years . However Chrisfeild MD is called the states crab capitol. There was a crab house right on the end of the pier, They served far and away the best Crab cakes I have ever had. And for that mater all things crab. You could see the full crab traps. From their dinning room. Waiting in the water with your soon to be meal.
In baltimore Dudas in fells point has very good crab cakes,

quote:

Originally posted by Hepcat

Seafarer John!

quote:

I must add that I have made a pretty damn good crab cake at home using Maine "Jonah Crab" meat which is regurally available here at half the price of Chesapeake Blue crab.

Are there any restaurants in the Kennebunkport to Portland area of southeastern Maine that you'd recommend for passable crabcakes?

Yes, about 500 miles South. There are no passable crabcakes in Maine...Trust me on that one!

Agree, whole heartedly with the Faidley's recommendation in Baltimore. However, I, too, would also highly recommend the summer's annual Crab Days at St. Michael's, Maryland's Maritime Museum. In addition to crab races and the like, where else can you watch a crab caught via chicken-necking at 11:45 am, have that same crab steamed at noon, at 12:30 pm have that crab shucked collecting the backfin meat, have that backfin meat molded into a crab cake at 12:35 pm by the wonderful St. Michael's women and then buy the most fresh crab cake sandwich you could ever have at 12:45 pm that day?

Heaven. Pure Heaven !

Hepcat: I'm from the Hudson Valley in New York and get my Jonah crab meat at my local fish monger. But I'd never order a crabcake in Maine, I'd stick to lobster, scallops, fresh fresh fish that you probably wont find in the Chesapeake Bay area. Also, I only buy the Jonah crab meat when the budget will not stand $22 / lb. Chesapeake lump meat.

Here's a quick report on a recent crabfest roadtrip.
Day 1:Crab Claw Rte.33W St.Michaels,MD (410) 745-2900
6 steamed,one fried cake, crab soup
good spice on the crab. fried cake OK.
too much flour in the soup.
208 Talbot 208 N.Talbot St. Michaels 745-3838
baked oysters and quail appetizers
very good food.Thx to Jay the bartender
Day 2:Harrison's Chesapeake House Tilghman,MD 886-2121
crab soup,fried chicken,cake and oysters
pasty soup.excellent combo.tasty oysters
Schooner Landing 314 Tilghman Rd. Oxford 226-5111
crab and artichoke dip.cake
so-so dip.killer cake
Day 3:Captain's Galley 1021 Main St. Crisfield 968-3313
oysters,broiled cake steamed crab.
nicely spicely crabs,OK oysters,best cakes
208 Talbot
steak and cake at the bar
very good
Day 4:Slaughter Creek Pub Taylor's Island,MD 221-2911
crabcake sandwich
excellent
Red Roost Whitehaven,MD 546-5443
steamed crabs.crabcake
good spiced crabs.very good cake.

Thanks to Whitey Schmidt(the Crabaholic) for steering me right.Check out his books for the best of the Bay.Needless to say,upon returning home, crabcakes were sent from Crisfield to some highly appreciative sorts.That was a nice trip.Sorry about the length.

Mudbug: Oh, how we envy you!

Here is an interesting statement that I found.

Craig Claiborne, the New York gastronome, now deceased, once proclaimed of his first Maryland crab cake that its taste had come as "a devastatingly gratifying, unforgettable experience that could be likened to the first taste of a wild raspberry or homemade peach ice cream."

That should be enough to make all of you, that have never tasted a real Maryland crabcake, drool for days!

quote:

Originally posted by chezkatie

Here is an interesting statement that I found.

Craig Claiborne, the New York gastronome, now deceased, once proclaimed of his first Maryland crab cake that its taste had come as "a devastatingly gratifying, unforgettable experience that could be likened to the first taste of a wild raspberry or homemade peach ice cream."

That should be enough to make all of you, that have never tasted a real Maryland crabcake, drool for days!

Not to belabor a point, but while C.C. was the editor of the New YOrk Times food section and a long time critic, he came from it from a decidedly un-cosmopolitan way. He was born and raised in Sunflower, MS. Just another southern boy doing good in the big city.

Whoda thunk it?

Speaking of Craig Clairborne: I had a friend, long deceased although he did all he could in the way of alcohol to ward off the evils of ageing, who was a long time aquantence of CC. ( Old school tie and all that bother.)

A time came when my friend had , after years of experiment, produced what he considerd to be a credible Aplle Brandy. He went out and found a 2-1/2 gallon oak mini-barrel, filled it with his aged Apple, took the train to NYC carrying his barrel of Apple, walked from Grand Central to the New York Times building, elevated to the newsroom floor floor where CC's ofice was, marched through the august precincts of the staid old Times , with a, by now, leaking container, trailing an aromatic stream of Apple, gathering a following of newshawks, greeted his old friend CC, fished a couple of shot glasses out of his pocket and poured his elixer for the grand tasting. Alas, although CC did sniff, swish, and swallow the apple, his judgement was never heard by my friend who was unceremoniously escorted from th premises by security - apparently at the orders of higher ups. He did, however, leave the barrel with the newshawks and weeks later received a note from his old friend thanking him for his trouble, but never commenting on the quality of the apple..

quote:

Originally posted by seafarer john

I've never had a great crabcake except along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay - the rest of the nation should be prohibited from producing their poor imitations of the real thing. The best I've found were in Cambridge in the Robert Morris Inn?, in Kent Island in the Jetty, and Fisherman's Inn, and someplace in Ocean City that I forget the name, and someplace in Crisfield a lot of years ago...

Crisfield, Maryland, popular with tourists, has several seafood restaurants, all featuring crab dishes. On the advice of some locals we chose the modest and charming Captain's Galley Restaurant and were thrilled with our food. My sweetie and I had the Backfin crab cakes made with lump crabmeat, both broiled and fried, plus a full order of soft shelled crabs. The crabcakes were just perfect, among the best we've eaten, and the soft shells melted in our mouth. Along Chesapeake Bay, soft shells are simply grilled in a little butter and served without adornment. I loved this restaurant and hope to visit again some day. Since 1976 it's been owned by the Dotson family.

If you're in the NE Baltimore area (Harford Road), Angelina's is an excellent restaurant for crab cakes and seafood. Many believe they serve the world's largest and best crab cakes.

For steamed crabs (and messy eating), there's Gunning's Crab House on S. Hanover Street. They have an open-air crab garden. My cousin tells me that Peter Angelo's serves good crab cakes, but I haven't been there.

The website addy for Angelina's is: http://www.crabcake.com/
It is certainly worth a visit and offers a classic recipe for crab cakes.

The Best Crabcakes I had in Baltimore was at the G & M restaurant in Linthicum Heights, their website is http://www.gandmcrabcakes.com/ I've been to Angelina's, Bo Brooks, Gunnings and a couple of other places and these were the best by far. I had two for lunch and I couldn't eat anything else the rest of the day they were so filling. I'll be stopping through Baltimore on the way down to Williamsburg in a few weeks and I'm looking forward to them again, however this time I'm just going to settle for a crabcake sandwich!

If you happen to be 200 miles from Baltimore,
TARI'S in Berkeley Springs, W(by God!)VA serves a helluva crab cake.
You won't believe it til you try it.

quote:

Originally posted by wanderingjew

The Best Crabcakes I had in Baltimore was at the G & M restaurant in Linthicum Heights, their website is http://www.gandmcrabcakes.com/ I've been to Angelina's, Bo Brooks, Gunnings and a couple of other places and these were the best by far. I had two for lunch and I couldn't eat anything else the rest of the day they were so filling. I'll be stopping through Baltimore on the way down to Williamsburg in a few weeks and I'm looking forward to them again, however this time I'm just going to settle for a crabcake sandwich!

Another place that you might want to try (which is just beyond G and M and on the opposite side of the road) is The Olive Grove. We found the crabcakes to be really great and the service is much better.
http://www.olivegroverestaurant.com/index.htm


Also, the prices are great! We have friends from NYC who stop here regularly and eat and get crabcakes to take home in a cooler.....I know you will love it here

How would you connoisseurs rate the crabcakes served at the snackbars in Baltimore's Memorial Stadium?

About on a level with the 2003 Orioles?

quote:

Originally posted by rbpalmer

I've never been to Faidley's, either, but if any of you are ever in Calvert County (in southern Maryland), you've got to try Stoney's Seafood Restaurant. There are two of them (in Broomes Island and Solomons Island), and their crabcakes are as good as I have had anywhere.

My office (all archaeologists and architectural historians with the State) had a meeting at Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum (http://www.jefpat.org/) and we went to Stoney's for lunch on Broome's Island. (http://www.co.cal.md.us/cced/guide/Broomesisland.htm) You're right, they were indeed great.

I remember about, oh, a dozen years ago, I used to get a great crab cake sandwich for five bucks on North Charles Street at Tony's. They were huuuge, and had little cartilidge. I was always impressed. Don't know if the place is even there anymore, though. It was a long time ago.

You know what restaurant has disappointed my hubby and I the last couple times we've been? Phillips of Harborplace. Everything we had was nasty and greasy. Mind you, we didn't have the crab cakes. If we'd had them, and specified broiled (which I always try to do), they'd have likley been fine. But the things we did have were just nasty seeming.

However, I went there about a year and a half ago with some friends. An internet friend was visiting from Norway, and we wanted to give her the Baltimore experience, so we toured the Constellation (http://www.constellation.org), showed her the Top of the World (http://www.baltimore.to/TopOfWorld/), and took her to Phillips for crab cakes. She loved them. They're not cheap, though. This is from their menu:

Phillips Premium Crab Cakes $24.99
all-lump crab cakes with a rich and creamy flavor


Phillips Traditional Crab Cakes $17.99
Shirley Phillips' famous Maryland-style recipe


But when another friend, this one from Australia, came to town, we took her to the Crack Pot in Parkville. Also pricey, but we had steamed crabs. Gotta do the paper and mallets thing. lol

quote:

Originally posted by Jennie


You know what restaurant has disappointed my hubby and I the last couple times we've been? Phillips of Harborplace. Everything we had was nasty and greasy. Mind you, we didn't have the crab cakes. If we'd had them, and specified broiled (which I always try to do), they'd have likley been fine. But the things we did have were just nasty seeming.

I agree with you about Phillips. There is one in Washington DC on the S.W. Waterfront near where I work, and the food there is decidedly ordinary and overpriced. I think that it's patronized mostly by tourists who are taken in by the location and appearance of the restaurant and by the (in my opinion) largely undeserved reputation of the Phillips chain for good seafood. The locals who are in the know patronize places like Jerry's Seafood Restaurant in Seabrook, MD, Crisfield (for certain items) in Silver Spring, MD and Cameron's Seafood Market.

Growing up right next to the Gulf, I love a good blue crab dearly. I won't proclaim to be an expert, but I had some pretty good crab cakes at a chop house in Richmond Va. a few days ago.

After living in Baltimore for 50+ years, I just had my first FAidley's all lump crabcake today. While I'm not ready to proclaim it the "best", it WAS pretty darn good. I will nominate the cocktail sauce as just about the best I've had, St.Elmos's included.

Next up - G & M.

I recently got to have both a Faidley's lump crabcake, and G&M crabcakes. Both are huge, and wonderful, AND reasonably priced. The down side of Faidley's is that you will probably end up eating it in Lex Market. And that means you'll have "market smell" all day long. It's amazing how pervasive that smell is --- my clothes smelled like a vat of grease after spending a half hour in the market.

G&M is great as well, and has very good prices. They have a carry-out. I just get the lump crabcakes...don't care about bread or anything else.

I think of the two, I'd put Faidley's just ahead of G&M, but the latter is a more comfortable place to eat.

On an off-topic side note, I had the best turkey sandwich of my life in Lexington Market. There's a booth there where you get a huge "day-after-Thanksgiving" type of sandwich. Can't remember the name of it, but they have the turkeys right there, and will slice to order. I had the most tender dark meat sandwich...my mouth waters to think about it.

The Narrows on Route 50 in Kent Narrows is superior to Angelina's, Faidley's, G and M, Captain's Galley (Crisfield location only-not O. C.), Jerry's Seafood in Lanham and Stoney's in Broome Island (not Lexington Park or Solomons-only this location is outstanding) for their lump crab cakes. Generally, I agree with not finding a decent crab cake outside of the Mid Atlantic but Jimmy Sneed had a great lump crab cake at the Frog and Redneck in Richmond when it was open. The Prime Rib on K Street and in Baltimore have excellent crab cakes. Still, the best I've ever had is at the Narrows. I would also nominate Stoney's in Broome Island as Maryland's best overall seafood restaurant/crab house which is a rare combination. Exemplery hard shell crabs (usually jumbos), excellent cream of crab soup, cole slaw, cream pie and superb lump crab cakes. Cantler's is great for hard shell crabs but the sides are very weak.

quote:

Originally posted by Joe_2

I would also nominate Stoney's in Broome Island as Maryland's best overall seafood restaurant/crab house which is a rare combination. Exemplery hard shell crabs (usually jumbos), excellent cream of crab soup, cole slaw, cream pie and superb lump crab cakes.

Every summer, my wife and I take a weekday off and make the trip from Washington, DC to Stoney's in Broomes Island, MD for lunch. We sit outside by the water and have their excellent crab cakes, jumbo hard shell crabs, mushrooms stuffed with crab meat, a couple of brews, and the very good key lime pie for dessert. We then drive about 15 miles north to Breezy Point State Park, a beach situated on the Chesapeake Bay, to lie about for the rest of the afternoon, reading, listening to music and looking out over the water. Then, on the way back to DC, we'll usually stop at a roadside produce stand and buy some locally grown corn and tomatoes to take home. If there's a better way to spend a summer day, I haven't found it yet!

Joe 2 : The Narrows is an excellent restaurant where we have enjoyed wonderful meals, but we always thought it a bit pricey. Right across the street is The Angler where we have had what we think is one of the World's best crab cakes - an entirely different style from G&M which also has a great crabcake.

Cheers, John

quote:

Originally posted by seafarer john

I've never had a great crabcake except along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay - the rest of the nation should be prohibited from producing their poor imitations of the real thing.

Amen, whenever I hear of one of these up & coming new chefs trying to improve on the crabcake I want to take away their toque. They are always putting strange things in the cakes. With crab, the number one rule is the simpler the better, let the crab shine. Here in Maryland everybody has their special cake recipe but truth be told they are all just variations on the same basic things - egg,mayo,mustard,filler(crackers or bread), seasonings and most import quality meat.

Amen back atcha! My dad made them of backfin crab meat, moistened mashed saltines (had to be saltines), a little mustard and that's about it--I don't think he even put in any egg though I'm not sure about the mayo. And he fried 'em in butter. Dad grew up in DC, but he learned to make crabcakes in Deal, MD where his family had a summer cottage.

Sounds like I need to plan few roadtrips to Stoney's and the Narrows. In the meantime I just received the August 2004 "Best of Baltimore" issue of Baltimore Magazine and they issue their proclamation to G & M.