Crabcake Smackdown - G&M vs Faidleys - Jan 2008

Does anyone have the K&M recipe for crabcakes?

If so, would you be so kind as to post it here?

Cheers, John 

seafarer john


Does anyone have the K&M recipe for crabcakes?

If so, would you be so kind as to post it here?

Cheers, John 

I couldn't find my 'copycat' G & M recipe, but below is a link to The Narrows restautant recipe (with text below). 
 
I like The Narrows crabcake as much as G & M and find it very similar, if not smaller and more expensive.
 
http://www.starchefs.com/features/crabcakes/html/recipes_02.shtml 
 
 
The Narrows Restaurant's Crab Cakes

Yield: Four 5-ounce crab cakes

• 1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat
  
• 2 Tablespoons fine cracker meal
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1 cup Hellmann's mayonnaise
  
• 2 Tablespoons Coleman¹s dry mustard
  
• Dash of Old Bay seasoning
  
• Dash of Tabasco Sauce
  
• 1 teaspoon Lea & Perrin's Worcestershire sauce
  
• Juice of 1 lemon
  
• Vegetable oil for frying
  
  Preheat oven to 500°F. Carefully clean crabmeat of any shells. In one bowl gently fold crab and cracker meal. In another bowl, mix all other ingredients. Gently fold the two together and form into round balls. Deep fry in vegetable oil for approximately 6 to 10 minutes until golden brown.
  
  

So, why would I heat the oven to 500 ?

Cheers, John 

seafarer john


So, why would I heat the oven to 500 ?

Cheers, John 

You wouldn't. 
 
I didn't read the part about heating to 500 degrees, I was only trying to give you a recipe for a crabcake similar to G & M, just smaller, and more expensive.  I always get them broiled at both The Narrows and G & M.
 
I would broil it if making them myself, though I might also pan-fry as opposed to deep fry. 

eruby: Thanks for the recipe, but I'm sure the G&M has beaten egg whites as an important part of the recipe -it's more the technique I need than the mixture.

We've had the broiled crabcakes at The Narrows and they are excellent -and they also stir up a great Martini. The best crabcake and also the least expensive in Kent Island  was to be had at the Angler - either pan fried or broiled. Alas, the place is long gone, burned to the ground and never rebuilt (although they are running a bar with some snacks at the end of the pier just past the Narrows). 

We rarely deep fry anything at home - it's just too darn much trouble, so we always pan fry our crabcakes. However, for the attempt to make one like the G&M  we'll surely broil it. I wonder if cooking it in a 500 oven for a few minutes before running under the broiler might be the correct technique...

Cheers, John   

Here's my recipe for G&M crabcakes:

Click on: http://www.gandmcrabcakes.com/mailorder.php?osCsid=386bebfcd561420de32c8e3b160a1259

Open wallet.

A day later, listen for the doorbell!

(Actually, this is barely more expensive than making them yourself).

Seriously.  The crab cakes shipped from G&M are excellent.  I found them to be not as "full" as the ones you get in the restaurant, but the taste is identical...and they are still a fair sized cake.  Compared to the prices for other crab cakes in the Baltimore/DC area, even with the shipping, these (while not cheap) are not outrageous for a special occasion.

Greymo Posted the following on May 9, 2007:'
 
Here is ocdreamers great crabcake recipe:
 
Crab Cakes
1 egg beaten 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup mayo 1/2 tsp grnd blk pepper
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce 1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 TBSP parsely flakes
6 finely crumbled saltine crackers
1Tsp Old Bay Seasoning
1 pound crabmeat (backfin preferred)
 
Pick through crab meat to remove any shell, mix igrediants lightly using hands. (I mix everthing but the crab & crumbs together first to make sure it's well blended) Make into cakes about 2 - 3 inches accross, don't make them too big, they will be harder to handle & don't compress too tightly. Now is the most important step, put the uncooked plastic wrapped cakes on a plate in the fridge for several hours, the chilling will help to hold them together. Brown cakes in fry pan about 4 minutes per side. What you fry them in is your choice. One school uses butter and the other school uses crisco (I use butter flavored crisco!)
Greymo's Note:
 
I make mine a bit differently. I always used lump crab (as Faidley's does for their more expensive crabcakes)........and a little less mayo and the only seasoning that I put in is the Old Bay Seasoning. I feel the less seasoning the better so that the crab flavor shines through. Also, in order to get the most delectable crabcake, one should always use fresh crab..........the pasturized crab just does not taste as good. When I make my crabcakes, I put them together first thing in morning and place on tray or cookie sheet and cover with saran and let them chill all dayin the refrigerator. That way they will not fall apart even though there is barely no filler in them
 
I made these crabcakes the way Greymo said. They were absolutely delicious! They were as close to the G&M and Faidley's crabcakes that I'd ordered as could be.

In this weeks WTOP radio poll, G&M was voted best crab cake.
 
No one nominated Faidley's, though one commentor liked it.
 
Link below.
 
Eric
 
http://www.wtop.com/index.php?nid=812&sid=1752462

eruby


In this weeks WTOP radio poll, G&M was voted best crab cake.
 
No one nominated Faidley's, though one commentor liked it.
 
Link below.
 
Eric
 
http://www.wtop.com/index.php?nid=812&sid=1752462

Four months later, I realize that the Washington Post quoted me in this article.  Thanks for the link, I never knew I was famous for my opinion of G & M crab cakes.

"There is no competition in this category, the best crab cake in the area can be found at G&M Restaurant in Linthicum Heights," writes Chris Row.

Chris
crowtoo@earthlink.net

I'm going to have to cast a dissenting vote

I acknowlege that the crabcakes at G&m were quite good, as well as less expensive and larger than the ones at Faidley's, and Faidleys also uses more filler.

All that said, I liked the flavor of the Faidleys Crabcake better - I dont mind a little cake with my crab especially when the cake adds flavor and textural contrast as well as binding

JTM, I think you can get seating on the upper decks above Faidley's and the LM itself - but yeah, it's mall food court style seating.  Still, it's a seat.

TJ, That's call the "Freedom of Choice" !! 

However, I will balance the scale (sort of) by voting a solid Best of Show to G & M. We have tried both places more than once and find the ambience interesting in both places, but rate the quality of the Crab Cake at G & M a measure above that of Faidleys.

I've never been to either place, unfortunately. But I have had crabcakes from both places shipped to me. The ones shipped from G&M were superior to the ones shipped from Faidley's.

Michael Hoffman


I've never been to either place, unfortunately. But I have had crabcakes from both places shipped to me. The ones shipped from G&M were superior to the ones shipped from Faidley's.

We've eaten at Angelina's, G&M, and Faidey's.  Angelina's and G&M were EXCELLENT; Faidey's was very good.  We've ordered FedEx from G&M and Angelina's and G&M was EXCELLENT; Angelina's was very good.
 
Bottom line:  by air, land, & bay:  G&M RULES!

TJ Jackson


I'm going to have to cast a dissenting vote

Feel free to cast a dissenting vote.  It's just that you're wrong. 

Miss the Maryland Blue crab Cakes, that some mighty fine eating. The don't serve anything of that magnitute of beauty in Beijing China. Signman a dinner companion ordering Veal Parm a beauty of a plate lap-over Chicken fried steaks has me lmao in chopsticks.

The Travelin Man

TJ Jackson

I'm going to have to cast a dissenting vote

Feel free to cast a dissenting vote.  It's just that you're wrong. 

Being married and all, I am used to being wrong - even when I am right. :-)

So no problem

I thought I was wrong once.....but I was wrong! 

I recent had Faidley's on a Balto weekend getaway (oh yeah, it's real far in rush hour traffic )

It was expensive, and really good - BUT, I wasn't blown away as I had hoped. Maybe I built it up too far. And, standing and eating stinks.

Hopefully, we'll get to G&M on our next Balto run and I can compare.

beijinger


Miss the Maryland Blue crab Cakes, that some mighty fine eating. The don't serve anything of that magnitute of beauty in Beijing China.

G&M like Phillips uses Portunus Pelagicu “blue swimmer crab” as opposed to Callinectes Sapidus “Beautiful Swimmer”, “Maryland Blue Crab”, “Chesapeake Blue Crabs” or just plain old “Blue Crabs” this is one of the reasons why they can offer such a large portion at such a low price.  In fairness to both G&M and Phillips they do not claim to be using the latter and are only mildly deceptive by calling them “Maryland Crab Cakes.”  Personally I am not a fan of either G&M or Faidley’s, I believe that you will find far better crab cakes at Suicide Bridge, Prime Rib (not exactly roadfood, but an amazing crab cake), Cantlers, and Waterman’s. 
 
As a side bar, I actually find that crab cakes that are made from or contain a portion of backfin meat tend to have more crab flavor than the large lumps.

Not  sure if  I  should  be  posting this here  but  the Mods can  change it if  I  should be posting  it  in  wrong place. 

We  were back at G & Ms  for the  first time since  their  fire.  We were meeting my  son-in-law  who  was in  airport area on business.  He  asked what the dress code was  and  I  told him  that  it  was  a  sort of  dumpy  place  but  the food was wonderful.

Well, we arrived and walked in and  were  stunned....................wow..............this  place now  looks  pretty darn  upscale.  We were very  impressed.  We had  a nice meal,  lots of laughs, and painfully slow service.  It was a 40 minute wait  between  salad and  entree.  The  waitress made the  excuse  that meal  was delivered late  because  of one of the kids having ordered veal  Parmesan

Oh  yes,  the prices have not changed.

Michael Hoffman


I've never been to either place, unfortunately. But I have had crabcakes from both places shipped to me. The ones shipped from G&M were superior to the ones shipped from Faidley's.

OK, I'm convinced.  Ka-ching! Order placed to G & M.  The wife is a Baltimoron, and loves crabcakes. (shhhh!  Thursday is her birthday)

Don,  Please report back on the evaluation of G&M's mail order Crabcakes. I trust Michael's comments, but I would like to hear from others who use the net to order them. We have enjoyed them several times 'in person' but not since the fire and reopening. I guess another Baltimore trip is in order.

Al,

I, too, have ordered the G&M crab cakes online and can report that they are excellent.  They don't seem quite as HUGE as the ones you get in the restaurant, but that could just be perception.  They taste identical.  The shipping makes ordering them frequently somewhat prohibitive, but I suppose it is cheaper than going to Baltimore!

I believe that the single crabcake platter was  about  $16.00  the night that we went there.  I  have  shipped  four of them  at  total cost  of  $86.oo  so  that is not that bad for shipping.  Think how much it would cost for gas to fill your car  a time or two!

BelRose

G&M like Phillips uses Portunus Pelagicu “blue swimmer crab” as opposed to Callinectes Sapidus “Beautiful Swimmer”, “Maryland Blue Crab”, “Chesapeake Blue Crabs” or just plain old “Blue Crabs” this is one of the reasons why they can offer such a large portion at such a low price. 

BelRose, how do you know G&M uses meat from blue swimmer crabs?  If true, that's pretty serious, because those crabs are not local to Maryland.  Blue swimmer crab meat is pasteurized and imported from Asia.  The way I see it, that would be more than just a little deceptive.

It is pretty well known around Baltimore, but also just taste the meat, it is rather flavorless compared to what you pull out of a crab.  To add to that, I would like you to find anyone that can afford to sell that much domestically produced jumbo lump (another key is the lump sizes are way too big to be Callinectes Sapidus) for such a cheap price, you can't, even the gulf crab goes costs too much.  Washington City Paper did an article about the creative way companies (mainly Phillips) creatively name their crab dishes to make it appear to be from Maryland (I would link to it, but can't right now, just Google "Crab Imperialist"), after reading the article reread the menu and tell me that they use local crab.

Lest there be any confusion, fans of G&M's crabcakes

may need to express their gratitude to this man...

 

 

...as Washington Post writer Jane Black published an

excellent piece last July ("The Lump Sum; Washington's

swimming in crab cakes. We caught the best of them," July

29, 2009) and on local crabcakes revealing that many local

places serving crab cakes (including the three locations of

Jerry's Seafood) "stopped using Chesapeake Bay crabmeat

years ago in favor of a more reliable source of blue crabmeat

from Venezuela" and which they can have flown-in fresh (versus

the pasteurized crab product hailing from Asia and via boat).

 

That all said, most area chefs interviewed by Black thought

Venezuelan crab to be a good product specifically citing the

crustaceon's "snow-white" appearance and that the crabs are

"larger than their domestic counterparts and provide great

chunks of meat."

 

Caveat emptor.

  
  
 

Yeah, I Googled around a bit and it confirmed your statement - apparently G & M has acknowledged using imported, pasteurized crabmeat in their cakes.  Many, but by no means all, other Maryland crab cake makers do the same thing, apparently.

I saw that article about how Phillips has a product where they "glue" bits and pieces of crab into "lumps."  Amazing.

I think I've mentioned this before. 

A small crabbing industry is developing in the lower Hudson River - within sight of the towers of Manhattan.
The thing of interest to Roadfooders is that no local restaurants are serving the local crab - it is all being shipped to Maryland. The reason seems to be that there are no local crabpickers - the infrastructure of a crabbing industry is lacking.

It would be interesting to find out what restaurants in the Chesapeake Bay area are using Hudson River crabs. These, BTW, are the same "Beautiful Swimmers"  as are found in the Chesapeake.

Cheers, John