TVL

I am heading to Baltimore and thank you to this board I have received info. that the crab season starts in April (thank you ohstate (=) and the crabcakes will not be from local MD crabs.

I was really looking forward to fresh Maryland crabcakes-

Does this mean that the crabcakes are not going to be authentic?

OR
Do most places in the Inner Harbor area use nonlocal crabs year round regardless and so the MD crabcake is unaffected?

Thanks!

LilyLace

My guess would be that if your info is correct, the crabmeat used would not be fresh. Most likely frozen crabmeat. Why would they not use Maryland crabs???

LilyLace

Oh, try Moe's Seafood... we've had some great meals there.

rkkwan

A reason why a restaurant would not use MD crabs is that pulling the meat out of crabs is labor intensive, and like anything that requires labor, it can be done more cheapy in China, Vietnam or elsewhere.

Cassandra

What makes a crabcake a "real Maryland" crabcake is only partly the use of local crabmeat. First of all, Chesapeake crabs are small compared to, say, Alaskan crabs, and require a lot more work to get the meat out of them. They usually have a more distinctive, sweeter taste (like lobsters, which are sweeter and have more intense flavor when smaller, despite many people's insistence on ordering a "big'un") but entirely seasonal, and the season's not that long. So all restaurants will be kind of stuck using what is available during the week you are there.

However, it's also a matter of the other ingrediants -- how much filler, which spices, etc. Is the filler corn meal or wheat flour or bread crumbs and if so, what kind of bread? Do you add celery or celery seed? How much egg do you use to bind the thing together? Do you use onions or scallions or nothing? How much pepper do you put in? Do you use the same Chesapeake Bay Seasoning people put on steamed crabs? Should they be cooked in vegetable oil or other kinds of oil or just barely seared in a nearly dry pan? Or even cooked in an oven?

You can get almost as vigorous an argument going about what makes it "real" as you can about the best barbecue.

djkbooks

If you order a Maryland crabcake in a reputable restaurant, you will receive a fresh Maryland crabcake.

There has been a shortage of Maryland crabs in recent years, some say due to the overharvesting of the female crabs. This drives the price up.

While there are some restaurants that import crab (similar in species to the Blue Crab) for their crab offerings, they should be described as "Maryland Style...".

It is NOT true that crab would most likely be "frozen". Crab meat is never frozen, rather pasturized and vacuum packed so that it can be served "fresh" for up to six months. We bring a few pounds home with us every time we visit and it is magnificent.

Italiano

Your best bet would be to go to a place that serves the Crabs by the Dz whole on brown paper covered tables where you crack your own. They will be more likely to use the real fresh maryland crab meat. places that have just crab cakes on the menu and nothing else made from crab meat would use pre prepared, picked and cleaned crab meat from there food vendors most of the time .

vegaslover73

I had some crab cakes in a sky box at Camden Yards that were sooooo GOOD! If you're ever at Camden yards and have a chance, eat up! Delicious.

LilyLace

I was told by a chef that crabmeat is always frozen - how interesting... thanks for the info djkbooks. Makes sense.

Christina

It isn't true that crab meat is never frozen. Of course it is. Some places do vacuum-pack it and some freeze it. If you are getting it in a restaurant, you have to ask.

Linda0515

The supply of crabs in the Chesapeake has dwindled to almost nothing, driving the price of true Maryland backfin crabmeat to around $40 a pound. Knowing this, when I ate at Phillips a couple of months ago, I asked them where they were getting their crabmeat for their top-of-the-line crabcakes, and they said they get fresh crabs flown in from Indonesia. They explained that the crabs are significantly bigger there, so there's more meat per crab, which keeps the cost down. I'm from Maryland and have eaten Maryland crabcakes all my life, and these tasted just as good as any others I've had.

One thing that distinguishes a true "Maryland" crabcake is the use of backfin crabmeat, which is far more tender, sweet, and succulent than claw meat (and much more expensive because of the labor extracting it). I just had my first stone crab claws from Florida, and they tasted like newspaper compared to Maryland backfin meat.

TVL

Thanks for all of your information! We ate at Faidleys in the Lexington Market and the lump crab was great!!(= Maybe next time I can visit during the
"crab" season! I would also like to say that "Blue Agave" was an excellent restaurant and they also serve great drinks!!

alvira

Where ever you eat, ask if they put green pepper in their crab cakes. I've found that including green pepper is usually an indication that the cake includes filler (bread or cracker crumbs). A real crab cake loaded with Blue Crab meet is sweet and doesn't deserve to be covered up with green pepper. Also, broiled cakes better preserve the taste than fried.

PamSF

We spent a Labor Day at Waterman's in Rock Hall,MD. Those crabs were,by the dozen, fresh indeed!

Gretchen

The addition of red bell pepper is NO indication of using a lot of filler--at least at my house--about 2 TBS/lb. of crab. And while backfin crabmeat may be wonderful even better is lump crab meat from the body of the crab. Claw meat is the least desirable.

LilyLace

I'm with Gretchen. I like the addition of the red bell flavor in my crabcakes.