50 States; 50 Meals: Maryland

I don't think my husband and I can hear someone say crabcakes with out saying that line from Wedding Crashers.  We ate from our home state of Maryland this week and how fitting was it that this week was the start of Preseason football.

There doesn't appear to a rule to the recipe for a Maryland Crabcake which has been unheard of in the other states.  The must haves seem to be, well, crab, mayonnaise and Worcestershire.  Other than that anything goes.  Crackers vs. Breadcrumbs; Milk vs No Milk; Dry Mustard vs. Dijon Mustard; Veggies vs No Veggies.  You don't even have to be consistent with the type of crab.  You just need a pound.  And it doesn't stop there.  You have choices when you sauce your crabcake.  There's lemon, remoulade, tartar sauce, mustard, cocktail sauce or ketchup.  (Please don't use ketchup or mustard for that matter)  There is also two ways to prepare the crabcakes.  There is "Boardwalk" way or the "Restaurant" way.  The crabcakes are breaded and deep fried the Boardwalk way.  The Restaurant way uses lump crab and uses little to no filler.

Really, Maryland?  Take a vote and pick "the" recipe.  With so many choices I was so happy I could turn to my friend Angie and ask her for her recipe.  Angie and her family are awesome crabbers and awesome crab cookers!  I was so jealous when I bought my can of crab.  Why?  Because they never buy crab.  They catch them.

I have never been able to make a pretty crabcake in the past but I think I pulled it off this time.  Must have been the excellent coaching I received.

[caption id="attachment_771" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Maryland Crabcake[/caption]

Angie's Crabcake Recipe

[caption id="attachment_782" align="alignright" width="150"] Natty bOh[/caption]

Of course, we needed to wash that crabcake down with something.  Why not a beer originally brewed in Baltimore?  National Bohemian AKA Natty Boh.  Or if you are an Orioles fan AKA Natty bOh.  Or for federal employees AKA Furlough Beer because of the cheap price tag.

We finished off the meal with a slice of Smith Island Cake.  This cake is popular for its many layers.  The cake can have between 8 to 15 layers.  There is a layer of creme or frosting in between each layer and then frosted with a fudge frosting.  I was so excited to find out that one of our grocery stores sells actual Smith Island cakes.  I ordered an original vanilla and chocolate.  When the lady asked if I wanted the small I didn't picture it being this small but with the fudge icing being so thick it was perfect for our family of four.  I was just sad there wasn't leftovers.

Next we head back to New England for a wicked good dinner.

50 States; 50 Meals: Maine

This week we headed to New England and made a Maine meal. You can't have Maine meal without Lobstah!
We had Lobster Rolls. Not being a fan of celery I searched and searched for a recipe that would prove that you don't have to have celery to have a good Lobster roll. I actually found a few but the day before our State dinner night I got emailed a pretty simple recipe from Spoonful by Disney. This recipe actually spoke to me because the first thing it said was that there are many lobster rolls and they all claim to be right. I already felt more comfortable about not having celery. I did have all the other necessary components. We had the New England style hot dog rolls, the lobster (of course) and mayonnaise.




I used frozen lobster to keep our grocery bill down. My husband is a furloughed federal employee.
Side Note: we have been able to keep our food bill down by using recipes from the Born Free blog.
My girls actually enjoyed the lobster before I add the mayo to it. I couldn't really blame them for liking the lobster in its natural form. I had a hard time with the texture of the hot dog roll with the lobster. My hubby liked it.

Along side the lobster rolls we had B&M Baked Beans. Burnham and Morrill Company is based out of Maine. They began packing their brick oven beans in the 1920's. We had never had this brand before. They were good beans.

For desert we had Whoopie Pies! Whoopie Pies are two chocolate cake like cookies with cream in the middle. There is some argument of who can claim the Whoppie Pie. Maine or Pennsylvania. Maine went ahead and made the the Whoopie Pie it's official state treat. I totally used the Pillsbury Kit.




Next up we head to another state known for its crustacean.

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