My Maryland Food Heritage: Watermen, Free Crab Cakes, and Environmental Stewardship

Oysters were used in a variety of recipes – oyster stew, fried oysters, oysters on the half shell, scalloped oysters. I did not learn to appreciate oysters until I was an adult… I did eat them in oyster stew, but I did not like the texture. The oyster stew was made with a crust over an oven safe bowl – with milk, celery and potatoes. We also enjoyed baked rockfish, fried fish, and fish hash. Crabs were prepared steamed, stewed, as crab imperial, crab cakes, fried soft crabs, and crab soup. Continue reading →

Wild Blackberry Martini • Recipe

Spring is well underway here in East Texas. On a walk yesterday, I noticed the blackberry bushes are in full bloom. Soon berries will replace the blooms. In the 1950s, when I was young -like grammar school young – this was a really big deal. I would head for the “bottoms” along the creek on our place in South Carolina to gather the berries. I’m not sure bug repellant had been invented back then, but I am sure we didn’t have any. One knew one would be in misery from chigger bites. Continue reading →