Slow Cooked Sauerkraut

Ingredients:
28 oz sauerkraut
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard seed
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh sage
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon charnushka (aka black caraway or kalonji)
1 1/2 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 small onion, thinly sliced

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a 2 or 4 quart slow cooker. Stir to evenly distribute all ingredients. Cook on low 8 hours or 4 hours on high. Stir. Serve hot.

My thoughts:

I know I've mentioned it before but it wasn't until I was in college that I realized not everyone has sauerkraut at Thanksgiving. It really is a Baltimore thing, probably the result of the large number of German immigrants that settled here although other areas with similar populations did not adopt the sauerkraut tradition. I guess I am biased, but sauerkraut is perfect for Thanksgiving. It goes great with turkey and cuts the sweetness of the cranberry sauce and some side dishes. In recent years, I've started to make it in the slow cooker, which is I think is one of my more clever holiday ideas. While sauerkraut is easy to make on the stove, it does take up an extra burner and is prone to scorching if you don't keep an eye on it. No worries in the slow cooker. Last year I made a porky version but this year I created a vegetarian (well, vegan, actually) recipe that I think might be even better. The other one was still very, very good but I am not sure if it is the absence of pork or the addition of new spices but this was great; pickle-y but not too sour and with just the right amount of fresh herbs and spices to keep it from tasting too flat and one dimensional.

As an aside, here is a Mencken story that mentions Baltimore's love of sauerkraut at Thanksgiving.

Pan-fried Soft Crabs

Ingredients:
4 soft crabs, cleaned
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon Old Bay
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
salt


Directions:
Whisk together the milk and Old Bay in a medium bowl. Soak the crabs in the milk for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk the flour, salt and pepper together. Dredge both sides of the crab in the seasoned flour. Melt more butter than you'd think in a skillet. Fry the crabs for about 3 minutes on each side. Try and keep the legs from tucking under the body of the crab; arrange them straight out. Serve naked or in a sandwich.

My thoughts:

Soft crabs are in season again. If I had to name a favorite food, I think it would be soft crabs. When I posted the how to clean soft crabs last spring, I received a few requests on how to prepare them. Honestly, I've never made them any way but pan-fried and in a sandwich. For this recipe, I splashed out and added Old Bay but honestly I mostly just season them with salt and pepper. You don't want anything to cover up the crab flavor but in Baltimore, Old Bay is always a welcome addition. Anything fancier just seems wrong to me!

Note: It is traditional to soak the crab in milk before cooking, it sort of tenderizes the shells (if they are a bit tough) and allows you to coat the crab in flour without needing egg. I added the Old Bay for a bit of kick without being overpowering.

How to: Clean Soft Shell Crabs

Start with a live soft shell blue crab. They are in season now so if you live in an area where they are available, they should be fairly easy to find alive. Buy them on the day you plan on eating them and keep them refrigerated until you are ready to prepare them. I keep them in the box they come in or on a plate covered with a paper towel. If you do have to use frozen, they probably have already been cleaned. Defrost them and double check before cooking. I don't recommend buying dead (refrigerated/"fresh") soft crabs. Soft shell crabs are very perishable and should be cooked or frozen within a day of their demise. If they are already dead, you have no way of knowing when they were caught or how long they have been kept refrigerated and that puts you at risk for food poisoning. Frozen crabs can be defrosted overnight in the refrigerator.



Start by cutting off the mouth and eyes of the crab using a knife or kitchen shears. I used kitchen shears because I could cut using my non-dominant hand while the other wielded a camera but a knife works just as well. There is some goo behind the eyes. Use the tip of your knife or closed shears to scoop it out. Don't worry about the crabs moving around, the cold makes them pretty dopey and once you do this step, they are dead. Keep the rest of the crabs refrigerated while you work on each one.



Flip the crab over. That pointy bit is the apron. Bend it towards you.


Cut it off at the base of the crab.


The appearance of the apron depends on the sex of the crab. It might look like this. Cut it off in the same way.



Flip the crab over. Lift one side of the shell. It isn't attached on the ends so it will open easily. Those squishy pale things are the gills. Use your fingers to pull them out or your shears to cut them out. Repeat for the other side. You're done!



This is just to show you how the shell is attached to the crab. There are some organs in the the middle section but they will be thoroughly cooked when you cook the crab and are safe to eat. If you really want to remove them for some reason, you will have to cut the bottom of the shell. I don't bother. I think it makes some of the juices run out and I like a juicy crab.



Cleaned and ready to go!

My thoughts:

If I had a favorite food I think it would be soft shell crabs. It seems like they are increasingly difficult to find so when I do, I snap them right up. When I was a child my mom would buy at least a dozen soft shell crabs at a time. She'd prepare them, we eat a couple of soft shell crab sandwiches and then she'd freeze the remaining ones in bundles of two and every week for the rest of the summer we'd defrost a pack and have another sandwich. In my opinion, that is the best way to eat soft shell crabs: dredged in flour with a little salt and pepper and pan-fried in butter. On white bread. Nothing else that might possibly distract from the crab's flavor. I do have to say that I had a soft crab sandwich that had a cornmeal crust that was pretty good. The crab was huge though, I haven't found a crab that big at the market yet, and that helped the crab flavor stay strong.

Steamburgers

Ingredients:
1 lb very lean ground beef
2 cups beef stock
1 onion, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
salt
pepper

to serve:
mustard
minced onion
soft rolls

Directions:
Heat oil in a large, shallow skillet. Saute the onion and shallot until just beginning to soften. Add the beef until the fat starts to render, breaking the meat into small bits. Drain off the fat. Add the Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, paprika and stock. Simmer until the stock has totally evaporated. Serve sprinkled with onion on buns with a smear of mustard.

My thoughts:

Steamburgers are the signature dish at Stewart's Root Beer out on Pulaski Highway just outside of Baltimore. My grandpop used to tell me about getting them long before I or even my mother was born. If that doesn't make a family tradition what does? They are basically a loose meat sandwich, sort of like a sloppy joe but without the sauce. Served on a soft bun with onions and a smear of mustard or with cheese melted on, they are a bit of retro heaven. I've heard of similar sandwiches sold in other parts of the country but I've never encountered them outside of Stewart's which not only has been serving steamburgers since 1945 but draft root beers, regular burgers, chili dogs, fries and summery side dishes like coleslaw and potato salad. Stewart's is only open 6 months of the year (the warmer months) so I've long wanted to develop a recipe so I can eat a steamburger whenever the mood strikes. It took some experimenting but I think I've come as very close to the taste of the original as I could but like many homemade versions of fast food is a lot less greasy. (Sorry, Stewarts!) It is very meaty and juicy but fresh tasting. If you are still not convinced, steamburgers taste very much like a traditional hamburger but in a more rustic, crumbly form.

Rachel's Ultimate Crab Dip

Ingredients:
16 oz blue crab claw meat
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup sharp cheddar
2 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons Old Bay
1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
1 shallot, minced


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients EXCEPT the cheddar cheese until they are evenly distributed. Or, if you are like me and you hate mincing yet don't want any chunky shallot bits in the final dip or want make sure the ingredients are fully incorporated, place all of the ingredients EXCEPT the cheddar and crab in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Then stir in the crab.

Spread into a 8x8 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with the cheese in an even layer. For bonus points, shake a bit of Old Bay on top of the cheese.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbling.

Serve warm with crackers, pretzels, bread wedges, or plain Utz chips. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers. Bake @ 350 for 10 minutes or so to reheat. I don't recommend microwaving.


Note: For this recipe, quality reduced fat sour cream and cream cheese will work just fine.

My thoughts:

Crab dip is serious business here in Baltimore. We are a people who like our (blue) crabs and our cheesy dips. Growing up, my family didn't do much in the way of entertaining and well, crab is pricey so we didn't make it but I loved having friends whose families would make it for holiday parties and such. Of course, it has been on the menu of nearly every locally owned restaurant and pub at some point or another. I think if it doesn't make an appearance on the menu at least once, your food permit gets yanked.

Anyway, for the perfect crab dip you need, crab, some sort of combination of cream cheese, mayonnaise (or occasionally straight mayonnaise, no cream cheese), shredded cheese and lots of Old Bay. Beyond that I've had versions with garlic or garlic powder, onions or shallots, mustard, Parmesan cheese, and crab meat of every variety of from lump to backfin. I like to use claw because it has a flavor that is stronger than lump meat (but still sweet and not "fishy") and has a good mix of big chunks and smaller bits of crab. I like how the crab is distributed in the dip if you use claw or even backfin, with jumbo or regular lump you end up occasionally getting a bite that is entirely crab free. Not a problem with the claw.

When I set out to make the ultimate crab dip I had some parameters in mind. It had to be thick, creamy but not too mayonnaise-y, and spiced but not overpoweringly spicy. I am a sour cream addict so I always have to add that to my dips. I think the slight tang keeps the dip from tasting too rich or cloying. The trick is not to use too much or the crab will be spread too thin. You want a dip that is thick with crab meat. I like the crab flavor to be the star so I only put a thin layer of cheddar on the top (not mixed in as I've seen in some recipes) and just enough spices to accent the crab flavor, not overwhelm it. I always use extra sharp cheddar but a mix of cheddar and Monterey Jack (in a 2:1 ratio) is a good variation.

Crab dip is so popular here in Baltimore that it actually has spawned a spin off appetizer, the crab pretzel, which isn't quite as common but perhaps it should be, it is sort of a twist on the dip in the bread bowl fad of 30 years ago and is oddly satisfying.

Thanksgiving Sauerkraut

Ingredients:
28 oz sauerkraut
1 thick cut boneless pork chop (about 1/4 lb)
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard seed
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
1/2 teaspoon prepared horseradish
1 large shallot, diced

Directions:
Place the sauerkraut, shallot, horseradish, sugar, vinegar and spices in a 2 or 4 quart slow cooker. Stir to evenly distribute all ingredients. Add the pork chop and cover in sauerkraut. Cook on low 8 hours or 4 hours on high. The pork should be easily shredded with a fork. Shred the meat and stir. Serve hot.

My thoughts:

One of the (many) little quirks of living in Baltimore is that we always eat sauerkraut with our Thanksgiving meal. I was in college before I realized that this practice was unique to Baltimore and that not everyone in country ate sauerkraut with their turkey. It dates back to the days when there was large number of German immigrants in the city. I think it stayed a staple because it is just so good with poultry. The salty, pickled flavor cuts through the sweet and richness of cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes. My family has only served plain sauerkraut (either homemade or commercially prepared) but this year I thought I'd splash out and make something a little different. So I created this recipe.

Perhaps surprisingly, the red wine vinegar makes the sauerkraut slightly sweet and less puckeringly sour. I like mustard seed with my sauerkraut rather than the traditional caraway seed, I think the flavor melds better and the mustard seeds have a softer texture. The pork chop makes it taste more robust but leaving it out would make this a delicious (vegan) side dish.

Rachel's Homestyle Baltimore Crab Cakes

Ingredients:
1 shallot, minced
16 oz backfin blue crab meat
16 oz lump blue crab meat
2 eggs, beaten
2 slices white sandwich bread, torn into small bits
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1-2 tablespoons Old Bay
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Place the crab meat in a large bowl. Add the spices and mix to incorporate, without breaking up the chunks of crab meat. Add the remaining ingredients and gently mix in by hand.



Cup handfuls of the crab mixture and mold into balls.



Cook immediately or refrigerate until ready to cook, up to overnight. Heat about 1/2 inch of oil in a large skillet and fry the crab cakes until golden, flipping once. A large, shallow spoon makes flipping and removing crab cakes from the pan a breeze. Drain on paper towel lined plates before serving.

Yield: about 10 crab cakes

My thoughts:

Here in Baltimore where to get the best crab cakes is a hotly debated topic. Blood is drawn, friendships are lost, and families are divided as people debate which restaurant has the most flavorful crab cakes with the largest chunks of crab and the least filler. Almost as controversial are the crab cake recipes people make at home. Often they are a closely guarded secret trotted out only on the most special of occasions. Fortunately for you, I don't feel the need to keep my recipe to myself. My recipe has been refined over the years, building up from the very simple Old Bay, backfin, egg and bread cube version my mother makes.

My version uses both lump and backfin crab meat for a couple of reasons. Backfin is finer and easier to form into cakes but it is wonderful to bite into succulent lumps of crabmeat, so it is worth it mix some lump in. Lump, by itself, is rather difficult to bind without using a lot of filler and is more expensive than backfin, so mixing the two is easier, cheaper and tastier than using just lump. I also like to add a bit of mustard and extra celery seed to the mix to give it a bit of a kick without being spicy. The trick is to season your crab cakes thoroughly enough that it needs no adornment but not so much that you can't taste the crab. The crab is the star!

My recipe is sort a cross between the old-fashioned, homelier crabcakes typically made by native Baltimoreans at home and the broiled jumbo lump-only crab cakes one finds at restaurants. Of course, there are as many ways to make crab cakes as there are crabs in Bay but these are tastiest I've made and easy to make at home.



Quick tips:
Often small bits of shells and cartridge can be found in packages of crabmeat, even if the label says it has been picked over. Take a minute to check over the meat before forming the crabcakes.

The moisture level of the crab varies from batch to batch. If the crab mixture is very wet, making it difficult to form a cake, add a small amount of bread or cracker crumbs until the mixture can hold its shape.

If you are so inclined, lump and jumbo lump crab meat can be used instead of the backfin and lump but it will be more difficult to mold into crab cakes.

Baltimore Coleslaw

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
16 oz coleslaw mix (shredded red and green cabbage, carrot)
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons Old Bay
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon ground jalapeno

Directions:
In a large bowl, toss together the coleslaw mix, celery and onion. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, Old Bay, celery seed and mayo. Pour over the vegetables. Stir to evenly distribute. Allow to sit 20 minutes before serving.

My thoughts:

Honestly, Baltimore Coleslaw is a bit of a misnomer. As far as I know there is no quintessential Baltimore slaw. But I haven't met a native yet that doesn't love Old Bay (I think they send us home from the hospital with a tin tucked into our blanket) so it seemed fitting. For the second time I used a preshredded coleslaw mix. It worked well the last time and was on sale for only $1 a bag so I couldn't resist. You could easily substitute an equal amount of hand shredded cabbages and carrot. The Old Bay, celery seed and celery sort of meld into really fresh tasting new kind of coleslaw, one that is peppery and summery. The fairly equal mix of mayo and lemon juice keep it from being too thick or worse yet, gloppy.

Quick tip: I used my mandolin to slice the celery and onion very, very thinly.

How to Eat Steamed Blue Crabs

You need:
newspaper
crabs
crab mallet
paper towels

Quick notes:

Crabs are sold by size: small, medium, large, jumbo and occasionally colossal. They can be very expensive (especially if you buy them already steamed) and the price difference between the sizes can be significant. I recommend getting at least the medium size. The size difference between medium and large is often slight but the price difference is frequently about $10 a dozen.


Picking crabs is time consuming. Unless you are a professional, plan to spend the bulk of an afternoon or evening picking crabs.

Your hands will get very dirty. I find it is difficult to eat anything but crabs while you are picking unless you're willing to get up and wash your hands frequently. If you want to serve other food, I suggest serving it before or after the crabs.

Avoid touching your eyes while picking, seafood seasoning burns. Also, it is not uncommon to cut your finger on a shell but it is generally no worse than a papercut.



Step One:
Cover a large dining surface with a thicker than you would think layer of newspaper. It really is best to do this outside on a picnic table if at all possible. If not, resign yourself to cleaning the floor afterwards.



Step Two:
Pick out a crab. Try and get one that has both claws and feels "heavy" before someone else does.



Step Three:
Bend or twist the legs and claws to snap them off at the body. Some times a bit of crabmeat will come off with the legs or claw. Eat it. Set the claws aside. There is not much meat (if any) in the legs so I just push them aside.



Step Four:
Pull off the "apron". Some people use a butter knife for this but I am a purist and only use my hands. Simply slip your finger under the edge of the point and pull down. It should pull off easily.





Step Five:
Pry the shell away from the body. The easiest way is to use both hands and pull the crab halves in opposite directions.



Step Seven:
Flip the crab over.


Remove the squishy, grey gills. They pull off very easily. Discard them. The yellow stuff is colloquially known as the "mustard" and is edible.



Step Eight:
Crack the crab in two. Pull out any loose crabmeat and eat it.



Crack the halves and extract the meat. Again, some people use butter or crab knives but I find that fingers work just fine. Eat the meat as you go.



Step Nine:
Hold both sides of the crab claw and break off the part that I am holding in my fingers.




The meat should come off on the claw. If not, break the claw with your mallet.



The other half of the claw has meat as well. Break it off at the joint. If this doesn't yield meat, hit it with your mallet.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

My thoughts:

Steamed hard shell blue crabs are a staple here in Baltimore and I think us natives possess innate knowledge of how to pick crabs. However, I realize that this isn't true of many people, my husband included. Last year I posted a how to steam crabs that was well received. After that post, I got quite a few requests for a how to pick crabs post. I had tried to take pictures of the picking process at the time but it is hard enough to photograph yourself but covered in seafood seasoning? Nearly impossible. So I waited until we had crabs again and tried again with much more success. Having a crab feast is a lot of fun and it is a shame to miss it because you are crab-wary! Now everyone has a slightly different crab picking style but this is all you really need to get the most out of your crabs.

Crab Pretzel

Ingredients:
for the dip:
1 small shallot, grated
8 oz fresh blue crab meat
3 oz shredded sharp cheddar
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/2 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning
1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard


for the pretzel:

3/4 oz active dry yeast
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar PLUS 1/8 teaspoon
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt

pretzel topping:
sea salt
water


to sprinkle: additional shredded sharp cheddar


Directions:
for the crab dip:
Before you begin, make sure you pick out any bits of shell or cartilage that might have been over looked in the crab processing process. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together. Make sure all ingredients are evenly distributed. Refrigerate before use.

for the pretzels:
Dissolve yeast into water with the 1/8 teaspoon of sugar, let stand 5 minutes. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, remaining sugar, salt and butter. Add the dissolved yeast and then pour the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer and knead until a smooth, elastic round ball forms. Add a little more flour or water a tablespoon at a time if the dough looks too wet or dry. Alternately, knead by hand on a clean, floured flat surface. Place in an buttered bowl, cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and allow to rise in a cool place for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425. Pour the water into a shallow bowl. Stretch the dough into a long tube about 1/2 inch thick. Set aside to rest for 5 minutes. Fold into a pretzel shape by making a rough circle and crossing the ends inward. Brush with water and sprinkle lightly with sea salt.



Place the giant pretzel on to a parchment or silipat lined baking sheet. Allow to sit for 5 additional minutes. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until pretzel is golden brown.




Remove from the oven. Top with a generous amount of crab dip. Sprinkle with cheddar then stick the pretzel back into the oven for 1-2 minutes to melt the cheese. Serve hot. I suggest placing it on a cutting board and allowing people to slice off chunks with a bread knife to eat off of an individual plate.



Yield: 1 giant crab pretzel (serves many as an appetizer)

My thoughts:

Coming back from an Eastern Shore vacation where not a day went by when blue crab didn't pass my lips, I still hunger for crab.

The crab pretzel is dish that is found on many menus throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Basically an extremely large soft pretzel covered in a Old Bay-spiked crab dip, the crab pretzel's origins are unclear although several restaurants (perhaps most adamantly, the Silver Spring Mining Company) claim to have invented it. Soft pretzels are extremely common and popular in the Mid-Atlantic and up to New York and crab dip is particularly Baltimore and Maryland favorite, though both have found national fans, so perhaps it isn't surprising some enterprising soul brought them together. I know the pairing of the two sounds unlikely but it totally works-the soft, saltiness of the pretzel complements the creaminess of the dip and is a nice alternative to crackers or chips. Some places cover the dip with a large amount of cheddar but for my homemade version I added just a sprinkle to avoid overpowering the crab. This homemade version is a bit lighter and fresher tasting than many of the crab pretzels sold in restaurants and I think, even more delicious.

I know some people find working with yeast daunting but this is really a great, soft and easy to handle dough. Practically fool-proof yet very impressive. Who makes homemade pretzels anymore much less one covered in crab?

If crab pretzels are not quite your thing the pretzel recipe is perfect for making plain soft pretzels (divide it into 4 more normal sized pretzels if you'd like) and the dip is delightful on its own. Crab dip is normally served hot so I'd spoon it into ramekins or a small baking dish, sprinkle it with cheese and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes before serving.


A note about the crab meat:
Some restaurants boast that the crab meat on the crab pretzel is "jumbo lump" which is lovely stuff but very expensive (too expensive to make dip with in my opinion) and some times hard to find outside of the region. I find that backfin/generic "lump" crab meat works just as well and frankly is what many restaurants use in their crabcakes and crab pretzels even if they do claim to use jumbo lump-they just hope you don't notice.




Interested in trying out some other Mid-Atlantic regional recipes?
Check out my recipe for Baltimore-style Sour Beef & Dumplings or the local variation on cheesecake, Smearcase. Or if you want something super simple, try lemon sticks, another Baltimore classic.

Baltimore-Style Sour Beef and Dumplings (Sauerbraten)

Ingredients:

for the sauce/marinade:
1 3/4 cups red wine vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 onions, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon whole allspice
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
3 whole cloves
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt


for the dumplings:
4 cups plain well-mashed potatoes made from peeled red potatoes
flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
salt


other:
3 1/2 lb beef round, cut into 1 1/2 in thick slices or left whole (see notes)
1 tablespoon canola oil
8 gingersnaps, broken into pieces

Directions:
WARNING: This part has to be done the day before you want to serve. Stir together all of the marinade ingredients in a nonreactive bowl. Place the roast in a nonreactive container (or large ziplock bag) and marinate overnight. The day before is also a good time to make the gingersnaps if, like me, you are using homemade.

The next day: Remove the meat and pour the marinade in the slow cooker. In a large skillet, quickly brown all sides of the meat in the canola oil. Add the meat into the slow cooker and turn on low for 6 hours.

During the last hour or so of cooking time: Start to make the dumplings. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. In a large bowl, combine the cooled mashed potatoes and salt and the egg. Stir in the baking powder and add the flour in 1/2 cup increments until the it resembles a dough and the mixture holds its shape when molded (roughly 3 cups). Form into 2 to 4 inch balls. They should be able to hold their shape but not be too floury. Drop them into the water. They should sink, then rise to the surface when cooked through. Set aside.

During the last 1/2 hour of cooking time: Skim off any visible fat that may have risen to the top then add the gingersnaps and turn the heat to high.

After the time is up, shred the meat a bit with a fork or break it into pieces. Serve hot, with dumplings on the side.

My thoughts:

My grandpop loves sour beef and in turn so do I. Baltimore has strong German roots and some of the old food traditions continue today.

As a child my mother and I would sweet talk the ticket takers at the yearly German festival at Carroll Park to let us in (for free) just long enough to pick up a large order from our favorite stand to take home. Now you can buy bottles of Mrs. Minnicks' sauce at the grocery store but freshly made is always best. Until I made this, I had never made sour beef before but after a year of watching beef prices* I finally found a good deal on some meat suitable for cooking for a long time and decided to take the plunge.

Here in Baltimore, it is traditional to make the sour beef with gingersnaps. I know some people sneer at the use of cookies, and I admit it is a little retro sounding but they really add some flavor and thicken up the gravy without having to add cornstarch or flour. Plus I found an old German recipe (as opposed to just German-American) that calls for lebkuchen, a spicy cookie somewhat similar to American gingersnaps so I feel some what vindicated in my decision. It is also very "Baltimore" to serve sauerbraten with very large, fluffy potato dumplings. Many restaurants that serve the dish offer extra dumplings as a side along with sweet and sour cabbage.

Some notes:
I bought the traditional beef roast but cut it into large (roughly 2 inch wide) chunks/thick slices so the marinade would penetrate better and more quickly. In deference to the extremely hot weather we are having, I used the slow cooker but you could also follow the same instructions but use a dutch oven and roast it for about 4 hours at 350 or until thoroughly cooked and fork tender. While I only marinated the meat overnight (or more accurately, about 20 hours) you can marinate it up to 3 days if you would rather use the whole roast. Also, some people add juniper berries to their sour beef but I sort of think I am allergic to them so I left them out. I also don't think they are entirely necessary, flavor-wise, at least not for the kind of sour beef we eat here in Charm City.


*I just can't bring myself to pay $13 (or more!) per pound for meat that is going to cook for hours. When did cheap cuts of meat get so expensive? Doesn't anyone make stew anymore?

How to Steam Blue Crabs

Ingredients:
water
apple cider vinegar
Old Bay
kosher or coarse salt
live blue crabs


Directions:
In a large boiling pot with a 2 inch raised rack add water and vinegar in equal amounts until the level is just below the rack. Bring to a boil. Drop the crabs into the pot in single layers*, sprinkling each layer with a thick coating of Old Bay and salt. The larger the pot, the more crabs you can steam at once, just make sure that the lid is still able to fit tightly. Steam in batches if you have to. Cover the pot and steam until until crabs turn a bright orange, about 20 minutes. If the shells are dark red or have reddish-green patches, then the crabs are not fully cooked and you need to keep steaming them. I found that stirring occasionally with a long handled spoon helped make sure the crabs at the top were cooked enough. Remove the crabs from the pot with tongs and serve on a newspaper lined table, preferably outdoors. Make sure you have lots of paper towels! Now, I am a Baltimore native and an experienced crab picker so I normally don't need any utensils beyond my fingers but it is often wise to have wooden crab mallets, butter knives or even nut cracking tools handy in case you need them to get the last bits of crab out of the shell. Now you are ready to get picking!


*Wear gloves! Refrigerating the crabs before you steam them keeps them alive and dopey but they still want to pinch and are stronger than you'd think.

My thoughts:

Steamed crabs are the quintessential Baltimore food. I actually have never steamed them at home until today but when I scored 16 good-sized, sweet crabs for $11 because they were packing up for the day at the farmer's market, I couldn't resist. Normally, they run about $20 a dozen. Steaming the crabs was super easy-I had seen people steam them before (mostly while I waited to pick up my order) so pretty much knew what to do. I even ran out of Old Bay 3/4 of the way through and they were still good! Of course, admitting that I ran out of Old Bay is enough to get me run out of town, but in my defense, my New Yorker husband claimed that a 6 oz tin was "more than enough Old Bay" for the Summer. I knew we needed the 1 lb tin. I found that using apple cider vinegar gave the crab a subtle tang that accentuated the crab's sweetness. I know some people like to steam in beer but I think that obscures some of the crab's natural flavor. Simple is best!

So, if you have access to fresh, live blue crabs, it is worth it to pick some up! It is super easy to steam them at home (even if you have to make a makeshift crab pot) and cheaper than getting them out. Old Bay is available in most groceries stores in the seasonings and spices isle or in the seafood department.


Learn how to get all of the succulent meat out here.






Also: a quick welcome to all of my new visitors who found me via the article this month in Baltimore Magazine! I've enjoyed all the emails and well-wishes! Thanks!

Smearcase

Ingredients:
for the cake:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs, at room temperature
pinch of salt

for the filling:
16 oz cream cheese*, at room temperature
12 oz evaporated milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs, at room temperature

For sprinkling:
cinnamon


*Use brick cream cheese, not the spreadable kind that comes in tubs.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325. In a large bowl, mix together all of the cake ingredients. It should look more like a dough than cake batter. Press into a 13x9 baking dish, covering the bottom and at least 1/2 the way up the sides. In another bowl, whisk together all of the filling ingredients until smooth. The batter will be quite thin. Pour over the cake and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until it looks set. It should not be browned, just sort of custard colored. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into squares and serve.

My thoughts:

In the Pennsylvania Dutch community, smearcase is cottage cheese. In Baltimore, however, smearcase is the name of a particular sweet cake. It is a hold over from the days when the majority of the city was made up of German immigrants. It is one of those foods that seems to be unique to Baltimore, and I am sure it is probably an Americanization of some Germanic recipe. A handful of locally owned grocery stores and bakeries still make and sell it but beyond that, smearcase has all but vanished. I grew up eating it as a special treat (we rarely got anything from a bakery beyond the occasional doughnut) because it was one of my grandfather's favorite cakes. The best way to describe it is that it is sort of a flat, not too sweet custardy variation of cheesecake that is sold in large, rectangular slabs and is always sprinkled with cinnamon. I have never seen a recipe for it, but then I was researching regional Baltimore foods online I came across a mention of smearcase that gave some hints as to what some of the ingredients might be. That, combined with a trip to Graul's, a local grocery store and smearcase stronghold, where I was able to check out their ingredient list, I think I figured it out. I had guessed it must have a fair amount of cream cheese in it (I did wonder if there was a cottage cheese in there, but when I experimented with that it just didn't have the right flavor) and the article mentioned evaporated milk. I made it easy on myself and just used 2 bricks of cream cheese and 1 can of the evaporated milk, rather than trying figure out complicated proportions and it worked. From past experience I thought the texture of the "cake" part seemed like it was oil based dough (dry crumb, not fluffy or cakey) and I knew it was sweetened, so I just made a basic cake batter but since the cake is on the dry side, left out any extra liquids. It tastes just like I remember it. I love making regional American food, especially those of my hometown of Baltimore. If we don't keep making them, they will disappear forever. As a sidenote: really is a testament to my love for my 93 year old grandpop that I made him this on a day when the temperature loomed near 100. I hope he likes it! Matt liked it, he said it had sort of an old fashioned taste to it. I agree, it tastes like something you'd get in a luncheonette in 1930, very wholesome and comforting.