Hello all :

I looked at the crab cake recipe on Mikulski's page and can only ask : what
are Old Bay, Wye River, and/or Chesapeake seasonings ? What can I
substitute from the garden or the spice cupboard ? Didn't want to ask a
senator in case of really urgent business at hand...

DMM


"Dee Dee" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Godzilla" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Year after year, Kim Crawford Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ranks at the
>> top of my preference list.
>> The 2006 that I tried last night was no exception. It had the
>> characteristic Citrus and Tropical Fruit overtones, the pale
>> burnished gold color, the clean nose and long finish plus an
>> intangible element of good balance. According to Hugh Johnson, Kim
>> Crawford is now owned by a Canadian company.
>> It would appear that the new owners have wisely kept their sticky
>> fingers out of the area of wine making and concentrated upon
>> merchandising the product. That is not always the case with corporate
>> buyouts. More often, the bean counters manage to destroy fine things
>> with their meddling.
>>
>> I made some crab cakes as the entree to set off the wine. There have
>> been problems in the past with keeping the crab cakes intact while
>> cooking, but this has been solved from an unexpected source.
>> Some Googling on the subject brought up the web page of Senator
>> Barbara Mikulski, hailing from the crab cake capital of the US,
>> Maryland. On it she had her favorite recipe for crab cakes, which
>> differed slightly from the one that I had been using. More important
>> than the recipe, I garnered a couple of important secrets about
>> methodology. The first was to chill the crab cakes in the
>> refrigerator for about an hour before cooking. The second was that it
>> was possible to broil them, as well as the traditional method of deep
>> frying.
>>
>> We are constantly besieged by well intentioned souls telling us
>> of "healthful" substitutions, that are certain to ward off all known
>> diseases and guarantee a longer lifespan than Methuselah.
>> The pitch invariably ends with "and you'll never know the difference."
>> That phrase alone is enough to raise my hackles and make me do a one
>> hundred and eighty degree turn away. Yet, to all rules,
>> there are exceptions. Broiling the crab cakes proved to be one of
>> them. Before attempting this technique on the expensive material, I
>> made several trials using cheap Surimi (imitation crab.)
>> Once I had the timing and degree of heat established, it was time to
>> put the can opener to the pound of good Indonesian crab and let the
>> broiler roar. Three minutes on High heat on each side was ideal for
>> my stove, although other stoves must vary from my setting. The
>> result, - perfection. And, I didn't know the difference, except that
>> I did not experience grease running down to my armpits with each
>> byte. ;-)
>>
>> I am certain that our Texas senators also have web sites. However, I
>> doubt that they would contain anything more than self praise for all
>> the damage that they have aided and abetted during their long terms
>> in office.
>>
>> Godzilla
>
> Dear Godzilla,
> We bought this wine 28 July 2007 at Gary's in Bernardsville, NJ. Wine
> Spectator gave it 92 pt. $12.99.
> Unbelieveably, we had this last night also. With salmon. I wish it had
> been crab cakes, too, as I have a can of Phillips (I believe) Lump on
> hand.
>
> I like what you say about broiling, I have been wanting to do this. I was
> going to do it this way: fry it in a pan, turn it over and broil to
> finish, but I like the Senator's instructions and will try it. Thanks.
> http://mikulski.senate.gov/crabcake.html
>
> We drink mostly red wines, but we always feel that we should drink a white
> wine now and then. This bottle was purchased as a "should" wine. I had a
> sip while cooking, then a small glass with dinner, so I tried it with and
> without food. I've had this taste before and it is not one that appeals
> to me. Same with DH. Frankly I wish that I had liked it; I tried to. It
> was a little better at the end of the glass. The best I could describe it
> is that it was cloyingly sweet. I am no good at describing wines. I
> appreciate your description. Clean nose and long finish is hard for me to
> understand with this wine, and any other wine at this point.
>
> We say mostly every dinner, "I wonder who else is having this exact dinner
> tonight."
> BTW, I also had rabe, and linguine separately sauced with uncooked fresh
> tomatoes and basil.
>
> Thanks for your enjoyable review of dinner, wine, etc.
> Dee Dee
>
>
>