Beef! It's What's For Dinner.... Well.... Sort of...

Living in cattle country, which is one of the major ag crops in New Mexico, we have a lot of beef.  I've never eaten so much beef until moving here.  While I like beef, I could sure eat a lot less of it.

Baltimore Peach Cake

I yearn for a taste of home...  a taste of Maryland.  I'd love to have a piece of a fresh Baltimore Peach Cake...  a buttery, bread type pastry covered in fresh peaches and a raspberry glaze.  I'd love to have a bag of Utz potato chips...  or some Berger's cookies.   A spice cupcake from Herman's Bakery; some chocolate from Rheb's; a bag of Konstant peanuts roasted fresh in front of Lexington Market; steamed crabs, Attman's corned beef, Esskay Silver Label ham....   the list goes on & on & on...  Baltimore is a town made for "foodies" and food is, in fact, what I miss the most about the place.

So, to help satisfy this yearning, I'm making a pot of Maryland Crab Soup for dinner, to be served alongside some Maryland crab cakes.  (Maryland refers more to the style & flavoring of the dishes, not necessarily to where the crab meat or crabs came from.)

Here's my recipe, more or less, for Maryland Style Crab Soup.

4 slices of thick bacon, cut into 1/4" pieces
4 meaty short ribs
1 lb chuck roast, cut into 1/2" cubes
1 medium onion, coarse chop
2 carrots, sliced into 1/8" thick rounds
2 celery ribs, sliced into 1/4" pieces
2 cups of water
1 can of diced tomatoes
1/2 bag of frozen cut green beans
1/2 bag of frozen corn
1/2 bag of frozen baby lima beans
1/2 of a small cabbage, shredded
1/4 cup of washed, pearl barley
3 bay leaves
2-3 tbs of Old Bay seasoning
1-2 tbs of black pepper
1/2  pound of lump crab
6 whole blue crabs, cleaned & cut in half (if you can find them)

To make the soup, fry the bacon bits in the bottom of a heavy soup pot. Remove when browned. In the bacon grease, brown the short ribs & the cubed chuck roast. When well browned, remove from the pot and set aside.  Next, add the chopped onion, carrots, and celery to the pot.  Stir fry in the bacon grease until wilted.  Then add the water and deglaze the pot.  After pot is deglazed, add the remaining ingredients, EXCEPT FOR THE CRAB.  (The crab meat & crabs will be added about 10 minutes or so before serving. Keep the crabs & crab meat refrigerated until just before use.) Cook at a simmer until the meat is tender.

At this point, the soup is pretty much done.  Depending upon how long it is before serving, you can cool the soup to room temp and then refrigerate, heating it to a boil 15 minutes before serving, adding the crabs & crab meat to the pot for the last 10-15 minutes.

Adjust seasonings and serve piping hot with oyster crackers or saltines.

Courtesy of Chesapeake Crab Feast

Crabs....  'Beautiful Swimmers that are Savory"...  Callinectes sapidus (from the Greek calli- = "beautiful", nectes = "swimmer", and Latin sapidus = "savory"), the Chesapeake blue crab.

Catch 'em....  Cook 'em....  Eat 'em....

Enjoy!