Pat Bourne's request for a cream of crab soup was met with more than a dozen recipes sent in by readers. Two stood out, say our food testers at the Baltimore International Culinary College.
;/ Ann Hoskins of Dundalk sent in this recipe:
Maryland cream of crab soup
Serves six.
1 pound Maryland crab meat
1 vegetable bouillon cube
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
few drops of hot sauce
1 quart milk
parsely flakes, for garnish
Remove cartilage from crab meat. Dissolve bouillon cube in water. In 4-quart saucepan, cook onion in margarine or butter until tender. Blend in flour and seasonings. Add milk and bouillon gradually and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens enough to coat spoon.
Add crab meat and heat, but do not boil. Garnish with parsely flakes before serving.
Ms. Hoskins' soup has a very nice flavor and consistency, with a nice kick to it.
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An easy recipe with fewer ingredients was sent in by Mrs. William Larson of Columbia. The testers found this a thick and tasty soup.
Cream of crab soup
Serves six.
1 stick butter
3/4 cup flour
12 ounce can chicken broth
5 to 6 cups milk
1 to 2 tablespoons Old Bay, to taste
1 pound crab meat
Combine the butter, flour and broth to make a white sauce. Slowly add the remaining ingredients: milk, Old Bay seasoning and crab meat and stir constantly.
To sweeten the pot, Chef Syglowski added 10 to 12 ounces of frozen corn to the recipe to give it a thicker and sugary flavor.
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Here is a frosting made with pecans to go with last week's Waldorf Astoria red cake made in two 8-inch round cake pans. After they are completely cooled, the two layers can be sliced in half to create a four-layer cake:
Frosting
1/3 pound (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
10 ounces cream cheese
1 1-pound box of confectioners' sugar
2 cups chopped pecans
Combine butter, cream cheese and confectioners' sugar in a bowl. Beat until fluffy, then fold in 1 1/2 cups pecans.
Use to fill and frost cake when it is cool. Decorate top with remaining 1/2 cup pecans.
;/ Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.
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