You won't be crabbing about this recipe, because the season has arrived and the crab cake recipe is here.
Al Thomas of Hagerstown requested a recipe for "the fabulous crab cakes that are offered at Angelina's on Harford Road."
Chef Gilles Syglowski chose two different recipes. One came from Jo Ann M. Nuetzel of Baltimore, who noted that her recipe was once published in The Sun. "It came from the late Robert Reilly, who operated Angelina's," she wrote.
Nuetzel's crab cakes
1 pound lump crab meat (picked)
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/3 cup milk, approximately
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons fresh chopped parsley
2 teaspoons minced onions, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
flour
butter or vegetable oil
Place crab meat in large bowl. Cover with bread crumbs. Moisten with milk.
Combine beaten egg with mayonnaise in small bowl. Add baking powder, parsley, onions, salt and pepper. Pour over crab mixture. Toss lightly until well mixed. Form into 10 large crab cakes. Place on plate. Refrigerate at least one hour. Dust lightly with flour. Heat butter or oil until hot. Fry crab cakes until golden. Drain on paper towels and serve.
Another version of Angelina's crab cakes came from Cindy Thompson of Towson.
Thompson's crab cakes
1 pound crab meat, picked
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seafood seasoning
a shake of salt
Mix all ingredients and form into six cakes. Fry in Crisco.
Thompson does not use bread in the cakes. Syglowski notes that he prefers to cook them in butter, not oil.
Bettye A. Frantz of Timonium asked for a hot-milk cake recipe, devil's food or yellow cake. "My grandmother, who passed away several years ago, retained this family recipe in her head," she wrote.
Syglowski chose a recipe from Ron Ormrod of Baltimore, who wrote, "This is probably the only true recipe that I have from my grandmother, who passed away many years ago. It is the most delicious cake I have ever eaten," he wrote.
Ormrod's hot-milk cake
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/4 pound butter
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two cake pans.
