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.
Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Put milk and butter in a pan on stove over low heat. Beat eggs until light and fluffy and add sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing well after the two additions. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture, add vanilla and beat well. Then add the milk and butter mixture, which should be very hot but not boiling. Mix quickly and pour into pans. Bake for 35 minutes without opening the oven door, as cake may fall. If you decide to use a tube pan instead of a cake pan, it may take 10 minutes more to bake. But, do not open door for 35 minutes. Let cake sit for five minutes to cool in pan before turning out on a cake rack to cool completely.
Ormrod notes that "this cake may be enjoyed plain or with your favorite icing or topping. It is delicious every time."
Recipe requests
Christine Nightingale, address unknown, writes that she recently "had dinner with my girlfriends at the Cheesecake Factory in Harborplace Pavilion. We shared a piece of tiramisu cheesecake, and it was fabulous. I cannot locate a recipe.
"I am also curious about the calories and carbohydrates," she adds, "but I probably would be happier not knowing."
Yvonne Dobbs of White Marsh wants to make the "large sour onions like those you could buy in a large glass jar at small confectionary stores years ago or at the market. I want them for my husband."
Chefs Syglowski and Kent Rigby, with the help of chefs and students at the Baltimore International College, tested these recipes.
If you are looking for a recipe or can answer a request for a long-gone recipe, maybe we can help. Write to Ellen Hawks, Recipe Finder, The Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore 21278.
If you send in more than one recipe, put each on a separate sheet of paper with your name, address and phone number. Please note the number of servings each recipe makes. We will test the first 12 recipes sent to us.
Pub Date: 6/18/97
