Crabs hon!

I grew up in Baltimore, at least for a big chunk of my childhood. I'm sure I've done more growing up in other places, but I'm not going to split hairs for the purposes of this post. Baltimore equals steamed crabs. Crabs are the incarnation of summer for me, even though I haven't lived in Baltimore for almost 22 years. They take me back in a moment to hot, humid, summer evenings where bushels of crabs covered in Old Bay were dumped on my grandparents' patio tables and we ate and ate and ate. My memory does not go back to a time when I didn't know how to pick a crab. I'm sure that's a bit romanticized in the way our childhood memories tend to be but so it is. Steamed crabs aren't as prevalent outside of Baltimore. And if it's billed as a Maryland crabcake outside of Maryland, be suspicious. Very suspicious. Between moving away and the Chesapeake Bay taking a bit of an environmental hit, the frequency with which I eat steamed crabs has waned over the years. But I still remember the burn of the Old Bay in the tiny little cuts you get on your hands when you really commit yourself to getting all of the meat out of every nook of that shell. Summer for me is not summer without crabs. And certainly a few summers have passed with a bittersweet twinge when I couldn't get my hands on them. This was almost one of them. And it is for sure that they don't do steamed crabs in Ohio. That I know for certain. My mom brought a half dozen gorgeous crabs up (she was in Baltimore). I covered my floor in towels, put newspaper on my kitchen table, used a mallet that I swiped from my grandfather's collection, and set about picking the crabs. Not quite a patio table on a summer night, but it'll do. I sat at my table and picked crabs with my mom and that thread that connects me to summers 100 years ago got tugged a little tighter. We made crabcakes (Maryland style, thank you very much), and a tomato and cucumber salad (fresh from my friend's garden), and totally delicious sweet corn. And it was the perfect summer meal.

REAL Maryland crabcakes
about a pound of crabmeat
about a tbls of mayo
some Old Bay
an egg, beaten
a little bit of bread or a small handful of bread crumbs
some pepper
some Worcestershire

Fold together gently, form into patties, let sit in the fridge for a bit, saute in butter, enjoy.