Spice Place Blog

Having lived in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US for most of my life, the natural seasoning that comes to my mind for seafood is Old Bay Seasoning. Old Bay is a classic seasoning for Maryland Blue Crabs, Shrimp, and Crawfish. With all of those shelled seafoods that are eaten by hand, you’ll find that the Old Bay is sprinkled on the outside of the seafood. And since there is a shell on the seafood, the seasoning doesn’t get into the meat. So for the seasoning to work, what happens is that the flavor of Old Bay gets into the food by being transferred from outside of the shell to the meat by the hands as the food is eaten. It’s a little messy, but quite tasty too!

One of our favorite seafoods is Snow Crab. The Snow Crab meat has a nice flavor and unlike Blue Crabs, there isn’t too much labor involved in eating the Snow Crab meat. While the Maryland Blue Crab has an aura around these parts, and Crab Feasts are blue crab. Snow Crab has been steadily making it’s way into Maryland Crab Houses and probably for the two reasons just listed, they taste good, and are easy to eat. Since Snow Crab is also already cleaned and cooked, all you really need to do to make them is to heat them up and season.

Adapting Snow Crab to Maryland Style Seafood cooking is quite easy to do and here’s how:

1. For each serving, you’ll need about 2 pounds frozen Snow Crab legs.
2. Place the Snow Crabs legs in a large pot - large enough that the Snow Crab Legs can fit inside, and be covered.
3. Sprinkle a layer of Old Bay Seasoning over the Snow Crab Legs.
4. Pour 2 quarts boiling water over top of the Snow Crabs, and turn the heat on under the pan.
5. Sprinkle with some more Old Bay Seasoning.
6. Cover the pot, bring to a boil, and boil Snow Crab legs over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes.
7. Meanwhile melt 1/2 stick of butter in the microwave or in a saucepan for dipping.
8. Remove the Snow Crab legs from the pot with tongs to a large serving dish.

Serve Snow Crabs with the butter dipping sauce and with Baked Potato and Corn on the Cob.

In case you’re wondering about just how much Old Bay Seasoning you need to put on the Snow Crabs, here’s a picture of the proper amount. This isn’t science, so you can use more or less. But if you use too much, it’s a little more messy then using the right amount. If you happen to use too little, simply sprinkle more over top of the Snow Crab legs. Serve with plenty of paper napkins or toweling as the Old Bay will spread to your hands — but that’s the point and is how the seasoning will get to the seafood, transferring from your hands to the seafood.

Chances are that you’ve had Buffalo Wings at one time or another. But unless you’ve been to Buffalo, New York, you haven’t had the real thing. We have a genuine Buffalo Wing Recipe that we got from a small Buffalo Wing shop located in Buffalo, NY. And it’s a killer recipe. This isn’t a quick to make recipe, the Buffalo Wings need to marinate in the seasoning sauce for 4 hours before cooking. They’re also cooked at 500° F for an hour. Preparation time is about 20 minutes. 4 hours to marinate, and 1 hour to bake makes about 5 1/2 hours from start to finish. There is no rushing this recipe if you want your Buffalo Wings to taste good. If you follow our directions in the Recipe for Buffalo Wings, you will enjoy a delicious meal of Buffalo Wings.

Here are some tips to making Buffalo Wings that aren’t in the recipe:

• Use a blender to mix the seasonings.
• If you use the Tabasco Sauce, and the 1 1/2 tsp of Cayenne Pepper, you’ll have a mild flavored wing. Use more Cayenne for more heat in the Buffalo Wings.
• Our recommendation is to start with the middle of the road and use 1 1/2 tsp of Cayeene until you know if that’s too hot for you and your family, and then adjust the seasoning to your tastes for later recipes.
• We marinated the Chicken Wings in a large gallon sized ZipLoc® bag Turning it over ever 1/2 hour or 45 minutes.
• It’s easiest to use large 1/2 pan disposable pans lined with non-stick aluminum foil. Without the non-stick foil, the Buffalo Wings will stick to the pan.
• Only place the wings in the pan. Dispose of the sauce. The wings absorb the sauce, and you’ll see there is plenty of liquid at the end of cooking.
• Bake the wings covered for the first 45 minutes then remove the aluminum foil cover for the last 15 minutes to let the wings brown.
• Serve with Blue Cheese Salad Dressing for dipping the wings, along with carrot sticks, celery sticks, and cucumber slices.

It seems to us that grilled foods have more flavor than foods that are simply baked or pan fried, so we BBQ our dinners about half of the time. For weeknight barbecues, we cook foods that grill in under an hour, these are the typical foods like steaks, chicken breasts, hamburgers, and pork chops. But when the weekend comes around, and we can start cooking our dinner earlier, we cook more interesting foods like pork roasts, and pot roasts. Earlier this summer we posted here in our blog a recipe for a delicious smoked North Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich, which starts with a pork roast barbecued and smoked. It takes some time to make, but the reward is worthy of the effort.

Another roast that we love to cook on the barbecue is the chuck roast (pot roast). Chuck roasts are a very flavorful cut of beef that must be cooked slow in order to become tender. When baked in an oven, it’s typically roasted at 325° F for 3 hours. It would be a tall order to cook a chuck roast on the barbecue for that long, so we enlist the aid of Adolph’s Meat Tenderizer in order to cut the cooking time by an hour or so. The magic of Adolph’s is Papain (from papaya fruit) that breaks down the tough parts of the roast. Many folks think Adolph’s has MSG in it, since it looks almost the same, but there is no MSG in Adolph’s tenderizer.

So here’s how we make our Grilled Pot Roast:

What You’ll Need To Make a Grilled Pot Roast

• 3 - 4 Pound Pot Roast
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup black pepper
• 3 1/2 tsp Adolph’s Meat Tenderizer
• 1/4 tsp Tabasco Sauce
• Garlic powder
• 1 onion, sliced into rings
• Potatoes (optional)
• Baby carrots (optional)

How to Prepare the Grilled Pot Roast

1. Select a nice 3 - 4 pound chuck roast. Look for a roast that has less fat in it.
2. Combine 3 1/2 tsp Adolph’s Meat Tenderizer with 1/4 tsp Tabasco Sauce, 1/3 cup ground black pepper, and 1/3 cup sugar. Mix the Adolph’s, Sugar, and Pepper together until well blended.
3. Place the chuck roast on a large plate, and coat all sides with the seasoning mix.
4. Place the roast in a plastic zippered bag, and refrigerate for an hour or so.
5. Prepare your grill for cooking. If you’re using a charcoal grill, place the coals only on one side of the grill.
6. When the grill is ready for cooking, place on your kitchen counter top 2 or 3 layers of wide, heavy duty aluminum foil that are large enough to completely wrap around the pot roast. Place the roast on top of and in the center of the aluminum foil.
7. Sprinkle the top of the roast with garlic powder, and top with a thick layer of sliced onion.
8. If you have room, you could toss some 1 1/2″ chunks of peeled potatoes and baby carrots into the foil around the edges of the roast.
9. Close up the foil tightly, and place on the grill 3 to 4 inches away from the heat.
10. Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, turning every 20 - 30 minutes so that the roast cooks evenly.
11. When you feel the roast is done, open and test the temperature with a meat thermometer. The temperature should be at least 165° F.

If you cooked this Grilled Pot Roast with the vegetables, you’ll have a complete meal all cooked on the grill. If not, serve with our Tabasco Garlic Mashed Potato Recipe, gravy and a vegetable of your choice.

We have this wonderful recipe for Buffalo Chicken Wings that came from a Buffalo Wing Joint in Buffalo, NY, and last week we thought we would try out the recipe using chicken thighs instead.

We choose chicken thighs because we feel they have more flavor that chicken breasts and thought that would make a nice meal. We also used boneless-skinless chicken thighs to reduce the amount of fat in this meal. Reducing the fat was part of our thinking to using chicken thighs instead of chicken wings for this meal.

We didn’t change the recipe for the marinade for the original Buffalo Wing Recipe and placed the chicken thighs into a large ziploc bag, and poured in the marinade. The marinade will easily season 5 pounds of chicken thighs in this manner. Place the bag of chicken thighs in the refrigerator, and let the chicken marinade in the Buffalo Wing Marinade for at least three hours, turning every 30 minutes to let the marinade season the chicken thighs evenly.

To cook the chicken thighs, remove the thighs from the ziploc bag, and place in a large baking pan that has had the bottom covered with non-stick aluminum foil (this is important, use non-stick foil). Bake in a 500° F oven for 30 - 45 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken thighs. When the thighs are done, remove from oven, and serve with carrot sticks, celery sticks, and blue cheese salad dressing.

Since it’s summer and the vegetables are rolling out of the garden quite regularly, we thought we’d share a recipe of our for Stuffed Bell Peppers. We’ve enjoyed this recipe for years, and it’s been handed down a couple time throught our family. I’m sure we’ve made adjustments to this recipe over time, and this is our current formulation of Stuffed Bell Peppers.

Stuffed Peppers Ingredients
The number of steps listed below make this look like a complex recipe but honestly stuffed peppers are a simple meal to make.

• 3 or 4 large peppers (We prefer red peppers because we feel they have a sweeter taste than green peppers but, they can be any color you choose.)
• 1 pound lean ground beef (or ground turkey works as well)
• 1 small onion chopped, finely
• 1 tsp fresh chopped garlic (We prefer to use Nina’s chopped fresh chopped garlic because it’s so easy to use and for some reason imparts a better garlic flavor into foods)
• 16 ounce can tomato sauce
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 1 cup uncooked basmati rice
• 14 ounce can low sodium beef broth
• 1/4 cup unseasoned fine bread crumbs
• 2 tbsps Parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 tbsps butter, melted

To make Stuffed Peppers

1. Place beef broth in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Add the basmati rice to boiling beef broth. We prefer basmati rice and you’re welcome to substitute your favorite rice instead of basmati.
3. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 12 - 15 minutes.
4. Cook lean ground beef (or turkey) with black pepper, chopped onion and garlic.
5. While rice and beef are cooking you can cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds. If you want to speed up the cooking time at the end you can blanch the peppers first but cooking in boiling water for about 5 minutes.
6. If necessary drain any grease from the cooked ground beef.
7. Mix the cooked basmati rice with cooked ground beef.
8. Add tomato sauce to beef and rice mixture. Only add enough to bind the beef and rice together. (Depending on what our mood is and what I have on hand in the pantry I may use tomato soup which is not as zesty as sauce or beef broth)
9. Melt butter in a microwave oven.
10. Add bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese to melted butter. This will create a crumb topping for the stuffed peppers.
11. Place cooked beef and rice mixture into peppers.
12. Top peppers with crumb mixture.
13. Cook stuffed peppers for 1/2 hour at 350 degrees (if you blanched the peppers first) or for 1 hour at 350 degrees (if peppers were not blanched first.)

Fish sauce (or Nuoc Mam Nhi) is one of those seasonings that we don’t find as a standard item in most kitchens in America. There’s probably a lot of people that would toss it out simply because of the smell. But if you’ve ever eaten at a Chinese restaurant, the odds are you’ve ate this seasoning. To most Americans the smell of fish sauce would be a turn off, but when added to foods the smell vanishes and a delicious flavor results.

So here’s is a delicious Oriental Seasoned Chicken Wings recipe that gets it’s taste from two Asian sauces, fish sauce and oyster sauce. If you have neither of these in your kitchen cabinet then go out shopping for them at an Asian market, start with the lower priced ones first. Believe it or not, the lower cost fish sauces smell less.

Ingredients in Oriental Seasoned Chicken Wings

• 1 1/2 pounds fresh chicken wings
• 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
• 1/2 tsp onion flakes
• 1 tbsp sesame oil

To make Oriental Seasoned Chicken Wings

1. In a Pyrex cup, mix the soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, ginger, garlic, onion flakes, and sesame oil together. Blend well. Set aside to allow flavors to blend together.
2. Disjoint or cut the chicken wings into little drumsticks and wing sections.
3. Wash the chicken pieces, then place in a large ziploc storage bag.
4. Pour the soy sauce / fish sauce marinade into the ziploc bag, seal, then flip over a few times to distribute the marinade over the wings.
5. Place the wings laying flat in refrigerator and let marinate for 2 hours. Turn over every 20 - 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 450° F.
7. Place the marinated chicken wings on a baking pan that has been covered with non-stick aluminum foil. Try not to let the chicken wings touch together.
8. Bake for 25 minutes on a side.

These Oriental Seasoned Chicken Wings could also be served as an appetizer.

If you’re looking for a simple recipe, that cooks fast, and is tasty, consider this recipe for Italian Mustard Pork Chops. It’s so easy to make, and they’re something to enjoy. Honestly, before someone told us to try this recipe, we had never considered seasoning pork chops with mustard or Italian seasoning. But the flavor of these is simply delicious. We grilled our pork chops, but these could either be pan fried or broiled instead.

Italian Seasoned Pork Chops Recipe
4 centercut boneless pork chops
Prepared mustard
Italian Seasoning

Spread some mustard over the top of each pork chop. Sprinkle tops of each pork chop with a little Italian seasoning blend. Grill, fry, or broil until thoroughly cooked. Serve with mashed potatoes or potato salad, and a garden salad.

If we were to survey a hundred people and ask them to name a gourmet food, the chances that a hamburger would end up on that list are between zero and nil. So what’s the deal with the name of this article? Durkee Seasonings has a new seasoning blend named Gourmet Burger Seasoning and it’s quickly become our favorite way to season our grilled hamburgers. And even though salt is the first ingredient in the ingredients list, there really isn’t too much salt in the mix. I’d know because I haven’t used salt in cooking in years.

There’s two ways to use Durkee Burger Seasoning, mix the seasoning in with the hamburger meat, and then form the burgers, or to simply sprinkle on the hamburgers before cooking (or right before serving, which makes 3 ways, I think). My preference is to mix the seasoning into the meat before cooking. If you’re using pre-made frozen burgers your choice is limited to sprinkling the burger seasoning on the hamburgers. Either way results in a delicious tasting burger, and I feel the blended in method results in a more deeply seasoned hamburger.

When mixing the seasoning into the hamburger use about 2 tsp of seasoning per pound of lean ground beef. Add 1/4 tsp of Tabasco Sauce if desired. For food safety reasons, always cook hamburgers to 170° F (medium well). We like to serve our grilled hamburgers on toasted Kaiser rolls, along with Cheddar cheese, sliced pickles, and condiments like ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise. Side dishes that go well with this meal are macaroni salad, cole slaw, potato salad, or a tomato-cucumber salad. If you’re having a weekend barbecue party, you might want to make all of the salads so your gets can choose their favorite.

Tags: recipe, crab cake, Old Bay Seasoning

We have a few crab cake recipes on our web site. On our Old Bay Crab Cake Classic page are links to many of our favorite crab cake recipes.

Our absolute favorite is the crab cake made with Old Bay Crab Cake Classic. We enjoy this crab cake for two reasons. First and foremost because it absolutely tastes great. Second, because it’s easy to make. Mix the seasoning with crab meat, and a little mayonnaise, then cook. It’s that easy.

But sometimes we’re looking for a change of pace and so last night we made Delmarva Crab Cakes which you can find a link to on the Old Bay Crab Cake Classic page. This recipe is a little different then most crab cake recipes because it uses bell pepper in the ingredients. We chose to use red bell peppers since that’s what we had on hand. Note that the Delmarva Crab Cake recipe calls for using 2 pounds of crab meat, so if you are like us and only use one container of crab meat, you’ll need to cut quantities in half.

Our Delmarva Crab Cake recipe made a delicious set of crab cakes. We found we needed to broil them a little longer then the recipe called for. Maybe 12 minutes to the first side and 4 minutes to the second.

We have one other crab cake recipe worth sharing and it’s the Old Bay Crab Cake Recipe that is essentially the the same tasting crab cake as you’ll get from making the crab cakes with Old Bay Crab Cake Classic, except you do the labor and break up the bread pieces. It’s an excellent crab cake, no doubt about it.

Summer weekends seem destined for barbecuing outdoors. By cooking outdoors, we don’t add any additional heat to our homes, and the barbecued foods we make take on additional flavor from the grill cooking. Plus it’s a great opportunity to use our deck, and enjoy the company of our family and friends.

The most frequently outdoor grilled foods are steaks, hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken pieces. We often venture beyond the usual and regular readers of our blog know we’re not afraid to cook beef roasts, pork roasts, whole chicken, and ribs. But, today we’re making a recipe that’s straight forward, Canadian Seasoned Rib-eye steaks. If you’re a new barbecuer, this is a great starting recipe and is about the easiest barbecue recipe around. At one time we’d eat one of these ourselves, but nowadays, we split the steak with another person.

We don’t have a gas grill and always cook on our Weber kettle grill. We prefer the charcoal cooking over gas grills and also love the more basic cooking method of charcoal. It’s hard to explain, but I think there’s a feeling of pride in being able to cook well outdoors with basic unregulated cooking appliances like the Weber. There is a raw naturalness to it, that doesn’t exist in our everyday modern lives.

So light the barbecue, you’re welcome to use your gas grill. When the grill is ready, sprinkle the Ribeye Steaks with Canadian Steak Seasoning, and grill them close to but not right over the coals for about 5-8 minutes for the first side, and 4 minutes on the other side. Cut the steak to check for doneness, and continue cooking if needed. Sprinkle a little more Canadian Steak Seasoning just before serving. There’s no need for barbecue sauces with this recipe. Simply cook, season, and serve.