This time of year we like to make crab cakes. It's like religion around here. The crabs around the Chesapeake Bay are getting meaty now and so August and September are the best months for local crab meat. Here's how we make our crab cakes.

1. Remove the crust from 2 slices of bread and break into small pieces.
2. Combine with 1 pound of fresh (cooked) crab meat that has been picked over and had any remaining shell or cartilage removed (i.e the commercial crab pickers pick fast).
3. Combine in a bowl 1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1 tbsp dehydrated chopped parsley, 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce, 1 tbsp mayonnaise.
4. Gently fold the seasoning mix into the crab meat. Form into 5 or 6 patties. Some of the local restaurants might make 8 crab cakes out of a pound and serve two to a meal.

To cook, either fry in a non-stick skillet in 2 tbsp canola oil or cook as I do in the broiler for 5 minutes to the side. The crab meat is already cooked so were trying to get the crab cake to setup and turn a golden brown.

Serve with tarter sauce on a hamburger roll or not. Typically served with freshly steamed corn on the cob.

Ironically, considering that it's a Baltimore company, the "official" crabcake recipe, as published by the Maryland Office of Seafood Marketing, contains no Old Bay seasoning. Go figure!

Folks who are new to crabcakes should know that it works better if you chill the formed cakes before frying.

A really great way to serve them is to top a fried green tomato slice with a crabcake, then lather on remoulade sauce. A little bit of heaven on a plate.

Well, there are other spices for crab meat made in Baltimore including JO Spice and Baltimore Spice so the state is probably being careful not to promote any one company. I have a friend that works at McCormick (McCormick now makes Old Bay Seasoning) who prefers JO Spices no-salt crab seasoning. And Old Bay came out with a lower salt version last spring.

Personally, I like Old Bay (can you guess!) and don't think it's salty. I've bought crab seasoning in bags at the local wharf that were just loaded with salt. Now those work fine with steaming crabs but you can't then convert their use to other recipes because they are 1/3 to 1/2 salt.

Lots of places around here have Old Bay out on the table to serve with whatever you want including the Subway Sandwich shops so it's quite a widely used seasoning 'round here and is my personal preference with crabs and crabcakes. On the boardwalk in Ocean City, it's the secret to the Boardwalk Fries.

I'm with you on that. I love Old Bay, and use it on losts of things.

Celery salt is listed as the first ingredient on the Old Bay can. And it's the only salt ingredient. So I don't understand when people say it's too salty. As you point out, most seafood seasonings are considerably more heavy on the salt.

Ah, well. Let them skip the Old Bay, my friend. More for you and me.

Everything in moderation ... Old Bay is said to have started in the bars of Baltimore and used as a way to get the early industrial era guys to eat more crabs (which were supposedly offered for free) and drink more beer. The amount of sodium in any recipe using Old Bay depends on how much seasoning you add. A 1/4 or 1/2 tsp of Old Bay is pretty low on salt.