(upbeat music) - Hi there, I'm John Shields.

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to visit many wonderful regions around the Chesapeake Bay and to prepare some delicious recipes using ingredients from those areas.

I'd like to share a few of the highlights and some of my favorite recipes from the series "Chesapeake Bay Cooking".

Enjoy.

(upbeat music) The Chesapeake Bay region provides many leisurely activities for those needing a break from their busy workday lives.

The people who call this area home, many living alongside the water or in historic towns, take full advantage of the Bay's offerings on a regular basis, but more and more folks from other parts of the country and world are making the trip to this beautiful area, discovering firsthand its relaxing and fascinating character.

The small waterside towns providing delightful shops and sophisticated restaurants are the main attractions for visitors.

Most of these villages were at one time sleepy working towns filled with watermen and their families.

Today, these same charming communities are retaining their peaceful character while welcoming those in need of a weekend getaway or week's vacation.

Consequently, a variety of bed and breakfast and inns located around the Chesapeake Bay's 4600 miles of shoreline await the weary traveler.

(upbeat music) After a good night's sleep and a day full of activities beckoning, one needs a hearty meal to get started.

Fortunately, the Chesapeake Bay region is known for serving sumptuous breakfasts containing foods native and well-known to the area.

This breakfast dish is no exception.

Thick slices of country ham are paired with fried green tomatoes and both are topped with a creamy gravy.

Now what we're gonna do first is we're gonna get our tomatoes ready.

Now what we have here is we have a green tomato.

Some people say, "Well, why would you want to use a green tomato "when you have all those ripe red ones out there?"

The thing is, is if you cook up a tomato, you slice it, you cook it up, as soon as it hits the frying pan, it just totally disappears and it turns into a sauce, but a green tomato has a whole lot of texture and it stays real firm.

And it's wonderful for frying.

And around Chesapeake, they even use it in mincemeat.

So what we'll do, first, we're just gonna core it.

This is just like a regular tomato, except it has a little different color.

Turn it right around there.

Put that in our compost bin.

And then we're gonna take off the top.

I never put the tops in there.

I just use big old slices.

And we're gonna cut this about a half an inch thick.

You want something you can sink your teeth into.

There's two.

Great.

So nice slices there.

And we're gonna put these in some milk.

Let these bathe for awhile, take a little swim here in some milk.

That's so that the coating when we do them a little later will stick to them well.

Okay, next.

We're gonna have our country ham, and this is a Chesapeake best.

It's a nice smoked ham.

It's been sugar cured.

It's wonderful.

And again, you might notice I've cut this into a big old thick slice.

It's about a half an inch.

Okay.

Were gonna cook this up here.

I think our butter's all ready.

It's just sizzling nicely.

So we'll just take a couple of pieces here.

(butter sizzles) Put them right in that skillet.

You have to remember whenever you get a smoked ham, sugar cured or whatever, it's already cooked.

So basically, what we're doing is heating this through.

So it wouldn't take really long, just a couple of minutes on either side.

Okay.

It's looking good here.

So we're gonna flip the ham over.

(butter sizzles) Now often when you're gonna cook ham or heat it up in a skillet, you don't even need to put any butter in there, but what I'm doing is as the ham is cooking, I'm flavoring that butter to get it ready for the green tomatoes.

It'll make it taste real good.

(butter sizzles) Look at them.

The ham's all cooked.

We're gonna just sit this to the side while we get our tomatoes ready.

Okay, what I've done is I've made a little flour here for the coating and it has a little bit of salt and a little bit of pepper in there.

Not too complicated.

Now we're gonna get the tomato out.

Just take it and wave it around the bowl a little bit, get that excess milk off.

Put a couple of those in here.

And we're gonna coat these up real nice.

Get them well coated, both sides.

Okay, now we're gonna take this over.

And again, like I said, we're using the same pan.

We didn't do anything.

Just put it back on the stove, get a little bit hot here.

And we're just gonna put these tomatoes right in there, get them cooking.

Just knock off a little excess flour there.

(butter sizzles) There we go.

Just let these sizzle.

Now also what I do, just have a little bit of sugar with you and we're gonna put just a pinch on here, drizzle it all over these tomatoes.

And then do you know what's gonna happen?

When you flip them over, it kind of caramelizes and makes a real sweet crusty topping on the tomato.

It's absolutely wonderful.

Now, look at these, all nice and brown on the top, nice, a little crispy.

You know, these bring back a whole lot of memories, growing up having a big plate of these in the morning.

They kind of melt in your mouth.

Okay, they're all ready to go.

Next, we're gonna make our cream gravy to top these right off.

Now we've got our same pan.

We have the same pan right here on the stove.

I'm gonna turn it up to about a medium heat.

Then we're gonna add a little butter.

It's about four tablespoons.

(butter sizzles) Melt that.

Now you know I made this once out in California for a friend and they said, "You're not gonna clean that pan."

And I said, "Absolutely not.

"That's where all the flavor is."

It's kind of like when you put the flour in there and the milk, you're gonna pick up all that flavor.

It's sort of like a gumbo in the roux.

All right, this is melting nicely, foaming up.

Now we have about the same amount of flour as you have butter.

It's about four tablespoons.

We're just gonna sprinkle that in there.

And you want to whisk it around good.

You don't want any lumps.

And you keep this moving, keep working it around.

You don't want it to burn, but it's okay that it's brown.

That's where the flavor is gonna come in.

It's a real nice nutty kind of flavor.

(whisk scrapping) And as always, when you're gonna make a gravy or anything that you're using flour and oil or flour and butter, cook it for a couple minutes, two, three minutes.

That way it cooks out that flour taste and you won't have any of that in your sauce.

Okay.

This flour's looking just about done.

It looks good.

And this is how we make it a cream gravy.

Get the cow out here.

And we have about two cups.

You can use whole milk, you can you use half and half, whatever you like.

Now you notice I'm just pouring a little in at a time.

This way we're gonna make sure that we're not gonna get a real lumpy, lumpy gravy (gravy sizzles) And the country gravies are a little different than that you would maybe just put on chicken.

For breakfast, whenever we make a gravy, make it nice and thick.

You know, they talk about things sticking to your ribs in the morning.

Well, this will do just that.

(whisk scrapping) Okay.

Now we're gonna turn that down just so we can let it simmer, get all these flavors in here to get to know each other.

And while they're getting to know each other, let's add a few more.

I'm gonna put in some salt here.

Now be real careful when you add your salt.

Remember, we cooked ham in this pan.

That's already very salty.

So just put a little bit, a little pinch in now.

If you want, test it later, and if you need more, put it in later.

Then we have some fresh cracked black pepper here.

And we'll stir this all up.

(whisk scrapping) And we're just gonna let this simmer for about four or five minutes, so it starts to taste real good.

And then we'll put it on top.

(whisk scrapping) And we'll put something on our tomatoes.

Okay.

And then we're gonna take the rest of our gravy and put it in a little side bowl to serve for your guests, so they can put on as much as they like.

And what I also like to do is I always make up a nice batch of country biscuits to serve with this, that way you can sop up all that gravy, and it is an absolutely delicious, delicious breakfast.

(upbeat music) The blue crab is the beloved symbol of the Chesapeake Bay.

It's likeness is seen everywhere and on everything around the region.

(upbeat music) The popularity of the blue crab is due to the delicious taste of its succulent meat.

The places that specialize in steaming and serving crabs in large amounts are called crab houses.

And the Chesapeake Bay has some of the finest.

One of the best crab houses anywhere is Gunnings Crab House.

Located in the Brooklyn neighborhood of South Baltimore, Gunnings is a crab lover's dream come true, serving up piles of steamed crabs at a moment's notice.

Blue crabs cannot be eaten until they have been steamed, so that the meat is fully cooked.

But before the steaming takes place, Gunnings needs to prepare the crabs as owner Leo Devine demonstrates.

Leo sorts the crabs according to size.

- [Leo] It's a nice size, good, heavy crab.

The heaviest crabs have the black on the bottom of them.

- [John] As he does, he puts the crabs into ice water, which has a paralyzing effect on the crabs, allowing the handler to better place these lively creatures into a pot.

- [Leo] They're going down into that ice little knowing what fate's gonna happen shortly.

- [John] After a short while, Leo arranges the crabs for the steaming process while covering them with Chesapeake seasoning.

Gunnings has a specially designed machine that blasts live steam into the bottom of a pot, quickly cooking the crabs in about 15 to 20 minutes.

They are able to steam multiple pots at one time, enabling them to efficiently serve their many hungry customers.

Perhaps the greatest pleasure crab house patrons enjoy is knowing there's no mess for them to clean up afterwards.

Waitresses are there to serve them the hot crabs, the fresh corn, and the many other side dishes that are found at crab houses.

All these satisfied Gunnings customers have to do is pick and eat.

(upbeat music) (crowd murmuring) That's a good recommendation.

- Oh, I want to try it (laughs).

- Uh-huh.

As Gunnings is in the Chesapeake Bay region, the people who come here generally know how to pick their crab meat, many refining it to an art form.

(upbeat music) But that doesn't mean out of town visitors should be afraid to participate.

Every crab house has servers who will be glad to show you how it's done, and Gunnings is no exception.

We have a big old pile of steamed crabs here, and they're looking very good.

This is heavy.

You're always looking for a heavy crab when you're gonna go do a little bit of crab picking.

And actually, these crabs are the same crabs that go into crab meat.

That's where you get your crab meat from.

Now we have different grades.

When you go out to buy it like to make a crab cake or a casserole, you're gonna look for different grades.

This goes from highest price to the lowest.

Now we're gonna start with the jumbo lump.

That is the piece of resistance of crab in the Chesapeake, big old lumps.

Then we have backfin, which actually comes from the backfin of the crab.

They have very nice lumps as well.

Then you have a special.

It's a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

You can take it from the chambers and put it all together.

Again, nicely for a casserole.

And then you have the claw meat.

Claw meat's great.

Very sweet meat.

It tastes good, and it's less expensive.

This isn't bad.

So today to do our crab picking, I have with me the veteran crab waitresses from Gunnings Crab House.

They know how to pick a crab better than anybody and they're gonna show us how to do it today.

Okay, first, we have Linda here who has been doing crabs for quite some time.

Is that not right?

- Yes, that's true.

- [John] And Cheryl, you've been picking crabs for a while yourself?

- Yes, I have.

- Oh, I can tell, and I can tell you're good.

I've been looking at you.

I know you're good.

I want to see how the pros do it.

Okay.

- Okay.

- I know you both have different methods.

You do it a little bit differently.

- Yes.

- And so I want to see both ways because I've seen it done before like that night.

- Okay.

Well, I'll go first.

My way, I turn the crab upside down and lift up the apron, my knife.

- [John] So that's the apron there you're pulling off.

- Uh-huh.

- [Linda] And I pull the shell apart.

I pry it open.

- Nice one motion, I like that.

- Only when I do that, the insides come out the top shell.

If not, I dig the center out.

- [John] Okay, that's the center.

That's kind of what they sometimes call the guts.

- [Linda] Yes, the guts.

- That's a nice job.

- And then we call this.

- [Linda] I've always was told, it's just called the devils, which is the-- - [John] Dead man fingers and gills, lungs.

That hurt.

- And of course, - [Linda] I always cut his face off.

I don't want him starring at me.

(Linda laughs) - Okay.

- Okay.

Yeah, that's out of the way.

I just throw that to the side.

And what I do is I just break it right in half.

And then I do one half at a time and I break it off by the legs, and that way I get all the lump meat out of it.

- [John] Oh, that's beautiful.

- [Linda] Doesn't that look good?

- [John] It does.

- Yeah.

Would you like a bite?

- Oh, thank you.

I think I might just do that.

(Linda laughs) Twist my arm.

Good.

- Isn't it good?

- That is good.

- That's my favorite part right there.

And then I just break it off by the other little legs, and there's meat inside the smaller legs.

Crack them in half.

And you can suck the meat right out the legs.

- [John] My aunt (mumbles) she used to just suck that meat right out of there.

- There's meat in the top part of the leg.

And then I pull the claw off.

There's meat hanging out of there and use your mallet.

(mallet bangs) - [John] So that's what the mallet.

- [Linda] Crack the shell.

- That's what those mallet are for.

- Oh yeah.

Then you get to meet right out there.

You just bite it right off.

- Oh, you can pull that right off too.

- If there's some left in there, just dig it out.

And then I do there like that, and you just take it right on out.

- [John] So you just pull that out with a knife there, huh.

- There you go.

There's all your meat.

And when I basically do it, I just separate it, the body and the leg together, and I get my meat out of it.

- So as you pull each leg off, you have a whole nother hunk of meat hanging right there.

- Oh yeah.

See.

- [John] That's a great way.

You're gonna have one?

- Of course (laughs).

- [John] Have a little bit, come on.

- Okay.

Don't mind if I do.

- This might be best mentality, but.

(Cheryl laughs) - Really good.

- Good.

Great.

I think that looks like an easy way to do it as well.

- Real good.

- And then look down there, we have Cheryl just sitting there waiting to start picking.

Let me make sure I excel at my (mumbles).

Let's see.

Ah, you're gonna like picking this one, a good heavy one.

- Okay.

What I do, I pull off the apron first, but I use my hands.

- [John] Okay, good.

- [Cheryl] Okay.

Then I turn it over and pop off the shell.

- It pops right off, huh?

- Uh-huh.

And I put all my mess into my shell.

- [John] Yeah, she's got a method going there.

(all laughing) - And I just put the, just everything falls into the shell.

Okay, and then.

- [Linda] She's a neat crabby.

- Yes, I'm sorry.

- She's very neat.

- I don't like all the mess in front of me.

- [John] That's okay, I like that.

- Okay, so now that's all cleaned out.

Okay, then break it in half.

Then I take my claw off first.

Then I take my knife, and then I go, cut mine down in the middle.

- [John] Oh, so you go straight on through.

- So you could see all the crab.

- Oh yeah.

- The crab meat.

- See, and then.

- [John] Whoa!

Look at that.

- Then I have.

- [Cheryl] See.

- [Linda] Hold me back.

- Here you go.

You want it (laughs).

- Thank you.

(all laughing) - Then I just pull off the, see I get all the meat right out of it.

- [John] Oh, and it just pulls right out.

- And then whatever's left, just put your hand right in the middle and then leave on the side.

- So those little swimming legs really come in handy then in crap picking, don't they?

- Uh-huh.

- Uh-huh.

- And see, I have all mine.

Nice, little.

- And you're ready to go.

- And then I do, I don't use a mallet.

I use my knife, but I need a metal life.

(all laughing) I'm sorry.

And then.

- There she goes.

- And then it all comes out.

- Oh, look at that.

- See.

I don't have meat in mine.

There you go.

- All right, I'll do that.

I'll have that one.

(upbeat music) - [Cheryl] Really good.

- Oh look, and you can do that little game.

- [Cheryl] Yeah, you can play with it too.

- I taste a little crab named-- - [Linda] Joe.

- So Jaws.

(all laughing) (gentle acoustic music) (upbeat music) The Chesapeake Bay is a beautiful reminder of what gifts nature has to offer us.

Whether used for recreation or as a source of food, the bay is a vital element in many folks' lives.

The Karen Noonan Center is an educational resource where children can learn to appreciate and protect our precious environment through hands-on lessons.

This amazing facility is located on water's edge of the Chesapeake Bay's eastern shore here in Bishop Head, Maryland.

It's a beautiful remote location, surrounded by wildlife refuge.

The nearest city is an hour's drive away.

(upbeat music) The Chesapeake Bay Foundation operates the Noonan Center.

The foundation is committed to saving the Chesapeake Bay through education, hoping to guarantee that the Bay's waters will continue to thrive for future generations.

(upbeat music) And I find you can't go wrong with a platter full of crispy, Maryland pan fried chicken.

This fried chicken is prepared in an unconventional manner, making it more tasty than the usual.

(upbeat music) Now whether you're on the Eastern shore or the Western shore, you can't miss with a panful of Maryland fried chicken.

Now I'm gonna show you how to do it.

It's a secret recipe, but a lot of it's in the marinade.

What I do is I take four cups of buttermilk, and then I take one teaspoon of salt.

Put that right in there.

I have two teaspoons of Chesapeake Bay seasonings.

They're the semi-secret seasonings in the Chesapeake.

They have some celery salt, salt, cloves, thyme, whole bunch of things all put together.

Then I have a teaspoon of ground black pepper, and I squeezed a fresh lemon.

And we have about the juice here of one and a half lemons.

So put that in there too.

And of course, you have to have a little bit of garlic in all these recipes.

So I have some fresh garlic here and just going to press down on there, take this off, get a little of the skin off of there.

Gonna put that in there.

And we're gonna take, just cut it in half and put it right into the marinade.

Now I'll stir that up real good.

Then the buttermilk in the marinade tenderizes the chicken actually, as well as the lemon juice.

The acid in it goes right in there and makes a really, really, really tender chicken.

Okay, we have that mixed.

Now I have taken one frying chicken, cut it up into pieces and washed it well, patted it dry.

Now we're gonna put it right in the marinade here.

Get that all coated well.

Okay.

Get that all covered there.

And now what we need to do is we need to let it rest.

It's gonna have to sit maybe four to six hours, but really if you have the time, I like to do it the night before.

And it really picks up all the flavors from this marinade.

So let's set this aside and let it rest for a while.

Okay, I think our chicken is well marinated now.

It's been sitting there for quite some time, but we can't put that right into the frying pan.

Next thing we have to do is make the coating.

Now what we have is about two cups of flour.

It's just all purpose flour.

We're gonna put into it about one tablespoon of salt.

Now this might seem like we're putting a lot of seasoning in this, but trust me, it's going to make a great coating, and it's gonna be really, really good.

We have a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.

We have two teaspoons of the famous Chesapeake seasonings.

It gives it that certain smell.

Then we have a teaspoon of rubbed sage.

You could use some fresh sage, but I find that when you use the rubbed sage, it really comes out very, very well in the coating.

Now I liked this chicken hot.

I like it to be jumping out of the frying pan.

So I'm gonna put in about a teaspoon of cayenne pepper, but let me tell you something.

If you want to make it a little hotter, when you make your marinade, put in some Tabasco.

It'll really get it going.

And then lastly, we have one teaspoon of whole thyme.

Put that right in there and we're gonna mix this all together very well.

Okay.

There we go.

Now, next trick here is to coat the chicken.

Take the wrap off of it.

And I keep a little paper towel with me by my side, so that as I take the pieces of chicken out, I can just wipe them off a little bit.

Now let it drip down, get some of this marinade off.

And then just lightly, very lightly, take some of that off and place the chicken into the coating.

All right, now this chicken is happy.

Look at this chicken the way it is nice and coated.

All right.

And I'll just put this on a tray until we're ready to fry.

Now I told you this was a secret recipe, but actually it's a three secret recipe.

First secret was the marinade, second is the coating, and the third is how you fry these chickens.

All right, first, we want to make this sure this is a hot oil.

We want a real hot oil, about 400 degrees.

That's scientific, but if you don't have a thermometer, take a little bit of water, drip it in there.

That's it, 400.

Exactly.

Now, as I said, we're gonna put in our larger pieces of chicken first 'cause they take a little bit longer to cook.

So I put a breast in there.

Be careful when you do it, you don't want to burn yourself.

(oil sizzles) Here's another breast.

(oil sizzles) One of the tricks here is that you want to get the chicken very, very crispy on the outside, on both sides, in the first part of the cooking process.

So that's what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna let it sit here and fry until it gets very well brown on one side, and then we'll flip it.

What you're doing when you make it real brown on the outside, you're gonna seal the juices in as it cooks.

And again, you know, it's that hot oil that's the secret.

Most people when they're frying chicken, they just get it nice and hot and flop it back and forth and back and forth.

But this is the secret again, when you put the lid on this and reduce the heat, all that steam's gonna come up while the chicken's cooking and it will be so tender and moist you won't believe it.

It's great.

So now we're gonna continue cooking this for about 20 more minutes, turning it now and then, and then we're gonna have some good fried chicken.

Okay.

I think our chicken is just about done now.

Oh, it's looking good.

And what I do is I get a platter and I put some paper towels on it, so that when we're taking the chicken out, any excess grease or oil will drain right on off to that paper towel.

All right, there we go.

We have a platter of Maryland pan fried chicken.

Now it's great.

You can serve it right now hot.

It's wonderful.

Or if you want, put it in the refrigerator and serve it the next day for a picnic.

It's great either way.

(upbeat music) Folks often forget that the Chesapeake Bay is filled with oyster beds as that other crabby resident frequently steals the show.

But about a hundred years ago, the Bay was world famous as a home to oysters.

And during the peak winter seasons, some town docks would see 30 boxcars of oysters pulled from the bay in a single day.

Back then, the oyster was in fashionable demand and the local watermen made fortunes from their bountiful oyster harvest.

Today, the oyster population is not as plentiful, but it is still thriving as people worldwide continue to enjoy the succulent, not overly salty flavor of oysters from the brackish waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

Government and private nonprofit organizations are making concerted efforts to ensure the health and prosperity of the Bay's oysters.

These activities include replenishing existing oyster beds with oyster spats, which are very young oysters in the larva form to studying and raising oysters on aquafarms.

The waterman of the Chesapeake Bay still exist as well and can often be seen during the cold winter months out on the water harvesting the oyster beds.

Modern day inventions have somewhat eased the arduous task.

Typically, a claw-like contraption is lowered to the floor of the bay where the oyster beds are located, so it can scoop up a large pile of oysters.

The oysters are hoisted on board where the watermen quickly sort through them to ensure legal size.

The process is continuously repeated in a hurried fashion resulting in a long grueling workday.

One town in the Chesapeake Bay region that continues to profit from the oyster industry is Chincoteague island, Virginia.

Chincoteague's oyster beds are world famous producing a saltier, briny oyster than most Chesapeake varieties due to its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean.

Oysters eaten raw on the half shell are delicious, but my barbecued oysters have even more flavor.

And the best part is you don't have to try to grill a delicate oyster.

Topped with barbecue sauce and bacon, these shucked oysters are simply heated in an oven.

If you're looking for a quick, absolutely delicious recipe for a party or for an appetizer, these barbecued oysters are just the ticket.

Now what I'm doing here is I'm just finishing up shucking the oyster, and just, and I have these gloves on, not 'cause they look good, but so my hand doesn't get stabbed when I'm shucking.

Let's take the shell off here.

Okay.

And we just loosen the oyster from the bottom, so that when you go to eat, it'll just slide right out.

And these are real nice, big shell oysters, and they're great for these barbecued oysters.

Now what you need next is you need a barbecue sauce.

This is nothing that goes on the grill.

We're gonna barbecue these right in the oven.

Now you can get a store bought barbecue sauce if you like or make up your own secret recipe.

This is my aunt Lorraine's recipe, and uncle Teddy says, "It'll put hair on your chest."

It's very good.

So we're just gonna take a little of that.

Put a dollop on top of each oyster.

Okay, we have the barbecue sauce all on the oysters there.

Now you'll notice I have these oysters on a bed of rock salt.

That's so that when they bake, they'll bake at a nice even temperature.

Next thing we have is some hickory smoked bacon.

We're gonna put just a little piece on top of each oyster.

Okay.

There we go.

We have all those topped.

And now we're gonna just pop them into a very hot oven, about 450 degrees.

Let them cook for about six to eight minutes, just until the bacon starts to brown slightly and the edges of the oysters curl.

Okay.

Oysters are done and they are looking good.

You know, these are some of the best barbecue oysters you probably will ever taste, but there's one problem with them.

You're gonna have to have a good wrist for shucking oysters because your guests are gonna eat these like popcorn.

They are that good.

(upbeat music) Kent County is located on Maryland's Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

Home to many waterside communities, this area also boasts dairy farms and some of the most fertile farmland in the country producing a great variety of fresh vegetables and fruits during the year.

The Chester River borders the southern edge of Kent County beginning in the town of Millington and passing through Chestertown as it makes its way to the Chesapeake Bay.

The local residents tend to meander like the river, living a slower paced life.

Today, I'm traveling to Millington, but on the way, I decided to drop by Chestertown and shop at its famous farmer's market that is held weekly in the town square.

Here, crowds gathered to look around, buy and mingle.

The farmer's market is where everyone in Chestertown shops, including the county commissioner, Clarence Hawkins, a big fan of the local food scene.

- We have the best cooks in the world here, you know.

Some of us, as we walk around, you can see evidence of that (laughs).

But here the church dinners,.

- [John] Yeah.

- They call them church suppers here.

And the smorgasbords that the volunteer fire companies have, tremendous rival food anywhere.

* Well, there's the narrows in Queenstown * * In old Langford Bay - Another area resident who frequents the market with banjo in hand is Tom McHugh.

Tom is a local singer and songwriter who has a real passion for the region.

* I want to sail the Chester River * * And lay back in the windy sun * * With my feet in the water * And no place to go * But Lordy that's what I call fun * Chestertown is not a rural village, but a small historic colonial town.

It is also a tourist destination for the urban dweller who wants to escape to a sophisticated and charming community that affords many fine restaurants, inns and shops.

I happen to be visiting during Chestertown's annual candlelight walking tour when residents open their private historic homes to the public.

(marching band music) The event officially begins with a special performance by the Kent County Marching Band, a volunteer community band comprised of all ages and creatures.

I'd like to see that.

My guide, Joanne Fairchild and I, tour the centuries old homes, enjoying a peaceful and pleasant evening that is made complete by the sounds of the street entertainment.

(instrumental music) It has been a long day, but before I retire for the night, I need to create a dessert for my friends who live up the Chester River in Millington for their fire hall dinner.

I've decided upon a mud cake, a rich and dense chocolate cake flavored with unusual ingredients.

And to make the mud cake, I brewed up some strong coffee here, about one and three quarter cups.

And I have some very good Maryland rye whiskey, and we'll bring it right on up to about two cups or maybe a little bit over two cups.

Put that right in there.

And I'm gonna take the hot coffee and put it into a pan.

And I have five ounces of unsweetened chocolate.

You don't want to use the sweetened.

It's very important to use the unsweetened chocolate.

And we'll put a little bit in at a time and just gently whisk it until the chocolate begins to melt.

You don't want the fire to be too hot right now because the chocolate will burn.

So a nice low heat works best for this.

And if you're not real sure of yourself with chocolate, put it over a double boiler just to be sure.

Okay, let's get some more of this chocolate in here.

If your coffee's very, very good and hot, this will take absolutely no time at all.

This is kind of how you get the mud color.

You need the chocolate for the color.

When the chocolate is just about melted, what we're gonna do is I have a half a pound of butter and we're going to, I've cut it into bits, just small pieces, and I'm gonna start putting them in a little at a time.

If you put all the butter in at one time, what happens is this sauce, actually, it's a sauce now, it will break.

It'll have a kind of a grainy texture.

Okay, we have all the butter now incorporated right into the chocolate.

And as soon as it's all melted, we're gonna take it, remove it from the heat while we add the sugar, I have two cups of sugar we're gonna stir in.

And you just put a steady stream of sugar in, so it doesn't clump up and just kind of whisk it vigorously.

Okay.

If you notice, we don't skimp here.

We use a lot of chocolate, a lot of sugar and a lot of butter, touch your whiskey.

Okay.

We stir that around.

We have our chocolate liquid, and I'm gonna just transfer that into this mixing bowl here.

Get rid of our pan.

Give that a little stir.

Okay.

Next project is our dry ingredients.

I'm gonna put a pinch of salt.

My grandmother always said, "You have to put a pinch of salt in every cake."

I'm was never sure exactly why, but she said, "It doesn't taste quite right without that."

This again is a little unusual on this cake.

This is a one and a half teaspoons of baking soda, not powder.

It gives it a really nice dense consistency.

So you want to get the salt and soda and flour all mixed together nicely.

Okay, we have that done.

Now we're going to move over here to next step, get our eggs beaten up.

It takes two eggs for this, and we're gonna beat them up 'til we get them nice and light.

You want to beat them well And then we're gonna add two teaspoons of vanilla extract.

Get that mixed up together, so they all get to know each other.

All right.

Now we're ready to put the cake together.

We have our liquid, we have our dry, and we have the eggs.

So again, this is a strange cake.

We're not gonna put the wet into the dry.

We're putting the dry into the wet.

All right, now we just stir a little bit in at a time.

Don't get nervous.

If you start to get a little bit of lumps here and there, it's just part of this cake.

They'll go away a little bit later.

But you always want to make sure whenever you're making a cake, you want to get the lumps out, but you don't want to over beat the cake batter because you'll have a tough cake and people's cakes usually are judged on how tender they are.

This looks good.

Now I'm gonna add my beaten eggs to finish this off.

Get all those in there.

And we're gonna give it a good beaten just before we put in any oven.

My aunt used to make it.

She always said, "You had to give it "at least 30 good beats before you put it in."

Okay.

We have this all mixed together very well here.

And we're gonna get a baking pan.

I use a nine inch round by three inch high.

I like a nice high cake for this.

It makes a great presentation.

There a little hard to find.

If you don't have one, don't worry.

Use two nine inch round standard size or a Bundt cake works great too.

I've also, again, it's a mud cake.

You know, mud is a little sticky.

So just to ensure that this cake is gonna come out of the pan, I've cut out a round of wax paper and we'll just loosely put it into the bottom of the pan.

Okay.

You might notice this looks a little loose here, this cake batter.

Well, it's supposed to be.

You want a nice liquidy batter because we're gonna cook it for a long time.

This is a slow bake cake.

That's the only way you can get this mud consistency.

Get that all in there.

Give it a couple shakes, get those air bubbles out.

And we're gonna pop it into the oven.

Now this is a oven that has been preheated to 275, and that's what I mean, a slow oven.

We're gonna put it in there, let it sit, enjoy itself for an hour and a half, and we're gonna have some cake then.

Whoa, it's a hot cake.

Let's take the cake out here.

I'm gonna put it on a trivet.

Now, the way you tell if the cake's ready is you just push on it lightly.

And if it's not wet, it's done, but it's a little too hot for us to turnout right now.

It will be kind of all crumble up.

So you need to let this sit for at least four to six hours, and then it's ready to turn out.

I know you didn't probably want to sit there that long, so I baked you a cake.

Knew you were coming.

And here we go.

Again, this is a very dense cake, that's why they call it mud.

And it's a little difficult to get out of the pan sometime.

So you want to take a very sharp knife and just run it all around the edge of the cake.

Then take a plate large enough to cover the pan, and we're gonna flip this thing.

Ready?

Flip.

I heard it.

It sounds good.

It did it.

Okay.

Now what you want to do is take off this wax paper.

It makes for a better (mumbles).

And I just put a little powdered sugar, just dust the top of this with some powdered sugar, get a good even dusting all over the cake.

And I like to serve this cake with some fresh raspberries and a little bit of lightly sweetened whipped cream.

And you will have one delicious cake, I promise.

(gentle acoustic music) (upbeat music) The Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland, is located on the Patapsco River, which feeds directly into the Chesapeake Bay.

At one time a bustling commercial port, the Harbor has become a mecca for residents and tourists seeking entertainment.

This downtown waterside oasis is full of shops, restaurants, and major attractions, such as the National Aquarium.

The Inner Harbor offers something for everyone.

(upbeat music) While the Inner Harbor's appeal as an entertainment center began less than 20 years ago, the city of Baltimore is over 200 years old and it only takes a short walk from the Harbor to a nearby neighborhood to experience the history.

Just a stone's throw from Cross Street Market and located in the Inner Harbor area is another landmark, Camden Yards, better known as the home to the Baltimore Orioles baseball team.

In the shadow of the Bromo Seltzer Tower lies this beautiful world famous stadium in the heart of downtown Baltimore.

Oriole park is a popular destination for the locals and out-of-town visitors during the summer months.

People flock here to watch and participate in all the excitement.

(upbeat music) - Baltimore Orioles!

- She's proud.

- Cheap prize too.

(crowd cheers) - Yeah, yeah, get them, get them!

Oh!

- My favorite part about visiting Camden Yards is stopping at the legendary Boog Powell's barbecue stand and getting a pulled pork or a pit beef sandwich.

But as this park is located in the Chesapeake Bay region, it's only fitting that Oriole Park also offers something unique, crab cakes.

(crowd cheers) The afternoon flies by as I had much fun at the game.

And on my way out, I've run into a friend, a fellow Baltimore native, United States Senator, Barbara Mikulski, is a big Orioles fan, as well as a fan of crab cakes.

She is confined to a chair because of a foot injury, but she still agrees to show me her famous recipe for the quintessential summertime Chesapeake dish.

These crab cakes are made from jumbo lump crab meat and lightly seasoned with a touch of Dijon mustard.

They epitomize great Chesapeake cooking, Senator, I am so happy you were able to come to the Camden Club today and to show me your crab cakes.

Did you make a stop down to Boog's too?

- Oh, I come to the ball game to see the Orioles and to snack.

I love the Boog's beef.

I like the hot dogs.

I just come and inhale.

(both laughing) - That's the way to do it, isn't it.

- Yes.

- It's great.

- Well, you know, I think we're very unique here because with the Camden Yards right on the Harbor, right on the cusp of the bay, we have some of the best baseball and some of the best food, I think in the whole United States of America.

I think we've got the World Series of food right here at Camden Yards.

- You know, I think you're right.

So now we're gonna hear about your famous crab cakes.

I've heard about these and you're gonna show me how to do them today.

- Yes.

This is called Senator Barb's spicy crab cakes.

It's a recipe that I really took from my mom.

And then as I travel around the state, I picked up some other tips and value at it.

- So what do we start with here?

- Well, the most important thing to start with is a very good crab meat.

There's only one place good crab meat comes from, the Chesapeake Bay or the USA.

- Yes.

- That's why it's important to make sure when you get your crab meat, check your label to make sure it comes from the Chesapeake Bay or the USA.

I personally like lump or backfin, but you can use whatever you want according to taste.

So we take this crab meat.

John?

- Okay.

- [Barbara] How about if, I put it in here and we're gonna let it sit and get acquainted with us.

- Okay.

- So if we just see leave that.

Now I'm gonna use the egg today.

- [John] All right.

- Beat them up, beat them up.

I don't usually go around saying beat him up, but I think we can do this with an egg.

Hey, you're doing pretty good.

- You got that right in there.

- Doing pretty good.

- And then put the little Dijon mustard.

- [Barbara] Yeah, yeah.

- [John] Oh, that's got a smell to it.

- [Barbara] Doesn't it?

- It does.

- No wait, no wait, let me.

- There.

- We're onto something here.

- I think so.

I think so.

So I'll beat that up a little.

Get them happy.

- Yeah.

Now let's do a little duet.

Let me do, there we go.

Now let me describe, this is one tablespoon of mayo, one tablespoon of Dijon mustard and cha cha cha.

- Oh, I love it.

- Then one teaspoon of spicy seasoning, but you know I like to sprinkle it, and then I get my own feeling for it.

Very good.

You know, you might have a career.

- You think so.?

- Yeah.

Might have a career.

- All right.

- Now, the other thing that I use is bread.

- Yeah, I like that.

- A lot of people use cracker meal, some use breadcrumbs.

I even heard over in Little Italy they use Italian breadcrumbs, but Barb Mikulski, my grandma owned a bakery, we use bread.

Now the staler, the better.

- [John] Oh yeah.

- Yeah, because you don't want soft mush, but don't use bagel chips.

It won't go.

(John laughs) So you take this and then we cut it up into little pieces.

- All right.

- Here we go.

And it's the old fashioned way.

We'll just do this in the squares.

Here we go.

And little bits like that.

Look at that, like little squares, just like you used to eat your sandwiches.

- [John] Oh, yeah.

Look at that.

- Okay.

- And the littler squares, the better.

Okay?

Now.

Isn't that fun?

- Yeah, it's great.

Look at those.

- Now, you know what this does is it holds it together.

It adds bulk because the most important thing is, is that you need to have bulk without diluting the flavor of the crab.

So you don't really want to, you want to keep it simple.

Now what I do is I put my bread crumbs in my egg like this.

And then guess what we do again?

We beat, beat, beat, beat, beat, beat.

- A little more beating.

- Okay, little beat, so that it's all covered.

Then we take the Dijon mayo spicy mix.

I tell ya-- - We've got a good batch coming.

I can feel it.

- We got a good batch.

- I can feel it.

- Here we go.

And then we'll take it out.

Ah, there we go.

So you see that.

Now, we'll do this again.

Look at this.

And it has a nice consistency to it.

Okay, so that's there.

Now we have, let's bring that crab meat over.

- All righty.

- Now-- - Oh, that's so pretty.

- John, one of the important things about the crab meat is you don't want to break it up.

- Yeah.

- You know, you can break the egg, but you can't break the lumps.

- You got to love your lumps.

- This is the only place in the world that I'm willing to take my lumps.

(both laughing) Now look at that.

Isn't that beautiful?

- That is gorgeous.

- Doesn't God bless us in the bay?

- We are blessed.

- [Barbara] This good old, look at this.

This is the lump crab meat.

Just look at that.

Isn't that just deductible?

- That's great.

- So what I do is do that and spread it out in the bowl gently.

Okay.

Gentle, gentle, gentle.

Then I cheat.

- And then you cheat, there you go.

- You put that over there.

- That's a cook's prerogative.

(Barbara mumbles) - I want to make sure it tastes good.

- Yes.

- The whole idea of eating a crap cake to me is one of the great pleasures of life.

- I'm with you, I'm with you.

- Now we have to also every cook needs to go through and make sure that there are no shells.

Here's one.

Now I've been down to Crisfield, watched the ladies of Smith Island also out there even handpick, some are mechanical picked.

I happen to like Smith Island 'cause it's handpicked, but I'll take Maryland crab cake anywhere I can get it.

- That's right.

- But you have to go through to make sure you pick out the shells because you don't want to crunch that little shell.

You can get your calcium in other ways.

(John laughs) Now this goes on top of this.

You put it on initially like a topping.

- [John] You just put it all over the top there.

- All over the topping.

There we go.

Very good.

You see?

And then you just cover it.

Okay.

- Okay.

- [Barbara] Now I do it that way because I'd like to have it all laid out.

- So do you put anything else extra?

What extra ingredients or special things you put in there?

- Well, now you get to my mother's secret.

- Oh yeah.

- My mother said, "Whatever feeling is the occasion you want to have, "put it into your crab cake."

So if it's going to be a romantic evening, go.

* Some enchanted evening * We may see a stranger As you notice I'm better in the Senate than I am singing.

- Hey I think you are, You got a career.

- And then if you're having friends in and you want to be a sassy, spicy evening then its spice and sugar, and spice and everything nice.

And we put it in and we rock and we roll.

Then if it's a family get together, then you want to make sure you go to togetherness, love and togetherness, and look at this.

And you see what you do is you toss.

You don't make it like meatloaf.

- Yeah.

- This is not meatloaf.

This is not a croquette.

This is crab cake.

- Crab cake.

- So you toss all the ingredients, putting in the love and the feeling that you want because it's ultimately your energy is going into this food.

Isn't this fantastic?

- [John] This is great.

- I like parsley 'cause it also adds another good old, interesting flavor too it.

- It does, doesn't it?

- So it's spice and it has although, it's interesting, Maryland crab cakes when you eat them, whether it's my recipe or any of the traditionals, it will be both spicy, and then some will even have a little sweet taste to it.

Now I'm ready to.

- Ready to make some cakes.

- Some people use an ice cream scoop.

- Yeah.

- And that's okay.

That's yours.

I like to be in touch with my crab meat.

- I do too.

- I like to be in touch with my constituents.

I like to be in touch with my crab meat.

So we pick this up.

- Good rule of thumb there.

- And then you pat them.

And again, this is not to be squeezed.

Okay.

- [John] Gentle, gentle.

- Gentle, gentle.

And they should be about just like a little handful.

- [John] Yeah.

- Crab cakes are meant to look like big cookies.

They're not meant to look like baseballs or bowling balls.

They're meant to look like patties.

Okay.

And then we just put that there.

Let's see how you do.

- Put that down there, just like that.

- [Barbara] Very good.

- [John] All right.

- Now we've got a his and her crab cake.

- Ah, look at them.

(Barbara laughs) Their beauties.

- They actually look like they're enjoying getting to know each other.

I guess they liked my song.

- [John] They did.

- Put another one.

- Now you don't cook these right away then, do you?

- Well, if you notice John, they're very kind of soft.

- Yes.

- They're very soft.

And if we went to either saute them now or boil them now, they would fall apart.

- Right.

- And so we'd have sauteed crab meat.

But I cover mine with wax paper and put it in the refrigerator for an hour.

Then they're nice and firm and ready to go.

- All right, great.

We'll let these sit for about an hour and then we'll come back here.

- Well then we can do some talking about a cruise in Maryland for seafood.

- It sounds like a plan to me.

So Senator, they're done.

- Well, John, take a good look.

You remember how when we put them in the platter before we put them in the refrigerator, remember how they looked a little juicy and mushy, but look how with one hour in the refridge, look how firm they've been, and that's what you need when you do, and you put them in the oil.

Now I always like to see my oil smoke a little bit, then I know it's the right temperature.

- And we got a nice.

- Okay.

- Good oil going there.

- But remember, not a lot of oil We're not French frying them.

I'm gonna put these in, put in there.

Oh!

- Oh!

Ah!

- Crackling.

Don't you love that sound?

- I love that sound.

- There we go.

Now don't they look like they're enjoying themselves in there?

- [John] They certainly do.

Look at them swimming around.

- Now I think they look like this is ready to be turned over.

- [John] How's that looking over there?

Oh, look at that.

- Oh, look at that.

Golden brown.

Oh!

- Oops.

- There we go.

- [John] There it is.

Look at that.

- There we go.

John, I think this is ready.

Can, you want to?

- I'm gonna bring that right up here.

- Yes.

- [John] Okay.

Great.

- [Barbara] How'd you like that?

- Look at that.

These Senator Barb spicy crab cakes I think are of best in the country.

- Well, that sounds a little bit like some of my campaign promises.

Let's say they're pretty good.

(both laughing) (upbeat music) - I hope you enjoyed our look back at Chesapeake Bay Cooking.

And I look forward to seeing you around the bay and in the kitchen.

Thanks for watching.

I'm John Shields.

(upbeat music)