The Chesapeake Bay Region- Part II
"You Have Another Think Coming, Hon"
By Sarah Hartmann
It's what a Chesapeake Bay Region native might tell you (the 'hon' being pure Baltimore) if you were to imply that the regional cuisine was based upon nothing more than what can be derived from the blue crab. Not that the array of crab dishes is anything but delicious: Crab cakes, crab imperial, crab fluffs, souffles and puffs, fish stuffed with crab meat, crab meat stuffed into mushroom caps, hot crab dips, cold crab dips, crab coupled with artichoke dip, crab that is scampi, crab that is deviled, and, of course, soft-shell crabs that have been fried, appendages and all, and nestled between two slices of white bread, the Chesapeake Bay version of the perfect sandwich.
Okay, so crab really is the delicacy of choice, as well it should be. But there are many others. Head to any of the food festivals (the Nanticoke River Shad Festival held in April, the Pocomoke City Annual Chicken Festival held in June, the Crisfield Crab and Clam Bake in July and its sister festival, the Oyster and Bull Roast held in October, and finally the Hoopers Island Oyster and Chicken Dinner held in February) and what you'll realize is that the Chesapeake Bay Region has more than its share of foods worth celebrating. And planked shad has to be one of the more eclectic ones.
Though considered to be a gourmet delight by its fans, shad, a type of herring that takes its spawning run from the Atlantic through the Chesapeake Bay and its estuaries in spring, tends to sell poorly in seafood markets because of its bones. Indeed, it is such a bony fish that cooks through the ages have had to employ one of two methods to rid the fish of them. They either dissolve them or remove them, the first method being accomplished by hours of baking, the second by a skilled shad boner. Once the shad have been boned, however, most proponents of the fish will tell you that nailing the fillets, topped with strips of bacon, to an oak plank and cooking them next to a white-hot charcoal fire is the best way to enjoy them. They will also tell you that few if any restaurants prepare shad in this fashion for obvious reasons. Thus, true planked shad lovers head to the festivals where the delicacy is prepared out of doors for large groups.
Such festivals brim with Chesapeake regional cuisine from country style dinners of fried chicken and oysters with all the extras to barbecues featuring oysters on the half shell and pit beef, a true Baltimore creation. Those who know, claim pit beef originated in a working-class neighborhood somewhere on the east side of Baltimore, which is probably true but unimportant to those people who love it. What is important is how it tastes--unlike any other barbecue beef you'll ever run into. It is Baltimore's version of barbecue, which means it is not smoked in hickory or mesquite, nor is it well done like a brisket. Instead, Baltimore pit beef is grilled so that it is crusty on the outside and rare on the inside. The experts who prepare it use top round, a flavorful but tough cut of beef, that must be shaved paper thin so as to be tender enough to chew. Once sliced, the meat is then heaped high on a kaiser roll or rye bread that is slathered with horseradish (preferably fresh) and topped with a thick slice of onion. And though purists would shudder, truth is many aficionados of the sandwich will take it on white bread and add a sizeable dollop of mayonnaise to cut the heat provided by the other condiments.
Some of the best pit beef joints (often no more than stands at best) are located off of Route 40, also called Pulaski Highway, a huge thoroughfare that runs out of the city east through a maze of truck stops, motels, and strip malls, wending its way through tonier sections like Catonsville and historic Ellicott City. But there used to be a time, not all that long ago, where a great pit beef sandwich could be had at Baltimore's two-hundred-year-old Lexington Market. That particular meat stand is gone from the Lexington, but much of the old remains along with the new. Chances are, if it can be eaten, you can buy it at the Lexington, which occupies two full city blocks in the center of downtown Baltimore and sells everything from fresh meat and produce to baked goods, seafood, and sweets.
Like any big-city market, a variety of ethnic tastes is represented at the Lexington (Greek, Asian, and soul food to name just a few), but old favorites never seem to go out of fashion. Faidley's Seafood is one of these. Renowned for its lump meat crab cakes (their equal is hard to find) and raw bar, Faidley's is easily one of the busiest sections of the market, the must-see-and-sample spot for any visitor. The same is true of Polock Johnny's, famous for its polish sausage (served on a hotdog roll plain or smothered in toppings like chili or sauerkraut) and fresh-squeezed lemonade. And finally, no visit would be complete without a stop at Rheb's candy counter. A Baltimore institution, Rheb's makes some of the finest chocolates around.
Once considered a dowdy southern sister to other east coast cities like New York and Boston, Baltimore has come into its own and then some when it comes to cuisine. Restaurants of every variety and ethnicity exist in the city and its environs, while old standby's like Haussner's, located on Eastern Avenue, are institutions unto themselves. A Baltimore family-run restaurant that can seat up to 800 people and boasts its own on-site bakery, Haussner's is worth the wait to get in (they take no reservations, and there is always a line). Besides the eclectic art collection (take a drink along while you check it out), the menu, which goes on for pages and includes everything from wild game, seafood, and steaks to German and Polish fare is nothing less than incredible.
The Fells Point section of Baltimore, still renowned for its great bars and party atmosphere, too, boasts numerous excellent restaurants, though Bertha's has to be the most famous. Another family-run restaurant that had its beginnings as a bar in the early 70s, Bertha's eventually added dining rooms and a casual menu, the specialty being the mussels. Bertha's serves them with a choice of eight different sauces.
From the rural areas of the Chesapeake's Eastern Shore region, where the cantaloupes seem to grow bigger and sweeter than anywhere else on earth and the wild fowl and deer provide ample opportunity for creative dishes like olive-stuffed dove breasts and venison meatballs, to the northwestern region that is wine country (Elk Run Winery's Liberty Tavern Chardonnay being perhaps the smoothest and most buttery you'll ever taste), the Chesapeake region has it all. And don't assume otherwise or else in the words of almost any regional native, "You'll have another think coming, hon."
For more information on the Chesapeake Bay Region:
Activities in the Chesapeake Bay Region
Chesapeakebay.com
Chesapeake Bay: The Most Productive and Complex Ecosystem
About the Author:
Sarah Hartmann is a local journalist and regional writer. Her work appears regularly in numerous print publications and ezines. She is co-authoring a cook/keepsake book, but feels her best credential for the above article is her experience with and love for Chesapeake Bay cuisine, especially the "beautiful swimmers."
"You Have Another Think Coming, Hon"
By Sarah Hartmann
It's what a Chesapeake Bay Region native might tell you (the 'hon' being pure Baltimore) if you were to imply that the regional cuisine was based upon nothing more than what can be derived from the blue crab. Not that the array of crab dishes is anything but delicious: Crab cakes, crab imperial, crab fluffs, souffles and puffs, fish stuffed with crab meat, crab meat stuffed into mushroom caps, hot crab dips, cold crab dips, crab coupled with artichoke dip, crab that is scampi, crab that is deviled, and, of course, soft-shell crabs that have been fried, appendages and all, and nestled between two slices of white bread, the Chesapeake Bay version of the perfect sandwich.
Okay, so crab really is the delicacy of choice, as well it should be. But there are many others. Head to any of the food festivals (the Nanticoke River Shad Festival held in April, the Pocomoke City Annual Chicken Festival held in June, the Crisfield Crab and Clam Bake in July and its sister festival, the Oyster and Bull Roast held in October, and finally the Hoopers Island Oyster and Chicken Dinner held in February) and what you'll realize is that the Chesapeake Bay Region has more than its share of foods worth celebrating. And planked shad has to be one of the more eclectic ones.
Though considered to be a gourmet delight by its fans, shad, a type of herring that takes its spawning run from the Atlantic through the Chesapeake Bay and its estuaries in spring, tends to sell poorly in seafood markets because of its bones. Indeed, it is such a bony fish that cooks through the ages have had to employ one of two methods to rid the fish of them. They either dissolve them or remove them, the first method being accomplished by hours of baking, the second by a skilled shad boner. Once the shad have been boned, however, most proponents of the fish will tell you that nailing the fillets, topped with strips of bacon, to an oak plank and cooking them next to a white-hot charcoal fire is the best way to enjoy them. They will also tell you that few if any restaurants prepare shad in this fashion for obvious reasons. Thus, true planked shad lovers head to the festivals where the delicacy is prepared out of doors for large groups.
Such festivals brim with Chesapeake regional cuisine from country style dinners of fried chicken and oysters with all the extras to barbecues featuring oysters on the half shell and pit beef, a true Baltimore creation. Those who know, claim pit beef originated in a working-class neighborhood somewhere on the east side of Baltimore, which is probably true but unimportant to those people who love it. What is important is how it tastes--unlike any other barbecue beef you'll ever run into. It is Baltimore's version of barbecue, which means it is not smoked in hickory or mesquite, nor is it well done like a brisket. Instead, Baltimore pit beef is grilled so that it is crusty on the outside and rare on the inside. The experts who prepare it use top round, a flavorful but tough cut of beef, that must be shaved paper thin so as to be tender enough to chew. Once sliced, the meat is then heaped high on a kaiser roll or rye bread that is slathered with horseradish (preferably fresh) and topped with a thick slice of onion. And though purists would shudder, truth is many aficionados of the sandwich will take it on white bread and add a sizeable dollop of mayonnaise to cut the heat provided by the other condiments.
Some of the best pit beef joints (often no more than stands at best) are located off of Route 40, also called Pulaski Highway, a huge thoroughfare that runs out of the city east through a maze of truck stops, motels, and strip malls, wending its way through tonier sections like Catonsville and historic Ellicott City. But there used to be a time, not all that long ago, where a great pit beef sandwich could be had at Baltimore's two-hundred-year-old Lexington Market. That particular meat stand is gone from the Lexington, but much of the old remains along with the new. Chances are, if it can be eaten, you can buy it at the Lexington, which occupies two full city blocks in the center of downtown Baltimore and sells everything from fresh meat and produce to baked goods, seafood, and sweets.
Like any big-city market, a variety of ethnic tastes is represented at the Lexington (Greek, Asian, and soul food to name just a few), but old favorites never seem to go out of fashion. Faidley's Seafood is one of these. Renowned for its lump meat crab cakes (their equal is hard to find) and raw bar, Faidley's is easily one of the busiest sections of the market, the must-see-and-sample spot for any visitor. The same is true of Polock Johnny's, famous for its polish sausage (served on a hotdog roll plain or smothered in toppings like chili or sauerkraut) and fresh-squeezed lemonade. And finally, no visit would be complete without a stop at Rheb's candy counter. A Baltimore institution, Rheb's makes some of the finest chocolates around.
Once considered a dowdy southern sister to other east coast cities like New York and Boston, Baltimore has come into its own and then some when it comes to cuisine. Restaurants of every variety and ethnicity exist in the city and its environs, while old standby's like Haussner's, located on Eastern Avenue, are institutions unto themselves. A Baltimore family-run restaurant that can seat up to 800 people and boasts its own on-site bakery, Haussner's is worth the wait to get in (they take no reservations, and there is always a line). Besides the eclectic art collection (take a drink along while you check it out), the menu, which goes on for pages and includes everything from wild game, seafood, and steaks to German and Polish fare is nothing less than incredible.
The Fells Point section of Baltimore, still renowned for its great bars and party atmosphere, too, boasts numerous excellent restaurants, though Bertha's has to be the most famous. Another family-run restaurant that had its beginnings as a bar in the early 70s, Bertha's eventually added dining rooms and a casual menu, the specialty being the mussels. Bertha's serves them with a choice of eight different sauces.
From the rural areas of the Chesapeake's Eastern Shore region, where the cantaloupes seem to grow bigger and sweeter than anywhere else on earth and the wild fowl and deer provide ample opportunity for creative dishes like olive-stuffed dove breasts and venison meatballs, to the northwestern region that is wine country (Elk Run Winery's Liberty Tavern Chardonnay being perhaps the smoothest and most buttery you'll ever taste), the Chesapeake region has it all. And don't assume otherwise or else in the words of almost any regional native, "You'll have another think coming, hon."
For more information on the Chesapeake Bay Region:
Activities in the Chesapeake Bay Region
Chesapeakebay.com
Chesapeake Bay: The Most Productive and Complex Ecosystem
About the Author:
Sarah Hartmann is a local journalist and regional writer. Her work appears regularly in numerous print publications and ezines. She is co-authoring a cook/keepsake book, but feels her best credential for the above article is her experience with and love for Chesapeake Bay cuisine, especially the "beautiful swimmers."
