Old Bay Turns 70, THG Reader Gets Present!

As we get set to flip the calendar from June to July and embrace the summer holidays, I can't help but think about the wonderful tastes and smells that define the season: the aroma of hot dogs and hamburgers as they sizzle on the grill; the salty sea air drifting off the ocean and mingling with suntan lotion; the refreshing splash of an ice cold Yuengling Lager.

But few things really get my mind thinking about summer treats like shrimp steamed in beer, the mallet-cracking goodness of Maryland crabs, and even state fair comfort foods like the smell of Old Bay seasoning. Heck, I've even been known to enjoy the occasional bowl of Old Bay Ice Cream!

Created by Gustav Brunn, a German immigrant who luckily for us settled in Baltimore, Old Bay started as "Delicious Brand Shrimp and Crab Seasoning". Eventually, the secret blend of spices got the name Old Bay from a steamship that traveled the waters near Brunn's spice business in Baltimore's Market Place.

Packed in its distinctive yellow and blue tin, the seasoning is still made right here in Maryland and shipped to stores nationwide. As an unofficial Old Bay ambassador I've even been known to ship tins of it to friends overseas who sampled it at one of our backyard crab feasts.

This year Old Bay celebrates its 70th birthday but a lucky THG reader will be the one getting presents. We're happy to be able to give away an awesome Basket of the Bay Gift Package featuring:

• Old Bay Seasoning
• Old Bay Seafood Steamer bag
• Old Bay Beach Towel & Beach Bag
• Old Bay Keychain with bottle opener
• Temporary Old Bay tattoo
• And some great new Old Bay-inspired recipes

All you have to do to enter is send us an e-mail with the subject line OLD BAY before 5 PM EST on Friday, July 10, 2009. We'll select one e-mail at random and that lucky winner will receive the great Old Bay gift package. (If the above link gives anybody problems just e-mail editor@hungovergourmet.com but remember to include the subject line "OLD BAY".)

Only one entry per e-mail address, please. E-mails will only be used for drawing of winning name and contacting the winner. You will not receive any marketing or other communication from either The Hungover Gourmet, Old Bay, etc. Odds of winning are based on the number of entries received.

For more on Old Bay check out their Facebook and Twitter pages.

Good luck!

THG vs The World's Largest Crabcake

I'm not someone who gets into the whole Baltimore "hon" vibe. First off, I'm not from here so it's not like the beehived denizens of Charm City have any kind of cultural kinship for me. Yeah, it's cute and it's fun but my Aunt Jo was from Bridesburg, PA and had a beehive, wore cha-cha pants, smoked and was as much of a hon as the celebrated Bawlmer species. In other words, there's "hons" everywhere, especially in places like Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Philly.

On top of that, the whole thing is organized by the owner of Cafe Hon, an establishment I'm loathe to patronize after a series of meals that have ranged from simply mediocre to among the worst I've ever had. Anywhere.

That said I'm also predictable as can be so when Chris sent me a link to an article about the festival's attempt to break the record for the world's largest crabcake I was on board.

Unfortunately, our festival pre-planning wasn't in high gear. We'd gone to a baby shower beforehand and in the rush to get ready and head out I'd forgotten to put Ryan's stroller in the car. With temps creeping up and parking sure to be at a premium I quietly cursed myself as it dawned on me that we'd be probably be carrying our three-foot, thirty-plus-pound daughter a good deal of the time.

In actuality the forgotten stroller turned out to be a bit of a plus as the warm weather and somewhat sunny skies had brought out tens of thousands who were there to shop, eat, drink and witness the spectacle of Hon Fest. (A spectacle that was best summed up by the burly 6'5" "hon" whose sundress could barely contain the broad, hairy shoulders and hands that dwarfed even the comically-oversized pack of Marlboro Reds.)

But we were there for the crabcake and after standing in a lengthy line at one of the few ATMs on the Avenue (another symptom of piss poor pre-planning) we headed to the booth where sandwiches made from the record-setter were on sale for $10 with proceeds benefitting Special Olympics.

The brainchild of Jim Cupp, sales manager for seafood processor Handy International, the crabcake weighed in at 253 pounds, besting Cupp's own record. Now, anytime something is billed as "the world's largest" anything I'm generally dubious about the taste, flavor and quality. Throw in the fact that the crabcake had been mixed around 3 AM and started cooking around 5 AM and well, you can see why I viewed the $10 more as a donation than an actual purchase.

After briefly chatting with the folks manning the booth we ordered our sandwich with Chris making the astute request for a "crispy" piece. The sandwich we were given had a nice, baked crust on top, unlike some of the platters on the table that looked like little more than scoops of crumbly crabcake filling had been dumped atop them.

Before settling down on the curb to sample the record setter we swung by the front of the booth to get pictures of Cupp and the custom made pan that had been used to fire up our lunch. With Ryan between us happily munching Utz Chips and calling our attention to every dog that walked by we poised our forks and dug in. (We both passed on the warm packets of tartar sauce that felt hot to the touch under the steamy Baltimore sun.)

I think "shock" and "surprise" would be the two words that best describe our reaction to the crabcake. While folks at G&M, Faidley's and Michael's certainly shouldn't be quaking in their boots this was far from the worst crabcake I've ever had (some restaurant on OBX whose name I can't recall at the moment wins that award) and was actually downright tasty. I'm not sure how Cupp was actually able to get a 250 lb. plus crabcake to have some spicy flavor and bite, but he did.

With chips and crabcake in our respective stomachs it was time to hoist Ryan into our arms and make our way back through the crowd to where we'd parked, pleasant memories of Honfest in our head and the world's largest crabcake in our bellies.

You're Not the Master of the Grill...

...till you bring a suckling pig to the Patriots game.

That's just one of the pithy bon mots tossed off by Bill "The Sports Guy" Simmons during his recent BS Report podcast with chef/author Adam Perry Lang. Lang, whose new book Serious Barbecue is getting great reviews over at Amazon, appears on the usually sports-centric podcast to talk about the proper way to tailgate, some under- and overrated cuts of meat, what to order at a steakhouse and more.

I was prepared to hate the guy but loved Lang's down-to-earth approach and his seemingly sincere desire to help people deliver better barbecue.

Check out this podcast at iTunes or go directly to The BS Report archive.

Louis Fowler's DEVASTATOR Tour '09: THG Style

Ever wonder what it's like to spend a day eating your way around Baltimore with yours truly?

Louis Fowler does a pretty great job of capturing the high and low lights of his all-too-brief visit to Charm City including going to Attman's Lenny's for lunch, a visit to the one and only Atomic Books, and breaking crabcakes at Michael's Steak & Lobster House with yours truly and Smile Hon editor Patrick Tandy (aka The World's Most Prolific Zine Publisher).

As my daughter would say, "Check it!"

Gaetano's Still Rocks My Cheesesteak Loving Heart

While I was up in NJ/PA this weekend I knew I had to get my hands on a real cheesesteak. I don't get up to the area often enough so when a cheesesteak opportunity presents itself I have to take advantage of the situation.

Luckily, my dining companions were in complete agreement and we ended up getting steaks from Gaetano's in Willingboro, NJ, one of my long-time favorite South Jersey steak shops during my residency in the area.

I got the regular, which featured a massive helping of chopped steak, fried onions, mushrooms and extra cheese all on a delicious, crusty, slightly chewy seeded roll. Which led to a long discussion about how the bread here in MD stinks and you could never have such a hefty meat bomb without the awesomeness completely soaking through the hinge of the roll and depositing the entire sandwich on your lap.

Definitely a Top 10 cheesesteak in my book and I'll have to get with Chris and see if we can come up with our definitive list ranking our favorite cheesesteak spots.