Blue Crabs and Biscuits

My mother-in-law grew up on Maryland's Eastern Shore. After the wedding we drove down and spent a few days in her old stomping grounds.

We stayed in St. Michael's and had dinner one night at The Crab Claw, the quintessential Chesapeake Bay seafood joint. You may remember last fall's story about eating blue crabs - well, this was the Real Deal. It was great sitting on the deck drinking beers and downing some oysters and Jumbo (6-6.5 inches across) blue crabs. I felt pretty smug as a tourist who knew how to pick the meat from these crabs.

At the other end of the culinary scale are Maryland Biscuits. My mother-in-law also introduced me to these "delicacies" early in my relationship with Katy. Her brother sends her five or six dozen every year for the holidays (generally Thanksgiving and Christmas). By the time we get them they are hard as rocks and generally the butt of many of my jokes.

We stopped by "the factory" in Wye Mills to pick up a few dozen - okay, ten dozen - for Katy's mom and uncle. Much to my horror, Katy's mom let the older woman who runs the family business know that I don't particularly care for them. Much to my amazement, she agreed with me - at least that they aren't good unless they are fresh. To make her point, they brought me a fresh one, which was delicious.

It's a family business, and they make more than 25,000 biscuits a year - basically in their home. As far as I could tell, the only specialized equipment they had was a machine to pound the dough (the biscuits are unleavened and won't rise unless you beat them first) and a commercial oven. Otherwise it's all stuff you could find in your own kitchen.

Now that I've seen the people making them I'll likely cut down on the jokes. They work pretty hard. They don't need some smartass Cali boy mocking them.