Recipes

Capture The Bay Flavor

A plate of food at a restaurant

Cooking is essential to the Chesapeake life. These recipes, cookbooks and other resources will help you bring a taste of the Bay home.

 

The Bay's best recipes

Spotlight: Spicy Crab Soup

  • 1 quart water
  • 3 chicken parts (neck or wing)
  • 3 pounds canned tomatoes, quartered
  • 8 ounces frozen corn, thawed
  • 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
  • 1 cup potatoes, diced
  • 3/4 cup celery, chopped
  • 3/4 cup onion, diced
  • 3/4 tablespoon seafood seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper
  • 1 pound Maryland crabmeat, fresh or pasteurized, cartilage removed (regular or claw meat)

Place water and chicken in a 6-quart soup pot. Cover and simmer over low heat for at least one hour. Add vegetables and seasonings and simmer, covered, over medium-low heat for about 45 minutes, or until vegetables are almost done. Add crabmeat, cover and simmer for 15 more minutes, or until hot. (If a milder soup is desired, decrease amount of seafood seasoning to 1-1/2 teaspoons.) Makes 8 servings. (Recipe courtesy of the Maryland Department of Agriculture Seafood Marketing Program)

More Bay recipes

The Bay's best cookbooks

Spotlight: Chesapeake Bay Cooking

Coastal cuisine expert John Shields' Chesapeake Bay Cooking, the companion to the PBS series, is a history lesson, a travelogue and a compendium of more than 100 delectable recipes.

Bay basics: Kitchen essentials

What's in a Chesapeake kitchen?

You'll need the right cookware, flatware and seasoning to properly prepare the bounty of the Bay. Here are a few essentials to keep on hand:

  • Stainless steel stock pot with steamer insert
  • Cast iron skillet
  • Crab mallets
  • Oyster knives
  • Seafood seasoning
  • Fresh lemons
  • Tartar sauce
  • Bread crumbs

Above all, a well-stocked Bay kitchen needs a well-stocked Bay. Try composting kitchen scraps and using fertilizer properly in your yard to help keep the seafood coming.