And the one dish I avoid like the plague is "Maryland Style Crab Cakes" (when outside of the Chesapeake Bay area, that is, of course I've gotten decent crab cakes in both PA and VA and at home in Maryland). In Baltimore, the best crab cakes are from G&M's (not counting the homemade crab cakes of my Aunt Dot, but those aren't exactly available to everyone!). These crab cakes are the size of your fist, if you happen to have very large hands. They're bigger than my fists, anyway - they're literally half a pound each, and most of that is solid crab. You have huge chunks of backfin falling out of it, they're lovely! There are many other excellent crab cakes in Baltimore, of course, but these are my favorite. My point is, I have high standards for crab cakes. But with only the very rarest of exceptions, I've found crab cakes made elsewhere tend to consist of the barest flakes of crab, held together by massive amounts of something that ISN'T crab. I'm not saying that there aren't any good crab cakes away from home - just that I've gotten tired enough of being disappointed by crab cakes that I've stopped ordering them all together. And when I keep an eye out for other people's crab cakes orders, they generally confirm my impressions.
You can often tell a crab cake is going to be bad by simply looking at it: if it looks like a firm, smoothish, patty - it's going to be mostly fill and crab flakes; a PROPER crab cake should be mostly crab, with some other stuff that holds it together - hopefully just barely enough other stuff to hold it together - and the larger chunks of crab meat you can pick out, the better. And I've gone to restaurants, NICE restaurants, which have very good sea food in general and where I really enjoy the food, and seen crab cakes which make me wince just at the sight of them. So I've pretty much given up on LOOKING for decent crab cakes, unless chance favors upon me. I have found, by chance, exactly one place in New York City that has a decent crab cake sandwich - Red 58 has a solid crab cake BLT. I didn't order it the first time I was there, but a friend of mine did. And when I tried a bite I was most pleasantly surprised! I'm not saying its the best crab cake you'll ever have, but it, you know, actually tastes like a crab cake, which means it tastes good. So when we've gone back there for drinks and dinner, I've ordered it ever since. So now, I have one place in New York that I can go for such things. Again, I wouldn't be surprised if there are other places in NYC that have decent crab cakes, and if you know of one, please! Let me know!
When I consider non-crab favorite foods, there has always been one dish which springs to the top of my list. This is my favorite dish that is on my regular meal rotation, and has been for some time. Fettuccine Alfredo is both easy and straightforward to make, and absolutely delicious. Now, healthy? Not so much. My family's nickname for the dish is "heart attack on a plate," which is a fairly accurate descriptor: it's all butter and cream and cheese and deliciousness. It's been one of my favorite dishes for as long as I remember, before I ever even tried crabs, and is pretty much my ultimate comfort food.
Fettuccine Alfredo
1/4 c. (4 tbs) butter
1/2 c. heavy cream (or more, if you wish)
1/8 lb parmesan cheese (at a minimum – I tend to add extra)
Salt
Pepper (fresh ground)
1 lb fettuccini noodles
You can make this with pasta that isn't fettuccine as well, and to be honest, the above picture is technically linguini alfredo. But pasta substitutions are relatively minor - you might need a little more or less of everything to coat pasta variations with different amount of surface area, I guess. Additionally, something related to parmesan cheese, like asiago or romano cheese, are also valid substitutions. I like to buy solid blocks of cheese, then grate off the amount that I need - it tends both to be less expensive, and keep better. Cheese graters are handy things to have!
Anyways, whatever your noodle choice, cook them as directed until they are tender - they should be more on the undercooked than the overcooked side, since you'll continue heating them as you add the additional ingredients, but cook them to your taste. Strain the noodles and put them in a pot on the stove top. Cut the butter into 1 tbs chunks or so, and mix into the noodles until they are well coated with butter and the butter is melted (this should be done over low heat). Add cream, continuing to mix over low heat - you want to keep mixing the noodles so that nothing scorches. Grind in generous amounts of pepper, to taste. My mother doesn't really like ground pepper, so when I'm making this at home, I always have to just put a little on and add the rest later to my own plate, but when I'm cooking in NYC, I can add all the pepper I like - which is quite a lot. I also tend to be a bit heavy handed with the salt. Next, still on low heat, add in the cheese slowly, and mix well - it should get nice and melty. . Serve immediately. Add salt and any additional pepper to taste -this means grate fresh black pepper generously across your plate, and a nice extra dash of salt, as well!
If everything seems a bit dry, add a bit more heavy cream until it's properly moist. If it's too moist, just add more cheese. I like lots of cheese, so I end up with both a lot of cream AND a lot of cheese - this is not a bad thing. Honestly, I don't really bother to measure out the ingredients anymore since I'm so familiar with this recipe, I just add things in until it looks right. It's a pretty simple recipe, but a delicious one, and definitely one of my favorite things.
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