• Crab Custard

    After all of that cookbook genealogy last week I need a little rest so here’s a crab recipe from “My Favorite Maryland Recipes.” Many people who may not be familiar with the Tawes name were made so recently when Maryland’s current governor elected to attend the J. Millard Tawes Crab & Clam Bake instead of the Republican Convention….

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    Macaroons No. 2, Miss Tyson

    This is another entry laden with tedious detective work, my unrestrained fanaticism ruining any possibility of ever attracting repeat readers. I’ll try to keep it brief. According to “The American Magazine and Historical Chronicle“, 1987, “famed Baltimore hostess, Mrs. B.C. Howard, compiled the earliest charity cookbook published in Maryland, Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen’(Baltimore,…

  • French Rolls

    I’ve been gradually getting to “know” Elizabeth Ellicott Lea a little better, and coming to really like her. At first her no-frills thrift seemed unexciting and maybe even a little stern. Certainly she doesn’t radiate the Maryland pride of other authors who boast their Maryland-ness in the titles of their cookbooks. Lea was a Quaker…

  • (mini) Smith Island Cake

    “Effective October 1, 2008, the Smith Island Cake became the State Dessert of Maryland (Chapters 164 & 165, Acts of 2008; Code General Provisions Article, sec. 7-313). Traditionally, the cake consists of eight to ten layers of yellow cake with chocolate frosting between each layer and slathered over the whole. However, many variations have evolved,…