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.

In all honesty this dish was just okay. Crab custard was winning a lot of recipe contests in the 1960s and a lot of those recipes were more seasoned than this. I recommend more mustard powder, Old Bay or hot sauce.

Mr. & Mrs. J Millard Tawes, Maryland State Archives

I will add a little bit of filler in the form of clippings showing the long-standing tension between Maryland’s and Virginia’s natural resource management strategies. It seems that Maryland had long been begging Virginia to enact a law against harvesting female crabs with their eggs, aka “sponge crab.”

Daily Times, Salisbury, 1944

Star-Democrat, Easton, 1951

Daily Times, Salisbury, 1962

As you can see, the resentment simmered for decades.

Virginia finally did pass such a law in 2010.

Recipe:

1 Lb crab meat
2 eggs, beaten
1.5 Cup milk
.25 Teaspoon mustard powder
salt
pepper, black
butter

Beat eggs and add milk, mustard, salt and pepper to taste. Gently stir in crab meat. Place in a buttered casserole and dot with butter. Bake at 325° about 20 minutes, or until set.

Recipe adapted from “My Favorite Maryland Recipes”