10 hours ago, TEW said:

Most restaurants make a really lousy crab cake. All mayonnaise filler and little lump crab meat with a hefty price equals great margins.  A good crab cake should be very light on binding, almost delicate, with more of a dusting of exterior breading than the typical thick bar style fried exterior.

A good crab cake is fantastic precisely because it makes the crab meat the center of the dish and doesn't try to do too much else to it.

Not sure I ever had a good one.  When I would have out of town visitors we would go down to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore to the name seafood places and with the kids as adults we would go to trendy places in Fells Point.  Tried but never liked the crab cakes   Do you make your own or is there a place you recommend  

Now I grew up in New Orleans and Houston, so it could be my tastes.  We were used to seafood right off the boats or the Kemah fish markets. Burlap bag of oysters. Watch the seafood guys dehead and devein the shrimp right in front of you.  Live blues steamed or boiled in Zatarain’s.  Red snapper and red fish right out of the tank.  My wife is an island girl and her folks new families that made their living from their boats. 
 

1 minute ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

I’m one of those anti-lamb guys because it’s too gamey.   Not because he played against Big-12 defenses.  That argument is silly.  

I typically don’t like Lamb either if it’s too gamey.  The idea behind arrosticini and the reason they’re so famous is that they don’t taste like typical lamb when prepared and cooked properly.   I’ve had dozens of people over my family’s place in Italy over the years and wouldn’t tell them it was lamb before eating it.  Every last one was amazed by the taste.  Basically ends up tasting like a very tender and flavorful cut of high end beef, if not better. 
 

8 hours ago, Utebird said:

I got bunnies eating my garden, you know anything about rabbit stew???😉

My cats protect my garden although in the ground I mostly have my herbs and onions.  My neighbor grows lettuce.  I bucket most of my plants that would be susceptible to bunnies. But when the rabbits are in the yard and I am out, my cats are with me and they love to chase rabbits. Grow a little catnip around the perimeter of the garden and the cats will go rub against it. That leaves a scent the bunnies can’t stand and they keep away. My neighbor has an electric bunny fence.  It is a wire about Rabbit ear level.  Jolt like a cattle prod.  That keeps the bunnies out of their garden. 

2 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Should we start a pool on who the first Eagle that gets in trouble this spring/summer will be?

Watch it be something like Mailata getting visa issues and entering the U.S. anyway. 

1 hour ago, The guy in France said:

Break both ends off and just blow hard from one end just make sure you don’t hit anybody. Learned this method from my days at Chesapeake Bay Seafood, oh I wish that place would come back, great deal if you can pack it in

That was the all you can eat at the price of what you ordered and below, right?   Went there with a friend and his brother.  Ordered the crab legs. No way they made money on our table.  We went there starving.  

33 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

 

Ed is from east Texas.  No such thing as carrying an illegal firearm there.  He had a reputation of being a good kid at UH. 

30 minutes ago, Ace Nova said:

I typically don’t like Lamb either if it’s too gamey.  The idea behind arrosticini and the reason they’re so famous is that they don’t taste like typical lamb when prepared and cooked properly.   I’ve had dozens of people over my family’s place in Italy over the years and wouldn’t tell them it was lamb before eating it.  Every last one was amazed by the taste.  Basically ends up tasting like a very tender and flavorful cut of high end beef, if not better. 
 

Rack of lamb slow cooked over a grill is so much better than oven cooked.  Got to spice it right.  Don’t know if there is a way to cook leg of lamb so it doesn’t taste muttony.  My uncle raised some sheep a couple of years when I was young and would get the butcher to make lamburger.  Over a charcoal grill they weren’t bad.  He had all girls and to try to get them interested in agriculture he tried a small herd of sheep for the shearing experience.  Fact in the summer when I visited that we were eating lamb tells you how that went over.  Not a one of my cousins married a farmer. 

Tonkatsu tonight, accompanied by black beans and rice and broccoli rabe.

36 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

I make my own.  Always use Jumbo Lump.  Nothing else.   As stated before, use little filler. Panko bread crumbs.  Or cubed bread soaked in a little milk.   Little Worcestershire, Dijon, fresh parsley, (we like a little fresh chives) mayo, (egg if needed) old bay.   Dredge them in a little seasoned flower and pan fry them with olive oil and butter.   But the key to making a good crab cake, other than the crab, Is to not over mix it.  Be gentle with it so the lumps of crabmeat don’t break up as much.  I was a chef in MD for years so I made a crab cake or two.  Plus I make them for my wife and daughter.  I like them but don’t love them.  Probably because I got tired of looking at crab cakes all those years.  I’d rather eat scallops or a steak or wings or bbq.  

Well my chives won’t be ready for a month or so.  Why mayo instead of egg wash for the binder?  Never quite understood that.  

Used my new Instant Pot earlier this week for shredded chicken for enchiladas.  Literally went from raw breasts to a pot full of shredded chicken in about thirty minutes. Then slow cooked the meat in the homemade sauce for a couple hours then rolled and popped into the oven with some cheese on top.  
I really like the sauté function.  Pandemic kitchen toy. 

2 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Should we start a pool on who the first Eagle that gets in trouble this spring/summer will be?

It'll be Carson Wentz for posting another hunting picture.

Remember the uproar from some when he posted this: 

 

 

It took a while before folks found out that these are nuisance geese and the Arkansas Fish and Game have no limits on the hunting of these animals, to help local farmers.

39 minutes ago, BigEFly said:

That was the all you can eat at the price of what you ordered and below, right?   Went there with a friend and his brother.  Ordered the crab legs. No way they made money on our table.  We went there starving.  

Went there a bunch as a kid.  It was awesome.   I can't remember how many plates I'd get, but as a teenager, I made sure my parents' got their money's worth.

Crab legs, scallops, shrimp, more crab legs for a lighter course, followed by more scallops, and some fish, just for variety.  Then, repeat with the crab legs, scallops and final crab legs.    That's about how it went.    My sister always went straight crab legs.  She'd be done at about 4 plates.  The mix of other seafood just kept the food going in quickly... crab legs take time.  Sea scallops go down quick.

Guess I'm in the minority with lamb, love it.  Lamb meatballs with tzatziki and mint pesto, braised lamb shanks with wine and herbs, tagine cooked moroccan lamb curry, grilled lamb rack with tapenade butter, lamb shawarma, slow cooked pork shoulder with pomegranate  molasses...

1 minute ago, DEagle7 said:

Guess I'm in the minority with lamb, love it.  Lamb meatballs with tzatziki and mint pesto, braised lamb shanks with wine and herbs, tagine cooked moroccan lamb curry, grilled lamb rack with tapenade butter, lamb shawarma, slow cooked pork shoulder with pomegranate  molasses...

I love minted lamb. Lamb kebabs. Lamb meatballs. 

Just not a fan of roast lamb. Or lamb shank.

39 minutes ago, justrelax said:

Tonkatsu tonight, accompanied by black beans and rice and broccoli rabe.

First had tonkatsu at the venerable Sagami restaurant in Collingswood. Pork cutlet pounded thin, dusted with flour, egg wash, rolled in panko bread crumbs and deep fried. There a number of really good katsu sauces available commercially. On one of my early trips to Sagami 30+ years ago Clint Eastwood was sitting at the next table. I tend to avoid fried foods, especially cooking them but this is a weakness. Cooking for four households tonight and we’ll share over Zoom.

1 hour ago, BigEFly said:

Well my chives won’t be ready for a month or so.  Why mayo instead of egg wash for the binder?  Never quite understood that.  

Why?  Chives are perennial.   Leave them in the ground, and they are ready to go, pretty much year round.

 

My chives are already in bloom.... which is perfect.  I need more pollinators to come to my garden.  I have zucchini, cucumbers and tomatillos coming soon... none of them self-pollinate.   Hoping my old watermelon seeds will pop back to life soon, too.

3 hours ago, Iggles_Phan said:

I was talking with my dad the other day, and he was lamenting that he can't get cows brains any more.  His grandmother used to make it for him as a kid for breakfast... eggs and cows brains.  

 

Make that. 

Not quite. Lurie bought the team from Braman midway through 1994.

My dad used to have eggs and brains as well when he was a kid. I think the whole mad cow disease put the brains market out of business. Too bad brains are a nutrient rich food. To Hunter gatherer cultures animal brains was the most values meat of the animal.

3 hours ago, The guy in France said:

Break both ends off and just blow hard from one end just make sure you don’t hit anybody. Learned this method from my days at Chesapeake Bay Seafood, oh I wish that place would come back, great deal if you can pack it in

My friend used to go every summer to stay with his grandma he had a house on chesepeake bay and he was always telling me about the blue crab.

23 minutes ago, justrelax said:

First had tonkatsu at the venerable Sagami restaurant in Collingswood. Pork cutlet pounded thin, dusted with flour, egg wash, rolled in panko bread crumbs and deep fried. There a number of really good katsu sauces available commercially. On one of my early trips to Sagami 30+ years ago Clint Eastwood was sitting at the next table. I tend to avoid fried foods, especially cooking them but this is a weakness. Cooking for four households tonight and we’ll share over Zoom.

Tonkatsu is so good.  Use the same cooking style just with different spices/sauce/serving for schnitzel (wife's family is German and it's nostalgic for her), but always prefer it with Tonkatsu sauce with sticky rice.

2 hours ago, BigEFly said:

The guys that were rookies last year are a year into being a professional athlete. They are earning a decent living as athletes and have no classes to attend and study for. It is a full time job.  So yes, I expect that Dillard is doing squats to build his leg strength.  I expect that Miller has been doing a pretty full regiment of lifting to go from his 16 rep strength to something closer to Graham’s 31 reps. 

I hope so but 16 to 31 is quite the jump.

2 hours ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Nope.  Get a basset hound 

😄

45 minutes ago, DEagle7 said:

Guess I'm in the minority with lamb, love it.  Lamb meatballs with tzatziki and mint pesto, braised lamb shanks with wine and herbs, tagine cooked moroccan lamb curry, grilled lamb rack with tapenade butter, lamb shawarma, slow cooked pork shoulder with pomegranate  molasses...

Nah, you aren't in the minority.  Quite a few civilizations are built pretty well on lamb and goat.

1 hour ago, BigEFly said:

My cats protect my garden although in the ground I mostly have my herbs and onions.  My neighbor grows lettuce.  I bucket most of my plants that would be susceptible to bunnies. But when the rabbits are in the yard and I am out, my cats are with me and they love to chase rabbits. Grow a little catnip around the perimeter of the garden and the cats will go rub against it. That leaves a scent the bunnies can’t stand and they keep away. My neighbor has an electric bunny fence.  It is a wire about Rabbit ear level.  Jolt like a cattle prod.  That keeps the bunnies out of their garden. 

My cat is 18 years old, way past his prime, hes not good for much these days😞 we have cat nip in the herb garden but he doesnt care about catnip anymore, may be result of his catnip anonymous group😄 my wife read that sticking plastic forks in the dirt around the plants will keep bunnies and other furry pests out. Well see if it works.

1 minute ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Nah, you aren't in the minority.  Quite a few civilizations are built pretty well on lamb and goat.

Fair. Still it was surprising to me when the peak meat shortages hit earlier with COVID what kind of stuff was left.  Couldn't find a chicken breast or ground beef anywhere but lamb was almost fully stocked.  Any kind of pork outside of chops and loins were mostly free.  Shanks, shoulders, etc.  

My labradoodle is our bunny and bird watch dog.   The birds come and go, because there's too much good stuff to eat in my garden.  Meanwhile, I haven't seen any rabbits in my garden all spring.  My dog leaves her scent everywhere around the backyard.   And recently, she's been given access to the walkways between beds and is now leaving a bit of scent there as well.  

13 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Why?  Chives are perennial.   Leave them in the ground, and they are ready to go, pretty much year round.

 

My chives are already in bloom.... which is perfect.  I need more pollinators to come to my garden.  I have zucchini, cucumbers and tomatillos coming soon... none of them self-pollinate.   Hoping my old watermelon seeds will pop back to life soon, too.

Dug a new raised herb garden this year.  Chives from seeds. Starting to sprout.  Before this year, I was growing my herbs in planters so this is a brand new garden for herbs.  Neighbors zucchini and cucumbers are prolific enough to share with me.  One neighbor’s "boyfriend” (81 years old) grows beans and peas and always has more than enough to share.   He works on a fruit and vegetable farm.  He always is bringing me stuff.  I will be sharing my cooking and sauce tomatoes.  Missed out on tomatillos this year.  Considering seeds. 

I have plenty of bees and butterflies. Number of folks with hives close by.