DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
58 comments:
Not at Victorias seafood in ocean city! They use only crabmeat packed in Hoopersville, Md. They dont get their crabmeat from halfway round the world when the best is right here!
Try finding any kind of canned, or otherwise, Maryland Crab Soup at Food Lion or Walmart. No problem finding all kinds of New York or Manhattan clam chowder.
21st century. Hell, it was being done in the 20th century too. Phillips did it, then others in OC followed.
Apr-Oct Assawoman Bay is where my crabmeat and clams come from...and they are sooooooooooooooooo good!!!!!
Considering who owns this business, is it any surprise?
Acme sells imported crabmeat.(They also have local.) I unwittingly bought the imported in Super Fresh several years ago, and it was so bad I wouldn't give it to the cat. I got my money back, and the cashier said that many people had come in for refunds. I can't believe a restaurant would serve it.
Raw sewage gives it more flavor.
It's too early for MD crabs anyway at least until the end off May you'll be eating import.
I agree with above. Victoria's in OC. Their crabmeat comes from Lindy's Seafood yes from Hoopersville. It's the best. Their MaryEllen brand is to die for. They were picking again but the crabs were from Louisiana and not from yes half way around the world.
Harris Teeter sells the imported crap too. This is why I can't understand why everyone thinks that place is so wonderful. They sell the same thing every single other store does.
there is plenty of fresh local crab meat available all ove the shore...even local that is 'canned' is Very good for wintertime. Metompkin in Crisfield has it. We have been buying from them for many years.
Do they switch over when local crabs become available is the question.
Maybe, as a group, we could list the restaurants that have the nerve to serve 'imported' crab meat. It would benefit all of us.
I don't buy any seafood from Asia. Its basically raised and processed in the sewer. Shame on the restaurant for serving this garbage.
Damn, Debbie!
I have been buying from Southern Connection in Crisfield & Ocean City for years and they always have delicious local crab meat
Hello, Sysco sells almost exclusive Byrds, and as a driver, I promise most EVERY restaurant uses it. Yes, even Captains Galley, BJ's, Hanna's etc. This time of year, it's hard to beat, and the expiration is hard to beat. Wake up, when you see the large lumps, it's not from Maryland.
Try How Sweet It Is in Eden, MD. That is where I go to get mine.
Does anyone know where to purchase soft shelled crabs? Just the bodies (no legs), a friend of mine got some last year from Crisfield, I think (stumbled on it by accident) but we can no longer find the place.
Cheaper to catch it and ship it half-way around the world, than to catch and sell it here. So, what's wrong with that picture? Even worse, the watermen selling the overpriced crabs, that they harvest from state waters for free, complain about the price they get for the crabs. I quit buying local crabs when they went over $100 a bushel. I catch my own, or I don't eat them. That crap from overseas is loaded with preservatives* and I won't eat that stuff. *See comment from the Sysco driver above.
12:58 Not surprised about BJ's and Harpoon Hannah's but I am shocked that Captains Galley (known for their famous crab cakes) would use this stuff.
Let me see if I understand this right . This is blue crab meat , crabs are not running here at the present . So crab meat is crab meat . Where are we suppose to purchase crab meat from the shore? Blue crabs are found pretty much through out the world. The shore has them during the season , period . Having been in the seafood business for 24 years , this is a practice all thru America.
Fratelli's doesn't.
Maybe if the crabbers where not rip offs on there pricing they would buy local.
A product of globalization.
go in the back room at busters and you will find out where all their junk seafood comes from
It's not an uncommon practice and it has been going on for years. Explain how a crab house can open in March if crabs are not in season here until May? WAKE UP. Most of it is imported. Even the restaurants who claim to have local 90% of the time do not. FRESH, LOCAL, And Honest is most of the time a marketing ploy for you to spend and extra $3 on anything.
I'll take my business elsewhere now. Thank you for letting us know.
Restaurants have been doing this a long time. They do it all year long not just when local crab meat is available. I have stopped getting any type of crab meat if we go out to eat because of that. The foreign stuff makes me sick each time I eat it. I used to ask but 9 times out of 10 i was told it was not local. Sams club is another one famous for saying it was packaged locally but the crab meat is NOT local. You really have to pay close attention to where the crab meat comes from not just where it is packaged.
12:19 That is why the crabs from The Wicomico river are so tasty.
They have softshells at how sweet it is.....
This is Tom Ruark's company so his restaurants will only use Byrd crab meat.
Pauls pizza has awesome crab pizza.
Sureeeeeeee
If its good enough for Ruth Chris its good enough for me.
We only buy crabmeat in season and from the actual picking/packing house. Worth the drive.
I guess a lot of these people did not grow up on the water like me. there are no crabs this time of year. They head south like the birds. Any crabmeat sold as local is bullshit. And if they are picking them in MD, they are imported and may not be that fresh anyway. So, who cares if it comes from Indonesia. Phillips, Byrds and others get it from there in the offseason.
If you want local, buy it from May to October.
They do, the Byrd's jumbo lump, more than you can fathom.
They use fake, note the pink viens.
3:51 You are certainly a product of drinking the local water and failures of the education system. Crabs do not migrate south like birds. They bury themselves in the mud on the bottom.
"When the water temperature starts to fall and the days start getting shorter, the blue crab retreats to deep water and burrows into the muddy or sandy bottom to spend the winter."
PLEASE...post a list of places that sell this junk to unknowing diners. I have loved Fratellis crab cakes and someone is now saying it is this crap. YOU MUST tell us. No more dining at the places that people have listed.
239 thank you but Not the ones with the.bodies only. .no legs
Which one?
When the local crabs are being sold for $100 a bushel that means the crabber is being paid no more than $50. That is for #1's, which are about 5% of the catch. The number 2's and sooks make up the rest and go for $12 to $20 a bushel. Don't know who told you that Watermen don't pay the state for the "privilege" of fishing but that is not true either, you pay, then you have to fill out mountains of paperwork stating where all your pots are set and how much you are catching. A rain suit is $200, a pair of gloves is $15, good boots run over $100 and plan to buy a washer load worth of thermal underwear that you will need to wash every day after work. Pay for gas($100/day), the boat($5k), the motor($15k), the repairs, the dock to tie up at, the bushel baskets($4 each), the bait($160/day), a truck to transport everything in. Pay for all the safety gear the coast guard requires then all the special equipment DNR requires. If you are missing either of those expect several hundred in fines at least. The cost of the crab pot wire just went up 10% last week, the price of the zinc bars we use to keep them from rusting went up the week before that. It now costs over $40 per pot by the time it's complete. Then the moron tourists run them over in their rental boats and cut off the corks and the pot is lost. That's about 1 pot every weekday and double it on the weekends. You are limited on pots in the Chesapeake based on your license (aka how much $ you paid the state). You are limited in the Assawoman to 300 pots, no more than 25 bushels (which you will only catch in the fall when the crabs are cheap), and you can only pull pots from sun up to 2. If it is a bad season for crabs and you can't make ends meet you had better keep crabbing for a loss or the state will see that you didn't crab and revoke your license. Guys who couldn't crab because they were battling cancer have had the state yank their license. So you do the math. If you still think that Watermen are making a ton of money then get up at 4:30 tomorrow and take my place.
If you grew up on the water you would know the crabs bury in the mud and hibernate... they do not migrate.
Haha. I replied directly to the comment before I saw your response. I like yours better.
Metompkins and Southern Connection in Crisfield...in the winter they sell the canned that they canned themselves during the crab season. It is very good and doesn't have that horrible odor that the junk crab has.
During the crab season, they have fresh, of course...they continue to sell the cans that is to be stored in the fridge and the fresh used immediately or store in the freezer for up to 6 months...the cans in the fridge can be stored for up to 12 mos. in the fridge...
So, we're all about crabs in the Chesapeake that live in the mud, at the mouth of rivers with overflowing sewer, but afraid of carribean water. Got ya. Likes been said, very easy to tell when it's imported, usually when it's the larger lumps, little flavor without the old bay, mustard, lemon etc. When it looks good, it's not from MD. The other hint (I owned a restaurant for 29 years) is when it's (crab dishes) available anytime, including when the customer volume is down, no restaurant can afford the waste of fresh, pasteurized all the way.
I was about to argue with you about water quality in foreign countries but after looking up Singapores regulations they appear to be much better than ours both for environmental protection and manufacturing.
Hey all you marine biologists, only the jimmies stay north of maker 17, the sooks DO HEAD SOUTH where they need salty water to spawn.
If you don't know, shut up. Its better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt. I've lived on the bay my whole life, I know what I'm talking about. And you can't tong for crabs, either. Damn mainlanders! Get your string and chicken necks and read about the 'beautiful swimmers.'
955 I'm curious as to where the carribbean came into play during this discussion
11:41 How many tooths you got?
I don't need a family portrait to get a full set like you.
This is absolutely ridiculous. Moronic when Crisfield is only a short drive away. Its completely unacceptable. Any local restaurant serving this crap should be boycotted out of business.
If you've eaten it AND YOU WERE HAPPY WITH IT, why are you saying you won't eat it anymore?? Obviously it was good!
Where do you think Phillips' stuff comes from???
You people are all idiots...do any of you have any idea how much crab meat is consumed on the shore.....there wouldn't be a crab left in the bay...Maryland didn't invent the Blue Crab.....it's everywhere on the east coast...and most of you couldn't tell the difference if you didn't know in the first place...if you want real crab meat...Stone Crab claw meat is far above a Blue Crab...and you don't kill the crab to get it.....you people make me laugh...
so much for Handy crabmeat too > look were they get theirs !!!
It's the buyer at that dock that makes the money not the waterman. When #1 are going for $160+ per bushel they pay the waterman $50.00 per bushel tops and he is the one with the most out of pocket expenses. Don't be fooled that the waterman is making all the money. Go to the dock yourself and find out don't take my word for it.
They don't eat the crabs in Indonesia Muslims do not eat shell fish so they are there by the millions it's a cheap source of crab meat
Southern Connection does indeed produce canned crabmeat that is picked and sealed during the season to sell in winter months.In fact,they sell it all over the country via internet and phone orders.
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