Adding to the yearly celebration of crab is the Annual Talbot County Crab Cook-Off, at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels. Chefs from around the county are encouraged to enter unique and delectable dishes spotlighting the Maryland blue crab.
“All chefs in Talbot County are invited to participate,” says Nina Wahl, tourism coordinator for the county. “While it’s hard to meet a blue crab you can’t enjoy, this competition allows them to show the many ways it
can be prepared. And chefs like this because it lets them be creative and present more sophisticated crab dishes.”
The Talbot County Crab Cook-Off's 2008 winner, Chef Michael Quattrucci, won by one point with his unique four-way crab dish. “It was up to us to cook what we wanted,” says Quattrucci. “I wanted to surprise everyone with a study of crab: a four-way plate that included jumbo lump crab lettuce wraps, Maryland lump crab cake on butter and sugar creamed corn, jumbo lump crab gazpacho, and crab ravioli with sherry-bacon vinaigrette. This was just my way of celebrating crab.”
Whichever dish brings home the gold this time around, it, too, is sure to be a celebration of Maryland crab, and its creator the proud winner of the much-coveted Crab Cup, “which they keep for one year, and a special chef’s coat to commemorate their win,” explains Wahl.
And while the event looks to honor local chefs, it also hopes to bring recognition to the blue crab as a valuable natural resource. While there’s no denying its popularity, for all who love the tasty crustacean,
they must also be cognizant of its plight. In recent years, Maryland’s blue crabs—and the crabbers who har vest them—have been threatened by major declines in stock. According to the 2008 Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Advisory Report, the 2007 bay-wide crab harvest of 43.5 million pounds is the lowest recorded since 1945; the 2007 Maryland harvest of 23.7 million pounds is the second lowest.
Much of this loss has come not only from the increased harvesting due to consumer demands, but from harmful excess nutrients that create a loss of submerged aquatic vegetation habitat, which young crabs require for shelter and food during their development. To reverse this, long-term planning has been implemented in several areas, including fishery management, bay grass restoration, and nutrient
pollution reduction.
A state icon, Maryland’s blue crabs are truly synonymous with summer along the Chesapeake. And with careful monitoring from organizations such as the Department of Natural Resources and awareness efforts like that of the Talbot County Crab Cook-Off, this Free State treasure will thrive once again.
Find out more:
For more information about this year’s cook-off, visit www.tourtalbot.org or call 410-770-8000.
Latest Comments