some of you fans of old bay might enjoy this article from the washington
*post* food section:

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100600778.html>

the article notes that there's a facebook page for fans as well:

<http://www.facebook.com/oldbay>

your pal,
blake

"blake murphy" > wrote in message
...
> some of you fans of old bay might enjoy this article from the washington
> *post* food section:
>
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100600778.html>
>

I enjoyed that. I'll never forget the smell of McCormick Spices from the
plant, during my childhood.

On Oct 13, 1:06*pm, blake murphy > wrote:
> some of you fans of old bay might enjoy this article from the washington
> *post* food section:

I wish they'd sell it in smaller amounts. I think I've been on my
original package for twenty years. I rarely think to use it.

I bet all the culinary brains here could come up with a decent
copycat, homemade blend.

blake murphy wrote:
> some of you fans of old bay might enjoy this article from the washington
> *post* food section:
>
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100600778.html>
>
> the article notes that there's a facebook page for fans as well:
>
> <http://www.facebook.com/oldbay>
>
> your pal,
> blake

Good timing for me on this topic Blake.

I made a soup to day starting with the refrigerated vegetables (today is
the weekly trash prep day so anything close goes in the soup), and 1 lb
of well drained (and seasoned) fried/crumbled ground beef. I added ~
1.5 Tbs of old bay as part of the soup spice to the approximately 6 cups
of beef broth (I made using beef soup base), as well as 1 ts of crushed
red pepper.

"Garbage Soup" this iteration...

1/2 head cabbage sliced for a thick shred
1/2 large each green and red pepper diced large
1/2 medium yellow (not sweet) onion diced large
1 bunch broccoli rough chopped
1/2 lb baby carrots ruff diced
one cup cooked mixed beans (I used kidney and garbanzo)
~ 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley


Bring broth to a boil, add hard veggies. lower temp to simmer and wait
till hard veggies are semi tender, add softer veggies, beans, and burger.

Simmer 15 minutes more, turn temp to low, add parsley.

Wait 5 minutes, and serve with peasant bread.

No other spicing needed. And because of the cabbage, did not add rice or
noodles. But since I had a around four Oz of sour cream left that would
have gone into the trash tonight, I put two Tbs Sour cream on top and
stirred into the bowled soup.

Just this weeks soup cook :-) I hate throwing anything away if usable

Bob

On 2009-10-13, Bob Muncie > wrote:

> Good timing for me on this topic Blake.

Off the shelf crab boil spices like OB and Zatarain's are ok, but
they've probably been on some shelf in a depot warehouse, forever.
Make your own:

http://www.gumbopages.com/food/seafood/crab-boil.html

nb

Kalmia > wrote:

>I wish they'd sell it in smaller amounts. I think I've been on my
>original package for twenty years. I rarely think to use it.

I think the idea is to use a whole lot of it in a boiling
pot of water for boiling shellfish.

However, I almost never use it in that fashion. I add it
to red beans and rice, egg salad, potato salad, tuna salad.
It is, I think, the only pre-made spice mixture I routinely
have on hand.

Steve

notbob wrote:
> On 2009-10-13, Bob Muncie > wrote:
>
>> Good timing for me on this topic Blake.
>
> Off the shelf crab boil spices like OB and Zatarain's are ok, but
> they've probably been on some shelf in a depot warehouse, forever.
> Make your own:
>
> http://www.gumbopages.com/food/seafood/crab-boil.html
>
> nb
>

I agree with you nb, assuming you were cooking for a group of people on
a regular basis. I would prefer to have fresh for all individual spices
I would use.

I make a gallon plus of "something" where I use that spice combo (soup,
stew, chowder), and expect to freeze ~ half or more.

I say that as I like a ton of variety, and the kids are grown. So I want
my spices to be as fresh as possible. If you buy the individual spices
in bulk to make these type combos, the spices get old before you can use
the bulk of them. Just my experience.

Bob

Kalmia wrote:

> On Oct 13, 1:06*pm, blake murphy > wrote:
> > some of you fans of old bay might enjoy this article from the
> > washington post food section:
>
> I wish they'd sell it in smaller amounts. I think I've been on my
> original package for twenty years. I rarely think to use it.
>
> I bet all the culinary brains here could come up with a decent
> copycat, homemade blend.

There are recipes out there. Example:

<http://www.recipesecrets.net/blog/recipes/copycat-old-bay-seasoning/>

For certain applications it would be nice to have a version with less
salt. I tried making dip with it, like ranch, but WAY too salty to eat
with salted chips.




Brian

--
Day 253 of the "no grouchy usenet posts" project

"blake murphy" > wrote in message
...

> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100600778.html>
>

Neat. I keep a big tin of the stuff and use it a lot. Never knew the
history of it, though.

"Steve Pope" > wrote in message
...
> Kalmia > wrote:
>
>>I wish they'd sell it in smaller amounts. I think I've been on my
>>original package for twenty years. I rarely think to use it.
>
> I think the idea is to use a whole lot of it in a boiling
> pot of water for boiling shellfish.
>
> However, I almost never use it in that fashion. I add it
> to red beans and rice, egg salad, potato salad, tuna salad.
> It is, I think, the only pre-made spice mixture I routinely
> have on hand.
>

It works better for steaming shellfish.

"Cheryl" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Steve Pope" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Kalmia > wrote:
>>
>>>I wish they'd sell it in smaller amounts. I think I've been on my
>>>original package for twenty years. I rarely think to use it.
>>
>> I think the idea is to use a whole lot of it in a boiling
>> pot of water for boiling shellfish.
>>
>> However, I almost never use it in that fashion. I add it
>> to red beans and rice, egg salad, potato salad, tuna salad.
>> It is, I think, the only pre-made spice mixture I routinely
>> have on hand.
>>
>
> It works better for steaming shellfish.
Yeah.

On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:25:55 -0700 (PDT), Kalmia wrote:

> On Oct 13, 1:06*pm, blake murphy > wrote:
>> some of you fans of old bay might enjoy this article from the washington
>> *post* food section:
>
> I wish they'd sell it in smaller amounts. I think I've been on my
> original package for twenty years. I rarely think to use it.
>

i'm with you there. plus, it's not cheap.

> I bet all the culinary brains here could come up with a decent
> copycat, homemade blend.

lately i've been using zatarain's creole seasoning for stuff i might use
old bay for. it's quite inexpensive.

<http://www.zatarains.com/Products/Spices-and-Extracts/Creole-Seasoning.aspx>

your pal,
blake

On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:06:28 -0400, blake murphy
> wrote:

>some of you fans of old bay might enjoy this article from the washington
>*post* food section:

Although I don't understand the old bay cult I'll say a celery stalk
filled with cream cheese and topped with a generous sprinkling of O-B
is wonderful. Also sprinkled on mac-n-cheese. But as for shrimp and
crab being "wrong" without it: I don't get that.

Lou

blake murphy > wrote:
> some of you fans of old bay might enjoy this article from the washington
> *post* food section:

Interesting article, especially since I just used some Old Bay
last evening. I sprinkled a little on some scallops before I
sauteed them. Only recetly bought the can for some shrimp I was
cooking a few weeks ago. Before that I don't think I've had
any in the kitchen for 20 years or so.

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.