What's the Recipe Hunt All About?

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Vice President, Board of Trustees, Hammond-Harwood House Museum

Independent Food Historian Operating A Taste of History with Joyce White

My fondest memory of a Maryland food is selling Lemon Sticks (lemons stuck with peppermint sticks) at swim meets in my Annapolis neighborhood. I sold thousands of them over the ten years I ran our team's concession stand. Sucking the lemon juice up through the soft peppermint stick made for a sticky mess on a hot summer's day; luckily, sticky fingers and faces wash off easily in the pool!

My most challenging Maryland food taste experience was eating muskrat on the Eastern Shore. But I found muskrat jambalaya quite tasty!

Senior Director of Special Collections, Conservation, & Library Services, State Archives

I grew up in a land-locked part of the country. My first truly "Maryland" food memory was with a group who took me to Cantler's for steamed blue crabs. I was very surprised by the wooden mallet. The crabs were delicious, but my memory is tied to the whole community experience of eating crabs on a deck with corn on the cob and other side dishes.

Mayor's Office, City of Annapolis
African American Community Services Specialist

My favorite Maryland food is crab cakes.

Vice President, Friends Banneker-Douglass Museum, Annapolis MD

M.S. Ed. Instructional Technology  The Johns Hopkins University

Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration & Business University of Baltimore

Growing up in Anne Arundel County, I spent summers with my grandparents in the St. Margaret area of the County.  Crabbing, crab picking, and crab cakes were staples of our Saturday activities and Sunday meals.  Spending my Saturday with my grandmother picking crabmeat for our Sunday crab cakes remains my favorite memory.

Independent Researcher

My all time favorite Maryland recipe is Gertie's crab cake. I like it because the natural taste of the lump crab meat is not hidden due to over seasoning. Plus, Gertie's crab cake is always fresh and broiled to perfection. According to Gertie's grandson, John Shields, owner of Gertrude's Chesapeake Kitchen, the recipe is a lightly spiced mixture of mayonnaise and egg that is bound together by small amounts of cracker crumbs.

Executive Director, Laurel Historical Society

My favorite Maryland food memory isn't particularly historic but I couldn't imagine a hot Maryland summer without one - the snowball!   As a kid and used to carnival-type snow cones, my mind was blown when I saw that you can add chocolate syrup and marshmallow fluff! I am always on the lookout for a brightly-painted shack on the side of the road and scan the menu for refreshing fruity favorites. It is a tradition my family continues to enjoy and has introduced to many out-of-state relatives and friends. 

Executive Director, Riversdale House Museum

Independent Researcher & Maryland Cookbook Chronicler

Old Line Plate Website and Blog 

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My favorite Maryland food memory is picking blackberries with my grandmother along the roads of Greenbelt and baking them into a pie which we'd eat straight out of the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. A day’s work with a big, sweet payoff.

Supervising Archaeologist, WSP USA

Culinary Anthropologist/Chef

Many of my fondest food memories growing up was cooking with my grandmothers. The memories of my mother’s mother are the strongest, and I can remember helping her pit cherries for her famous spiced cherries (blood red fingers for days!). Also helping pick crabmeat from the blue crabs we caught off the end of the dock all summer. But perhaps the strongest memory was helping her clean turtles to make Creamed Terrapin, which was my grandfather’s favorite. Cleaning the meat out of a turtle is no mean feat because they have lots of bones and cartilage. One had to be very careful to extract all of the edible meat, and I remember feeling proud at being considered old and skillful enough to help. The lean meat was sautéd in butter and then mixed into a creamy white sauce, garnished with hard-boiled eggs and flavored with a splash of sherry. We still had a Terrapin in the freezer (at least a decade old) when we finally sold the house on the Elk River. Rather then throwing it out, I gifted to an archaeologist friend, who defleshed the bones/shell and added it to a his faunal identification collection. Always got a kick that my grandfather’s last turtle ended up advancing scientific research.

Office & Events Manager, Hammond-Harwood House Museum

As a nonnative, who recently moved to Maryland from Greece, I am excited about creating new traditions and memories. If Maryland had a taste, for me it would be crabmeat with Old Bay Seasoning. I love the taste of warm, fresh crab cakes. The image of your beloved friends and family sitting together around a table with paper tablecloth while laboriously picking crab meat out of the crabs, and the joy this gives you, has resonated with me. In fact, adding Old Bay Seasoning to my Greek lentil soup has become a recipe with a Maryland twist in my kitchen!

Executive Director, Hammond-Harwood House Museum

In 1973, when we were just married, my husband and I moved to Annapolis. We rented a tiny apartment on Green Street. One of our favorite places to eat was Old Towne Seafood, at the bottom of Main Street near where Hats in the Belfry is now. We learned a lot about Maryland seafood at that diner -- crabcakes, rockfish, oysters. When we marveled at the broiled oysters, the cook gave us his simple recipe: Open oysters and lay them on a baking sheet; top each with a slice of cheddar cheese and a piece of cooked bacon. Broil until the cheese melts and the oyster sides curl up a bit. Serve with a dash of hot sauce. Over the years, Old Towne Seafood disappeared but we made oysters this way many times. When our now-grown children come back to visit, this is one preparation they always ask for.

Trustee, Hammond-Harwood House Museum

Secretary, Board of Trustees, Hammond-Harwood House Museum

Trustee, Hammond-Harwood House Museum

Trustee, Hammond-Harwood House Museum

Executive Director, Marietta House Museum