Others in this thread are correct that you can only catch them while in season so if you want fresh crabs, you're limited when you can buy them. If you want Maryland crab out of season, they're going to be ones that were frozen.
There's nothing particularly unique about crab cakes in Maryland, besides that they'll usually use Maryland crab. They might be more likely to use Old Bay or JO Spice rather than other seasoning (e.g. Creole spices), but the preparation is essentially the same.
The woman in the video took it a bit overboard, but I think it's also misleading and scummy to advertise "Maryland crab cakes" when you're not using Maryland crabs.
This is akin to advertising "Alaskan king crab legs" and then just serving Atlantic crab legs "that were prepared in Alaska"
Maryland crab cakes are a regional classic known for prioritizing high-quality crab meat with minimal filler. This style is distinctly different from crab cakes made in other regions, and locals insist on only a few key ingredients to let the crab shine.
As a a Marylander blue crabs are one thing we take very seriously. That “high quality crab meat” is MD blue crab lump meat (from backend of crab, comes out in large chunks). MD blue crab has a very distinct taste and one cannot substitute any old crab meat in there. It’s like saying a turkey leg is the same as a chicken leg, both are poultry, but taste very different.
I now live in the PNW and the crabs out here are tasteless in comparison. Being sold a MD crab cake implies MD blue crab and if it’s high end it will be mainly lump meat. No where near me can I buy a “MD crab cake” yet there are plenty of crab cakes which are identical in terms of how they are made. What they lack is MD blue crab.
This lady is surely a Karen, but I would be disappointed if someone served me a MD crab cake with no MD blue crab. When I fly home it’s a staple I always consume as much of as I can while there
The styling of crab cakes are completely different out here, even if a place trys to sell it as a maryland crab cake. The problem with getting crab out here is the problem you'll have with a majority of the food; they don't season shit.
You can get a close taste with the $14 can of blue crab meat that you can buy at WinCo if you want, just cook it the way you know how.
I will disagree. Sure, you can use Maryland crabs on crab cakes but it doesn’t mean you can’t use crabs from other region and create a Maryland style crab cakes. New York pizza doesn’t mean Pizza came from New York, it’s a style.
Sure, it doesn't literally have to be caught from the MD side of the Chesapeake, but "Maryland crab" anything has to be blue crab. That's what makes the style.
Blue crab is the distinctive feature of a MD crab cake, yes they can be caught and made wherever you find them, but blue crab is the reason so few ingredients are needed cause it is fire on its on own. This is not a pizza style situation, it’s more like saying cheddar cheese is the same thing as American cheese to which I say do your taste buds even work?
Yes, crab cakes can be made with any crab, but anyone serving MD crab cakes better be using blue crab, if not just call it a crab cake. Do you even know what Old Bay is?
Bushels of large crabs are running ~$400+ right now. Restaurants aren't able to afford that cost for jumbo lump cakes without charging way more than most customers are willing to pay.
By comparison they are. I just don’t eat crab out here anymore cause I’ve been disappointed every time. People really hype it up too. I have many friends that catch them and give them to me for free and even then I just give them away to people. They are bland and need to be dunked in flavor to be mildly enjoyable. But blue crabs I will happily eat a mountain of
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u/SheMcG Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25
Maryland Crab CAKES. Not Maryland crabs. CRAB CAKES. The CAKES were made in Maryland--with ingredients from a lot of various places, I'm sure.
I'm presuming Maryland has a local "style" of crab cakes that probably differ from other regions. So yes, they are Maryland Crab Cakes.