America the Bountiful

Everybody ready?

All right.

Let's do this.

[Capri] The seafood Maryland is most famous for.

[woman] Here, crabby, crabby, crabby, crabbies.

[Capri] How long have you been eating Maryland crab?

Since we're twins, since we could walk.

[Capri] Blue crabs are cemented in the culture and lifestyle here.

[woman] They are a really great tool for bringing people together.

[Capri] The water women of the Chesapeake Bay are guiding an industry forward... [woman] This has been the way of life for us.

I love it.

[Capri] ...and keeping blue crab on the menu...

These crab cakes are making Maryland proud.

...throughout Maryland and beyond.

I am loving it and I don't care how messy it is.

I'm Capri Cafaro and I'm on a mission to uncover the incredible stories of the foods we grow... ...harvest, create... ...and celebrate.

Beautiful, amazing meal.

So, I'm traveling America's backroads to learn our cherished food traditions from those who make them possible... Look at that.

...and are helping keep them alive.

There is so much more to learn.

[man] It's just a tradition here in this area.

-[gunshot] -[woman] Mmm hmm.

[Capri] On "America the Bountiful."

[announcer] America's farmers have nourished us for generations, but today they face unprecedented challenges.

American Farmland Trust works with farmers to help save the land that sustains us.

Together we can work to keep America bountiful.

[Capri] Blue crabs are the most prized bounty of the Chesapeake Bay.

And the state of Maryland, with over 3,000 miles of shoreline is most famous for them.

Catching crabs and picking them for their slightly sweet, delicate meat has been a staple of this place for centuries.

And assembling that meat into crab cakes makes for a quintessential Maryland dish.

Outside of Baltimore and the town of Columbia, twin sisters, Raeshawn and Lashone Middleton are making some of the best crab cakes in the state.

-I'll put some onion.

-You need anything?

No, no, no.

[Capri] When they were homebound during the pandemic and realized no one delivered crabs, they took matters into their own hands and started R&L Crab Company.

The first crab delivery service around.

-There you go.

-Thank you.

-Of course.

-Have a nice one.

Be safe.

I am so fired up because crab cakes are basically synonymous with Maryland.

I know that's what we're going to make today.

We make a crab cake Imperial.

So, yeah, which is a little bit different.

I know that you all are Maryland natives.

How long have you been eating Maryland crab?

Since we could walk.

Yeah, since we were babies.

We've been eating crabs our whole life.

It's just something that our family did as a gathering.

So, then, when we got older and we were able to afford it and buy it ourselves, we just started to buy it and eat it.

Well, now you have your entire crab operation.

Exactly.

So, what's the first thing we got to do?

And I want to help, so I'm going to grab some of these.

-Perfect.

-Absolutely.

Okay, so first things first the mayonnaise.

[Capri] Okay.

This is the main part of the base.

So, with this, it's real simple.

We just add everything in here.

We have some Worcestershire sauce, cholula and sriracha.

Oh, wow.

-So, we got that mix in there.

-A little kick.

So, is this J.O.

or is this Old Bay?

This is Old Bay in this particular recipe.

[Capri] Okay.

Old Bay is a seasoning mix famously associated with Maryland crabs.

J.O.

is a rival brand with more of a local footprint and following.

We are heavy J.O.

users.

We use J.O.

more than anything, but we do use Old Bay on a few things.

Old Bay gives that pepper, that spice.

So, in our crab cakes, it's just like a traditional Old Bay crab cake, you know?

[Capri] So, what's next?

So, this is going to be salt, kosher salt, dry mustard powder.

I love dry mustard powder.

It makes a difference.

[twin] I love it.

We're just fans of mustard.

-Lemon juice.

-Lemon and lime juice.

That's also a little bit different, too.

Yeah, it is.

We try to do a little different.

We have coarse grain green mustard.

We're not playing when it comes to mustard.

So, this is just egg yolks, no whites.

Fresh chopped parsley.

Ah ha.

[twin] Got to have some herbs in there.

So, we're ready to mix up.

And then, we will be adding this to the crab instead of like, vice versa.

We're not going to add the crab meat in it because we want to control how much sauce we put in it.

It's so important to mix the crab very slowly, especially when you're using jumbo lump because you want to keep that jumbo lump together as much as possible.

So, I'm just going to pour a little off top in the beginning.

We're going to pour just a little bit.

Let me get that edge for you there.

-There you go.

-We're going to get that next.

And then we also throw a little breadcrumb on top.

-Just to start.

Not too much.

-Yep.

So, we just, like, go under and kind of fold it in just like that?

[Capri] Yup.

All right, you want to help?

-Yes, I do.

-Let's do this.

All right, I will be gentle with the crab.

[twin] Oh, yeah, that's perfect.

Gentle with the crab.

Look, you're already a pro.

-This looks so, so good.

-That looks so good.

Now, that's a jumbo crab cake right there.

Oh, that is perfect.

That is perfect.

Now, how long do you put these in the oven for?

Going to be about probably 10, 15 minutes.

[Capri] So, I know crab cakes are in the oven.

They're going to take a little bit.

Yes.

But you have another Maryland favorite for me to try, which I am so excited about, because I do actually love me some Maryland crab dip.

[twin] Yes, yes.

-Yes, we do.

-We love it.

So, what do we got going inside this?

Oh, yeah.

So, we like to keep our crab dip very simple.

Yellow onion.

We use some heavy cream as well as some cream cheese.

And then once we melt that cream cheese down, we get some J.O.

and Old Bay.

Gotta do both.

[Capri] We got the two.

J.O.

and Old Bay for seasoning.

And then here we add some claw meant.

The claw meat gives it a little sweeter taste.

Sometimes we do use lump meat as well.

This is actually one of my favorite dishes.

-Oh, yes.

-The crab dip.

So, she actually has to have crab dip everywhere we go.

I like to try it at every seafood place.

I have to see how it tastes.

Mmm.

The nice toast point.

-This is great.

-I got to get in here.

I can taste the seasoning blend.

Nice.

And you're right about the sweetness of the claw meat.

I love the fact that you know your crab so well that you know what's going to work in what.

It's been a journey for us too.

We constantly grow and learn more things.

[Capri] Yeah, the crab dip.

But I know you use it in a couple other things.

Crab deviled eggs where we actually mix the crab dip inside the deviled eggs.

[Capri] Oh, wow.

[twin] We also have a crab grilled cheese as well.

-It's very popular here.

-It's delicious.

And then we also have the crab pizza as well.

We actually use the crab dip as the sauce on the pizza.

[Capri] That's so creative.

[twin] They're like miniature pizza.

-Crab pizza.

-Oh, my gosh.

So, the crab dip is essentially the sauce for this pizza.

-Yes.

-Yes.

So, this is on here?

-Yes.

-Yes.

We have a little roasted tomato on top and some Monterey jack shredded cheese.

-Yeah, get in there.

-Wait.

This is so good.

That's really good.

The tomatoes are a great balance.

Because it is so rich.

This is like a perfect pizza.

This is so cool that you invented this because you are using crab dip in such a different way than I've certainly ever seen, and I think a lot of people have ever seen it, and we still got more crab stuff to eat.

[twin] Those crab cakes are ready to go.

The crab cake.

Here we are.

Oh, my gosh.

What you came here for.

Look at that.

That's right.

I mean, these crab cakes are making Maryland proud.

[twin] Yes, thank you.

They really, really are.

Yes.

We love that.

[Capri] They look perfect.

I mean, perfectly done, perfectly brown.

And you can actually see the lump crab meat in there.

[twin] That's so important.

That's so important to us.

Mmm.

That's may be the best crab cake I've ever had.

Oh, wow.

Thank you.

This is the most crab of any crab cake I've ever had.

I can taste the heat that you put in there.

I can taste the acid, the citrus.

-I can taste that as well.

-For sure.

-And the mustard.

-The mustard.

Those three types of mustard comes through.

I love it.

[Capri] This is so, so good.

[twin] Thank you.

I can't thank you enough for sharing your crab knowledge.

Yes.

Thank you for having us.

And your crab skills with me.

Absolutely.

You all are making Maryland proud.

-Thank you so much.

-It's a pleasure, yeah.

I can't wait to see what you do next.

-Thank you so much.

-It means a lot.

Thank you.

The sisters source their crab from local crab boats run by Chesapeake Bay watermen or in this case, water women.

[woman] This has been the way of life for us.

I love it.

It's like my serenity, my zen out here.

[Capri] Crystal Jordan is the captain of an all-female crabbing crew, which includes her niece and occasionally her son on a boat and a business she inherited from her father.

So, you're bringing up this buoy.

That's how you find where the crab pots are.

Yeah.

So, I got one on the north side and one on the south side, and then I got 24 pots in between on a string.

[Capri] Crabs are harvested by setting cages called pots often baited with fish carcasses.

The pots are connected by rope and marked by buoys and left in the water, usually until the next day, after which the crew returns to pull them up and collect the harvest.

[Crystal] Oh, we fish about 500 pots a day.

How do you know where to place the pots?

So, depending on what time of year it is, it's kind of what depth of water they're in.

Right now they're moving because there's a storm coming in.

Right.

I've had to adjust some of my pots.

They're not going to be in shallow water.

That storm is going to run them out deeper.

So, right now, I'm catching more males than females, and in another two weeks, It'll be all females.

Why?

I would like to say that the males can't hang around that many females.

[laughing] they can't handle them.

You have an all-female crew out here, right?

I do.

I do.

Except for your son.

Yeah.

He comes out every now and again.

He's in school, so.

[Capri] Yeah.

[Crystal] My son and my niece absolutely love being out on the water.

My son's been out here since he was two weeks old.

He actually learned how to walk on the boat.

And then my niece is 17 now.

She loves it.

I'm very proud of her.

Yeah, so this is the first year that I've had an all-female crew.

There is a lot more younger women, younger girls getting involved.

It's changed a lot since you started 17 years ago.

Yeah.

You don't have to really have as much of a filter.

I love it.

Just kind of roll them in there.

Come on, get out, little crabs.

Ah.

sweet.

Don't drop them in the water.

[Crystal] That bait is good.

Put her to work.

[Capri] All right, so this is a female, right?

This will be the female crab here.

It's like their nails are painted.

[Capri] Oh, wow.

[Crystal] So, this is a female.

This is a male.

So, this is a male, But then we got to measure it.

The crabs are measured and sorted by size and sex.

Okay, it's a peeler.

So, what does that mean.

The pink on him, that means it's going to shed into a soft crab soon.

[Capri] Okay, so we go here?

Okay.

So, how many days a week do you come out?

We do generally try and come out six days a week, Monday through Saturday.

Okay.

It is not a 9 to 5 kind of industry.

No, no, no.

It's not what you can get done.

Of course.

Well, I mean, that's-- [Crystal] It's kind of where you're at.

Mother Nature is your boss.

Absolutely.

She is.

What is the crab season?

Crabbing season for Maryland, Maryland is April through November.

It all is based on the water temperature.

So, we're going to get these out so we can get more crabs.

That's right.

They're all re-baited and they're ready to get back in the water.

All right.

Let's do this.

So, she's going to hand her the pot and she has to clip these pots with this right here.

So, every pot she hands has to face the same direction because she has 5 to 10 seconds, depending on how fast she can pull this loop off to get that clip on and throw the pot in.

And the next pot, as soon as it's going in, this rope's coming out.

No room for error.

No pressure, no pressure.

You can always holler at the captain to stop, but when it gets rolling like this, it can push the boat over top of the rope, and then I can get the rope in the wheel, so it can get serious very quick.

Everybody ready?

-All right.

-Let's do this?

And we're off.

That was fast.

You guys made it look so easy.

So, we got-- These ones down here are soft shell.

We got the males.

Got the females.

We have our sponge crabs, which are the pregnant females.

It almost looks like a little sponge right here.

[Capri] What do you do with those?

[Crystal] We throw them back.

They have like, 1,200 eggs.

Wow.

It's like I'm still learning.

So many babies just from that one little crab.

Unbelievable.

Got to be a good steward of the environment.

Good steward of the ecosystem and make sure that everything keeps going.

So, you can continue to get those crabs.

We throw it back so we can have some more babies.

That's right.

You had to learn so much being out here with your dad.

Oh, yeah.

And you know, you learn a lot doing it yourself.

[Capri] At eight years old, Crystal began coming out on the boat to help her father every chance she'd get.

By 13, he was paying her for our hard work.

When my dad got diagnosed with the brain cancer, I was 18 into 19.

I was 20 years old when he passed.

So, I was 20 years old when I started running it.

That was hard.

I have his glasses.

They're still hanging on the wires 'til this day.

A little piece of him comes with you.

He's out here 17 years later.

I'm out here, and I think I can officially say that I've been successful.

Luckily, I got that drive from him.

[Capri] Crystal represents the many water men and women of the Chesapeake Bay who sell their crabs to retailers and restaurants throughout the state, where patrons can experience crabs in classic Maryland fashion: steamed and ready for picking.

Joyce White is one of the foremost food historians in Maryland, and an expert in crabs in the Chesapeake region.

[Capri] That is serious.

Wow.

Now, can you tell what kind of crabs these are?

Male versus female?

Do you know?

Where you have to turn them over?

You can see by the bottom a female will have a much larger apron.

Okay, so these are male?

Now, if we were to go back in history, how do you think people would be eating steamed crabs like this?

How would they attack getting access to something which, let's be honest, is a little bit-- looks a little tricky and pretty awkward?

It is.

It's definitely tricky and awkward.

I think that crabs would have been attacked in a similar fashion to the way we do it today.

There's really only one way to do it.

First, is pull off the big claws in the front and then I pull off the little legs, but not the backs.

Just I can already tell this is a process.

-It's a messy process.

-Yeah.

So, the claw meat, the stronger tasting meat, it's the brown meat.

You just take your mallet, and I like to-- You just want to do, like, one or two strategic.

And you're right, here it is.

It's darker.

[Joyce] You can even just dip it into one of the bowls we have here.

[Capri] A number of different enhancers.

[Joyce] We have butter, vinegar and crab seasoning.

You can just even eat it right off.

It's sweet.

These are good crabs.

These are very good crabs.

And, you know, I've always heard that Old Bay is, you know, the Maryland Spice, the go-to.

Old Bay was developed in 1940 by Gustav Bruun, a German-Jewish refugee, and is believed to contain a mix of celery salt, paprika, mustard powder, cayenne white and black pepper along with ground bay leaves, cinnamon cloves and nutmeg.

[Joyce] What's interesting is that this is a mixture of savory and sweet spices.

Old Bay is so beloved here in Maryland that we use it to flavor so many savory dishes.

Yeah.

So, even though this tradition of using sweet spices in savory dishes is not common, it sure is when it comes to Old Bay.

So, let's get into the middle, because I feel like the claws, that seemed pretty straightforward.

So, now what do we do?

So, now you take-- I like to take my knife, but you can just do it with your finger.

Just pop the apron back and pull it off.

[Capri] Got that.

And then there's like this opening here, pull the shell all the way back, and hopefully it will come off in one piece, and then you want to clean it out.

[Capri] Because there are some nasty bits in here too.

Yes, they're the gills or lungs.

That's pretty good.

You can see right here we've got the body meat, which is the best part.

-You're using a mallet.

-Yeah.

So, what I like to do is just hit it a little bit just to loosen it up.

Mm-hmm.

If you want to get the jumbo lump, which is this meat right here, the best way to do it, is to pull the back fin off with it.

That way it will be as whole as possible.

But that is the best part of the crab.

That is the crab meat that's used to make the most expensive crab cakes, jumbo lump or lump, which is sort of broken pieces of the jumbo or any parts of the the white part of the body meat.

You see it on the menu anywhere in the world, and it's called Maryland crab cakes, right.

I'm curious about, maybe if there are any origin stories, any recipes that have been documented about crab cakes, or even any other crab dishes in Maryland, that can be traced back?

Yeah, that's an interesting question because crab cakes themselves, the recipes for them, you don't really start seeing documented until the late 19th century.

I'm sure they were made before that, but recipes in folk culture can exist just through observation and imitation before they're ever written down.

I am loving it.

I don't care how messy it is.

[Joyce] Crabs are a really great tool for bringing people together.

Everybody gets their crab mallet and their knife and the papers laid down and you share the experience with other people.

And it's slow so you have a captive audience there for telling stories and just enjoying each other's company.

[Capri] In addition to steaming, crabs often bring people together around another time-honored Maryland favorite: crab soup.

Descended from indigenous dishes and first appearing on recipes around 1800 as a vehicle for leftover crabs, crab soup has become another staple of Maryland's culinary identity, with regional variations throughout the state.

While crabbing operations sell most of their catch to market, oftentimes they'll reserve some for their own families.

Crystal Jordan's mom, Lee, as a transplant to Maryland, first learned to make crab soup from Crystal's father.

And Crystal has been enjoying this dish at family gatherings since she was two years old.

[woman] It's probably a million variations because it's basically vegetable soup with with crab meat.

[Capri] And that's the thing, everybody has their own version, you know, but the crab is that continuity, that makes it Maryland.

And Maryland crabs have their own taste.

That is fact.

[woman] And then, of course, Old Bay.

You've got to have the Old Bay.

That's like the main ingredient.

Old Bay is basically like a cult classic of Maryland.

Like, Maryland and Old Bay are synonymous.

It's its own special sauce that is just Old Bay.

It's like, it's not paprika, it's not garlic salt.

I don't know what it is, but it's like magic dust.

So, you cooked all of the vegetables?

[woman] Vegetables get cooked first.

[Capri] Make a stock?

[woman] Right.

To make a stock.

And the canned tomatoes from our garden.

Love it.

And we got what, carrots, celery, potatoes.

It can't be a soup without those things.

Corn, which I love.

Green beans.

What is this, kidney beans?

[woman] These are lima beans and peas.

Always been her favorite.

I usually make the bowl full if I want to add that.

Put in lima beans.

Lima beans is new to me.

I was like, why didn't I ever think of this?

Love the corn.

And then some celery.

This is the best part.

Home grown tomatoes.

You got your homegrown tomatoes that you've canned yourself.

You got homemade stock from the vegetables as well.

And then you got crab meat from crabs that you actually harvested yourself.

So, it's literally, garden to table, farm to table, water to table.

Water to table.

[woman] For the crockpot, it's usually just about a tablespoon and a half.

We've always liked a little kick, so we put a little cayenne pepper in there.

Love a little kick.

Everything is better with a little bit of spice.

The main ingredient was steamed and picked prior to going into the soup.

But since I caught these things, I'm going to put them in.

These crabs were actually harvested two days ago.

We picked them.

We just got some of them.

That's fresh.

So, we-- Yeah.

We enjoy that.

[Capri] Wow.

And I can see a little bit of the-- Like, the darker meat is the claw.

[Crystal] Yeah, so you've got some claw mixed in there.

It's mostly lump.

We get that all stirred up there.

All right.

Look at all that crabmeat.

That looks fantastic.

[woman] It's going to taste good.

I cannot wait to try this.

[Crystal] And my dad would say, "Now we can eat."

And now we can eat.

Let's give this a try.

Fresh, I would say incredibly fresh.

Old Bay comes through.

The crab is so fantastic.

You're truly advertising here Crystal.

Like, obviously you do catch some of the best crabs I guess around.

It's got a kick.

It does have a kick.

How do you guys like it?

Yeah.

Is it one of your favorites?

[man] Oh, yeah.

You don't hear no complaints over here.

How old were you when you first went on a boat?

I was roughly eight years old and attempting to work.

The pots are bigger than you.

I don't know how you were doing that.

You make it look so easy though now.

I blame that on going to work every day.

I started to build up the muscle.

What's the biggest thing you learn out there on the water?

That nothing comes easy.

What makes you coming back?

I like it.

The water is my happy place.

Yeah.

I hear so much of your Aunt Crystal.

You say the same thing, right?

The water is your happy place.

Yeah.

I think we're on a boat more than we're on land.

You really are preserving a family tradition, passing on this art of catching crabs.

What do you see for the future of, you know, the crab industry here?

I think our industry is pretty strong.

I know there's regulations and stuff put in place to grow better population, but it is growing and has been growing.

So, as long as we have our generational water men, I think we'll begin.

And water women.

[Capri] And water women, obviously.

I think the future is pretty bright [Capri] It's hard to find a state more closely tied to food than Maryland and crabs.

As family and friends carry on the ritual of the crab feast and the industry propels forward in capable , ambitious and youthful hands, Marylanders will continue their passion for the most celebrated catch of the Chesapeake Bay.

But why take my word for it, when you can come experience it for yourself.

"America The Bountiful" is waiting for you and me.

For more information visit Americathebountifulshow.com.

[announcer] America's farmers have nourished us for generations, but today they face unprecedented challenges.

American Farmland Trust works with farmers to help save the land that sustains us.

Together we can work to keep America bountiful.