Crabs are not the same without Old Bay seasoning.
As any self-respecting Marylander can tell you, seafood is not the same without a hefty dose of Old Bay seasoning. Used in crab and shrimp boils, as an ingredient in crabcakes, to spice up corn on the cob and even occasionally used in ice cream, zesty Old Bay is a Chesapeake Bay country staple. If you have allergy concerns, however, you may need to know the ingredients of Old Bay before you can indulge.
Celery Salt
Containing salt and celery seeds, celery salt imparts that celery taste without the chopping. Used on its own, celery salt is useful for flavoring beef or pork roasts, chicken, potato salad and vegetables. Celery salt is an ingredient in a tasty bloody mary.
Mustard
One of the oldest and most widely-used spices, mustard has been a spice rack staple since the ancient Greeks made it an everyday spice and recommended it for muscular problems thousands of years ago. Mustard's piquant quality makes it useful as a pickling spice as well as to zest up spice mixtures like Old Bay.
Red and Black Pepper
The profusion of red and black pepper is what gives Old Bay its kick. Made from ground capsicum peppers, red or cayenne pepper is what lends that characteristic "hot" flavor to traditional dishes from Mexico, Creole/Cajun regions of the U.S., Thailand, the Szechuan region of China and India. If you prefer an extra kick to your dishes, add even more red pepper to your Old Bay.
Bay Leaves
Bay leaves are the leaves of the laurel tree, grown primarily in the Mediterranean region. Pungent and bitter, they are widely used in American and French cooking to spice up soups and stews and various meat and vegetable dishes.
Cloves
Originating in Indonesia, whole cloves are actually dried flower buds. With a sweet and spicy quality, cloves lend themselves well to dishes that contain pumpkin, squash and apples. Whole cloves are also often used to stud the outside of a ham, both decorating and flavoring it.
Allspice
Actually a berry from the pimento tree, allspice is so named because it is said to taste like a combination of nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon. Columbus thought allspice berries were a kind of pepper and brought them back to Spain from the West Indies. Today, most allspice comes from sunny Jamaica.
Ginger
Best known for its use in Asian dishes, ginger comes from a knobby root with tan skin and pale green-white flesh. Ginger has a taste that is both peppery and sweet and is used in many sweet dishes like gingerbread, ginger snaps and ginger ale, in the U.S.
Mace
Not to be confused with the weapon sprayed in unsuspecting assailants' faces, mace is the the covering of a nutmeg seed, usually sold ground. It is similar in flavor to nutmeg itself but is a bit stronger and more acrid.
Cardamom and Paprika
A staple in many Indian dishes, cardamom comes in pods that should be discarded. The seeds are ground for use in most dishes, but seed pods help preserve freshness until you grind the seeds. Cardamom has a strong spicy sweet flavor. Vivid red-orange paprika is made from ground, dried sweet peppers. Its flavor varies from mild to hot depending on the class of paprika.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is likely found in nearly every kitchen in the U.S. Coming from the inside bark of a tropical evergreen, cinnamon is sold both in whole (bark) and ground forms at nearly all grocers. The sweet, warm flavor of cinnamon lends itself to many desserts and sweet drinks.
Tags: celery salt, comes from, from ground, pepper what, same without
