PHILLIPS SEAFOOD 50TH ANNIVERSARY

August 29, 2006
Show #509

For Marylanders of a certain age one of life's great rites of passage was your first solo trip to Ocean City complete with a dinner at Phillips Restaurant. You may have been eager to discard all traces of parental influence, but once you bit into a crabcake you bought with your own money... it was hard to argue with your parents' idea of good eating. This year Phillips turns 50, which offers a good opportunity to look back on their influence.

Starting out in 1956 as a crab house in Ocean City offering classic Eastern Shore dishes (the recipes were Shirley Phillips own), the restaurant flourished and slowly expanded. In the 70's it came to Harbor Place in Baltimore where tourists from all over the world had a chance to sample Maryland's legendary crab dishes. It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that Phillips consolidated the idea of Maryland cooking and presented it to the world, which quickly took notice.

Another contribution Phillips has made is technical in nature. Needing additional sources for shrimp, the restaurant scouted the Far East. They noticed fisherman discarding crabs from their nets, and those crustaceans bore an uncanny resemblance to the Maryland Blue Crab. They were taste tested and approved, but getting the meat back half way around the world was a challenge. So Phillips developed a new way of pasteurizing the meat to stand up to a long sea voyage.

Donald Manning, who works for Phillips told us his favorite way to prepare a crab cake, and we think he's spot on. Mix all the non-crab ingredients first, then add in claw meat and gently blend it in. Top that off with lump meat and very gently work that into the mixture, and cook away. Sounds very smart to us.

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