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Chesapeake Bay Brand Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes
A while back, we reviewed Chesapeake Bay Brand's Crab Cakes as part of a crab cake throwdown. You can read the review for their lower end crab cake, but suffice it to say, things didn't go well. Which was disappointing, as these are the same folks who sell those gourmet crab cakes on QVC that got really good reviews. But if you take a closer look, the product being sold online is for the Jumbo Lump crab cakes. We reviewed the regular version! Talk about comparing apples to oranges! But sitting alongside that regular variety were the Jumbo Lump crab cakes. Granted, the ones you get from QVC will probably not be frozen, but it should still be the same product. So did they live up to the expectation? Read on and find out!
In the package are 2 - 4 oz crab cakes, and yes, they are packaged in ZipLoc bags. The cakes are made of jumbo lump crab meat, backfin crab meat, whole eggs, no salt soda cracker crumbs, mayonnaise, margarine, no salt Worcestershire sauce, water, mustard, seasonings (salt, ground mustard, ground celery seed, ground red pepper, paprika, whole thyme, crushed red pepper), baking power, and parsley.
Cooking instructions are to cook them from frozen at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes. Brush with mayo, butter or margarine if you so desire. 20 minutes is, of course, a guideline as we had to cook ours for 25 minutes. They still didn't get very golden brown, so you may want to take their advice and brush something on top of the cakes.
Unlike the regular cakes, the jumbo lump cakes did not have the fishy smell when you pulled them out of the box. Which was promising, until we took a bite. The crab cake does not have much moisture to it at all, with the jumbo lumps being dry, flavorless, and a bit chewy. There is a crab flavor to the cake, but it's too "crabby", probably coming from the backfin crab. Because the cake lacks moisture, the cake crumbles when you stick your fork into it. Unless you were reading the ingredients list, you would never know that there were any spicing in this cake.
Overall, a very disappointing crab cake, especially given the reputation. Looking at the reviews on the QVC site, the mail order ones don't seem to be much better. But fret not, fellow readers, as we will continue our search to find a decent frozen crab cake!
Additional Info
- Restaurant Name: Chesapeake Bay Brand Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes
- Address: Retail distribution varies. Found in Shoppers Food Warehouse.
- Neighborhood: Crofton
- Restaurant Type: Retail
- Website: http://www.cbgourmet.com/
- Review Date: 10/22/2011 8:02pm
- Item(s) Ordered: Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes
- Cooking Style: Broiled
- Other Styles Available: Yes
- Available by mail order?: Yes
- Price: 9.99
- Order Type: Store Bought
- Crab Content: Jumbo Lump
- Filler: Average
- Spice: Minimal
- Overall Impression: Stay Away
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Rating (out of 5 crabs):
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