One Man's Fight for Old Bay Seasoning

Proof

America's Test Kitchen

Society & Culture, Food, Arts

4.4 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2021

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Old Bay Seasoning is a hallmark of mid-Atlantic food culture. The yellow and red branding has stood the test of time, and remained unshakably present in grocery stores across the country. It's sprinkled on seafood, fries, and even used in ice cream. But despite its renowned fame and recognition, very few people actually know the man behind this iconic seasoning and his battle with the spice industry. Reporter Claudia Rosenbaum digs into the the David-and-Goliath origins of Old Bay Seasoning, and how the spice blend has endured today. Take our season 8 survey to get a 30% off coupon code at the America's Test Kitchen online shop. A note from our sponsors: Listeners get 15% off of their first order at porterroad.com/proof. Get high quality cured meats and charcuterie in stores and online at Veroni USA. Use code ATK15 for 15% off on OXO.com. Visit nakedwines.com/summerproof for $100 to spend on wine. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Proof listeners. It's Kevin here. I'm so excited to hand up this last episode of
0:05.9	the season to my colleague, Hannah Crowley. Hannah is the executive reviews editor at America's
0:11.6	Test Kitchen, and she's got a ton of experience reviewing and taste testing all kinds of foods.
0:18.3	So without further ado, here's Hannah.
0:23.9	I grew up in New England where one of the regional specialties is lobster. Do we eat it
0:28.7	straight from the shell or on rolls? The roll has to be a split top roll like hot dog roll with
0:34.2	the sides griddled in butter. You might hear people debate about whether a lobster roll should be
0:39.3	served hot and buttered or cold with mayo. I'm team light mayo all the way, but regardless,
0:45.4	the name of the game is simplicity. So the lobster really shines. I've been chatting with reporter
0:51.4	Claudia Rosenbaum who does things a little bit differently with seafood down her way in Maryland.
0:56.7	Hi, Claudia. Hey, Hannah. Um, yeah, down here it's all about the crabs, specifically Maryland
1:03.2	blue crabs. And right now it's harvest season in September. It's the time you get the biggest
1:08.0	crabs of the season. And I can tell you with a hundred percent certainty that you would never get
1:12.7	served a bear crab around here. Oh, wow, that's so different. I love it. Yeah, ours come covered in
1:19.9	practically smothered. It's Maryland's iconic state seasoning. We know it's got celery salt,
1:26.8	red pepper, black pepper, and paprika, but what the rest of the ingredients are is a mystery.
1:33.7	Everything in Maryland, I'm talking everything comes covered in old bay from french fries,
1:39.7	cottage cheese. It's on the rims of bloody maris. It's on our sweet corn. That all sounds delicious.
1:45.5	Yeah, the people here are crazy about it. I mean, there were shirts that say I put old bay on my old
1:50.8	bay. Even this Christmas, I bought some of the smaller cans at the grocery store and I bedazzled
1:57.1	them with some red and blue glitter. And I put a little hook on them and then I gave them out
2:03.2	to my neighbors and they made the perfect Christmas ornaments. Oh my gosh, I absolutely love that.
	...

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