To: The Food Network
Date: December 18, 2001
Re: Emeril Live

I am sorry, but I just have to comment on the show I saw tonight. Emeril Legasse was showcasing food from my home state of Maryland. There were some misrepresentations that my husband and I (and I'm sure other Marylanders) were positively GROANING over.

1) Emeril referred four or five times to "Ocean Springs". The only Ocean Springs I know of is in Mississippi. Emeril meant to say OCEAN CITY, which is our flagship beach resort on the Atlantic Ocean and my favorite place on earth. Emeril kept referring to his wonderful trip to "Ocean Springs". Ha!

2) Crabs. We have a crab feast every single weekend in the summer, as do many Marylanders. I have yet to see anyone add seaweed and/or lemons to the pot. Restaurants commonly use water, men at home use beer and/or water. Old Bay Seasoning is the most commonly used, when a restaurant uses a homemade mixture, such as Emeril made, we call them "cheap", as Old Bay is expensive but it is the best. We add a lot (BAM! BAM! BAM! X 10) of Old Bay to the pot before steaming the crabs, actually, we add it over each layer of crabs.

The most commonly used condiment to dip crab meat into is plain ole' drawn butter. Sometimes we add garlic. My husband always adds Old Bay to his. Other people prefer to dip it in vinegar, as it brings out the natural sweetness of the crab meat. Emeril was right, men in Maryland DO like hot sauce, but not on crabs, they like it HOT-HOT-HOT on Chicken Wings. I have eaten at nearly every restaurant in OC and I'd like to know which restaurant served Emeril hot sauce in his crab butter. I have never seen that.

3) The Corn. On the show, Emeril served YELLOW corn. :::Hit the Gong::: In the summer, we Marylanders eat "Silver Queen" WHITE corn. Every fruit and veggie stand on the Eastern Shore has it and usually only it.

Other than those items all the other food looked good. Love them oyster shooters!

Tell Emeril, when ever he is ready --to come on down to Maryland and Robin will show him how to do a REAL Maryland Crab Feast!