A crab cake is a variety of fishcake popular in the United States. It is composed of crab meat and various other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, mayonnaise, mustard (typically prepared mustard, but sometimes mustard powder), eggs, and seasonings. It is then sautéed, baked, grilled, deep fried, or broiled. Crab cakes are traditionally associated with the Chesapeake Bay, in the state of Maryland. Although the earliest use of the term “crab cake” is commonly believed to date to Crosby Gaige’s 1939 publication New York World’s Fair Cook Book in which they are described as “Baltimore crab cakes,” earlier usages can be found such as in Thomas J. Murrey’s book Cookery with a Chafing Dish published in 1891. read more…
Johns Hopkins University is an American privateresearch university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, the university was named for its first benefactor, the American entrepreneur, abolitionist, and philanthropist Johns Hopkins. His $7 million bequest (~$150 million in 2017 dollars)—of which half financed the establishment of Johns Hopkins Hospital—was the largest philanthropic gift in the history of the United States at that time. Daniel Coit Gilman, who was inaugurated as the institution’s first president on February 22, 1876, led the university to revolutionize higher education in the U.S. by integrating teaching and research. Adopting the concept of a graduate school from Germany‘s ancient Heidelberg University, Johns Hopkins University is considered the first research university in the United States. read more…
Fort McHenry, in Baltimore in Maryland, is a coastal star-shaped fort best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy in Chesapeake Bay September 13–14, 1814. It was during the bombardment of the fort that Francis Scott Key was inspired to write The Star-Spangled Banner, the poem that would eventually be set to the tune of To Anacreon in Heaven and become the national anthem of the United States. read more…
