Ingredient
Old Bay (The celery-salt-and-paprika spice blend, made in Baltimore since 1939. On crabs, fries, and rims.)
Old bay turns up on twenty plates across fifteen of the kitchens we read. The appetizer section holds six of them, and it comes as a wings more often than anything else, on six.
From 40 menus · old bay is on 20 plates · How we read them
For the curious: the data views
Some of these were read by a script, not a person — those chips have a hollow dot. About the method →
Old Bay, fried or barbecued
Our reading of the menus puts it fried at three kitchens and barbecued at three.
How it comes
The forms it turns up in, most first.
Where on the menu
The menu sections the dishes sit under, most first.
How it's cooked
How the kitchens cook it, counting the word on the component as well as the plate.
Show all 11
The journey of old bay
The same 20 plates read outward from the middle: how the kitchens cook it, how it then arrives, and which part of the menu it arrives in. A wedge too narrow for its word carries it in the table underneath.
| Ring | Commonest | Plates |
|---|---|---|
| How it's cooked | fried | 4 |
| How it comes | wings | 3 |
| Where on the menu | appetizer | 2 |
| Other | 26 other steps, added up | 38 |
| Not stated | the menu never printed that detail | 7 |
Every wedge, as a table
| Cooked | Arrives as | Course | Plates |
|---|---|---|---|
| fried | — | — | 4 |
| fried | wings | — | 2 |
| fried | wings | appetizer | 2 |
| fried | benedict | — | 1 |
| fried | benedict | breakfast | 1 |
| fried | side | — | 1 |
| fried | side | side | 1 |
| barbecued | — | — | 3 |
| barbecued | wings | — | 3 |
| barbecued | wings | not stated | 3 |
| folded | — | — | 2 |
| folded | omelette | — | 2 |
| folded | omelette | breakfast | 2 |
| poached | — | — | 2 |
| poached | benedict | — | 2 |
| poached | benedict | breakfast | 2 |
| steamed | — | — | 2 |
| steamed | small-plate | — | 1 |
| steamed | small-plate | appetizer | 1 |
| steamed | steamer-pot | — | 1 |
| steamed | steamer-pot | not stated | 1 |
| blackened | — | — | 1 |
| blackened | wings | — | 1 |
| blackened | wings | not stated | 1 |
| chilled | — | — | 1 |
| chilled | wrap | — | 1 |
| chilled | wrap | not stated | 1 |
| glazed | — | — | 1 |
| glazed | wings | — | 1 |
| glazed | wings | not stated | 1 |
| other ways | — | — | 3 |
| jerk | — | — | 1 |
| simmered | — | — | 1 |
| smoked | — | — | 1 |
Travels with
What shares a plate with it, counted inside a course and never across one. A partner marked distinctive turns up together far more often than chance.
Show all 12
- Bbq2read by scriptall Bbqdistinctive
- Cheese2all Cheese
- Crab2read by scriptall Crab
- Muffin2all Muffindistinctive
- Onion2read by scriptall Oniondistinctive
- Pepper2read by scriptall Pepperdistinctive
- Ranch2all Ranchdistinctive
- Shrimp2all Shrimp
- Wing2read by scriptall Wingdistinctive
Dishes
Egg, hollandaise and poached come up more here than elsewhere on our list.
Our reading of the menu lists broiled, crumbled and crab.
Known for: pan-fried, crepe, folded.
Show all 15 kitchens
Cornmeal, corn bread and corn on cob come up more here than elsewhere on our list.
Our reading of the menu lists egg, duck and folded.
Our reading of the menu lists: swiss, pickle, beef fries gravy.
Known for: filet, Lemon Vinaigrette, raw.
Egg, omelette and hollandaise come up more here than elsewhere on our list.
Hickory, ropewalk wings and rub come up more here than elsewhere on our list.
Brisket, Ipa Steak Sauce and roll come up more here than elsewhere on our list.
Our reading of the menu lists burger, bacon jam and boom boom chicken.
Known for: jus, Beurre Blanc Sauce, duck.
The menu leans on country-fried, kaiser and tartar.
In the family
Where it sits in the ingredient lexicon.
One entry is all the menus we read give this. All seasoning
Where on the island
The 15 kitchens above, by district. Counted off the menus we read, in order up the island — not a ranking of neighbourhoods.
| District | Kitchens | Side of the island |
|---|---|---|
| Downtown / Inlet & Boardwalk | 1 | boardwalk |
| Lower Midtown | 4 | inland |
| Midtown | 3 | bayside · inland · oceanfront |
| Uptown | 3 | bayside |
| North OC | 2 | inland |
| West Ocean City | 2 | harbor |