Maryland is one of the largest poultry and chicken produce states with the Perdue company headquarters located in Salisbury, MD on the eastern shore of Maryland. And so it’s rightly so that chicken should be one of the widely served foods in Maryland. One of our favorite ways to serve fried chicken is (surprise) Old Bay Fried Chicken. Tasty, and easy to make, this is a classic Old Bay recipe.

2-3 pounds cut up chicken pieces
1 cup flour
1/4 cup Old Bay Seasoning
2 eggs
1 tbsp water
2 cups canola oil

In a large zip lock bag place flour and Old Bay seasoning. Mix thoroughly.

In a large bowl crack eggs and add water; mix well with a fork. Place oil in
a large frying skillet and heat on medium heat. Wash cut up chicken and pat
dry. Dip chicken in egg mixture and place in flour mixture. Toss chicken
in flour mixture. Press flour mixture into chicken to ensure chicken has a
thick coating of flour.

Test temperature of oil before placing chicken in hot oil. Take a drop of water and place it in the oil if it sizzles the oil
is the right temperature. Place chicken in hot oil skin side up. Repeat dipping and flouring remainder of chicken pieces. Sprinkle a little more Old Bay seasoning on chicken in skillet. Cook chicken for approximately 20-25 minutes before turning chicken over.

Periodically check chicken by carefully lifting a corning of chicken and making sure it is not getting too brown.
If the outside is browning to fast lower the heat a little. Turn chicken over and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Again check to make sure chicken is not browning to fast. Remove from oil and place on plate lined with paper towel. Serve Old Bay Fried Chicken hot or cold as both ways taste great.

Here’s one of our favorite recipes using Old Bay Seasoning — Old Bay Seasoned Chicken Wings. It’s fairly easy to make, but you have to plan a head so that the wings have time to soak up the flavor in the marinade. These Chicken Wings take an hour to cook, so this is a recipe that takes about 3 hours to make from start to finish.

Ingredients
5 pounds of chicken wings
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 cup canola oil
2 tbsp Old Bay Seasoning
2 tsp Tabasco Sauce

To make
Wash the chicken wings thoroughly and place on a plate. Add the vinegar, canola oil, Old Bay Seasoning and Tabasco Sauce to a bowl and mix well. If you have a Waring Blender blend these items in the blender instead of by hand. Place the chicken wings in one or two ziploc bags, add the marinade, and place in refrigerator. Marinate for 2 hours, flipping the bags over every half hour.

Preheat oven to 500° F. We like to use disposable aluminum baking pans covered with non-stick aluminum foil to cook the wings for the easy clean up. You can use a regular baking pan, and cover the bottom with non-stick foil if you don’t have toss out heavy duty pans on hand. Place the wings in the pan in a single layer, and bake for one hour. Cook covered with aluminum foil for the first 50 minutes. Remove foil from pan for last 10 minutes to allow wings to brown.

Serve the cooked wings with Ranch Dressing along with celery, cucumber, and carrot sticks.

Editors Note: YES, 500 degrees is correct. Use the meaty whole chicken wings (as pictured) that you get at the grocer in the large package — not the wingettes. Cover the pan for the first 50 minutes, and then remove to let wings brown. When placing wings in the pan, place them close together and do not try to drain the marinade from the wings. Take them straight from the ziploc pack and place the directly in the pan. This is an adaptation of this tried and true Buffalo Wing Recipe we’ve used for years.

This Chicken Soup is a delightful change from the standard taste of standard Chicken Noodle Soup. Seasoned with Old Bay Seasoning, the soup makes a great weekend main course or appetizer. Cooking time from start to finish is about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. We used 1 1/2 tbsp of Old Bay Seasoning. Some folks like more Old Bay Seasoning in their cooking so you could either add more Old Bay while cooking, or serve Old Bay in a shaker at the table for your guests to add more on their own.

A 4 to 5 pound whole chicken
1 1/2 tbsp Old Bay Seasoning
2 Bay Leaves
32 ounce carton low sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 cup diced onion
1 cup chopped carrots
1/4 tsp Tabasco Sauce
Pasta of your choice, we used Wagon Wheels

Remove the pouch of livers and other parts from the chickens cavity and then wash well. Place chicken in a large stock pot. Wash your hands well and then add the chicken broth, carrots, onion, Bay Leaves and sprinkle with Old Bay Seasoning. Fill with water to cover chicken (2 – 3 quarts). Cover, place on stove, bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat, and simmer the chicken until it is well cooked and ready to fall off the bones, about 2 hours. Remove the pot from the heat.

Carefully remove the chicken from the pot to a large plate. We do this with two people. One holds the plate close to the pot level with the top of the pot. The other person uses a large heavy fork inside the cavity, and a large heavy spoon supporting the body of the bird to remove the chicken from the pot. Be careful not to let the bird splash back into the hot broth.

Let the chicken cool to a temperature you can work with. Then remove the bones and rip up the chicken meat into small and larger mouth sized pieces (don’t make them so small that the look like the pitiful pieces of chicken meat in canned chicken soup).

Remove the Bay Leaves from the broth, and return the chicken meat back to the pot. Bring the soup back to a boil. Taste the broth and add more Old Bay Seasoning to your taste. Remember you can always add more at the table but it can’t be taken out. Add the Tabasco.

Add about 1/2 pound of your favorite pasta and cook in the broth according to the package directions.

Serve in a large bowl as a meal, or in a small cereal bowl as a side entree. Makes about 1 gallon of delicious Chicken Soup.