Combine Old Bay And Butter To Up The Ante On Your Favorite Seafood Dish

If there's one thing Maryland knows, it's seafood. The Old Line State is known for blue crabs, particularly in dishes like crab cakes, not to be confused with deviled crabs; that's a Florida thing. But really, it's a state that shines at numerous different kinds of seafood such as rockfish, seafood stew, oysters, and the delicious (and largely unknown outside of Maryland) crab pretzel. But there's one common element to most of Maryland's signature dishes: Old Bay. A mixture of primarily celery salt, red pepper, black pepper, and paprika, there is no product more authentically Maryland than Old Bay.

The thing about Old Bay, though, is you don't have to use it straight. You can also combine it with butter to form a creamy, rich condiment that really boosts your seafood game. Combining it with butter is a genius move because the one thing Old Bay lacks is richness — the exact thing butter provides and something from which fish benefits tremendously. Varieties of Old Bay can also sometimes include things like garlic powder, lemon peel, brown sugar, and spicy blackened seasoning, meaning Old Bay butter might be all you need to season your fish to perfection.

The process here is simple: Take ½ cup of unsalted, softened butter, some Old Bay, and 1 or 2 teaspoons of Old Bay, and cream them together. You can add grated lemon peel or a pinch of extra salt, depending on your preference. That's it; that's the entire process. You have now successfully created Old Bay butter.

As far as where to use it, the answer is ... well ... anywhere you want, really. The thing about Old Bay is it works with basically any seafood: It's known for crab, but it works just as well for shrimp, fish, and even squid. It's difficult to list the dishes it would work well on because, honestly, it's hard to find one where it wouldn't. Old Bay is the universal seafood spice, and butter works with any type of fish you'd care to name, so if there's a recipe where it doesn't work, you'd have to look long and hard to find it.

The thing about Old Bay, though, is its uses go far beyond seafood. Maryland knows this well, as it's a state that puts the stuff on everything. Potato chip seasoning is so obvious that Utz actually sells crab chips — which contain no actual crab, just Old Bay. Something like an Old Bay aioli is easy — mix Old Bay, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and Dijon mustard — and fits neatly into the same mold as Old Bay butter as a condiment. But the ways Old Bay can be used go a lot farther than that.

Old Bay bagels are more common than you think and particularly benefit from the addition of cream cheese, as the creaminess of the dairy offsets the sharp taste of the seasoning itself. But the real dairy-based Old Bay combo to look for here is Old Bay ice cream. It may seem like an odd pairing, but again, the dairy makes the seasoning sing and gives it a lovely counterpoint. You can make it yourself, or companies in Maryland will sell the stuff.

The applications for Old Bay are far more extensive than you might've realized. Give them a try sometime, and you might be surprised at where your Old Bay journey will take you.