Largest
crab cake-world record set by Handy International and Dover
Downs
[March
12]DOVER, Del., USA--The 106.59 kilograms (235 pounds) crabcake
made by Handy
International in conjunction with Dover
Downs Hotel & Casino had set the world record for
the Largest Crabcake.
Photo:Handy International's Jim Cupp,
left, feeds Jay Ivancic, right, as Howard Hammond watches
a test cook in Crisfield for the world-record crab cake, weighing
235 pounds.
(enlarge
photo)
The story of the Great Crab Cake begins
in October 2006 at the Diamond State BBQ Championship held
at the Dover Downs Hotel & Casino in Delaware.
Cooked up by Dover Downs, the idea was to make
the world's largest crab cake because, well, it had never
been done and it was National Seafood Week, after all.
The communal meal would call for the usual
ingredients, an unusual cooking apparatus and a statewide
appetite.
Jim Cupp, regional sales manager for Handy
International, a man on a promotional mission, went
to work on the project. Days before the Oct. 21 event at Dover
Downs, Cupp oversaw two, 235-pound crab cake tests conducted
at Handy's Crisfield plant. The colossal cakes passed the
taste test.
For the Dover Downs event, Cupp built a $10,000,
three-foot rotisserie pan to hold the recipe, which required
152 pounds of crab- meat plus breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, onions
and pasteurized eggs.
Handy
International Inc., a 100-year-old Salisbury, Md.,
seafood processor, mixed the crab cake ingredients -- 60 percent
back fin crabmeat, mayonnaise, bread crumbs, eggs, onions,
seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, hot sauces and secret
spices -- at its plant.
Then, the blend was transported to Dover
Downs Hotel & Casino by a refrigerated truck.
Cupp joined forces with Dover's
hotel chef, Fred Bohn, and George Fiorile, vice president
of hotel operations, and together they cooked the 235-pound
crab cake over an open flame for a mere nine hours (originally
236 pounds, the crab cake lost a pound in cooking shrinkage).
"I approached a couple folks, but no one wanted
to make something that big," said Jim Cupp, regional sales
manager for Handy
International Inc.
The crab cake was roundly admired
before it was carved up into 600 sandwiches.
"You would expect it to be dry, but
it was very moist. We were blown away by the taste," says
George Fiorile, vice president and general manager of hotel
operations.
A representative of the Delaware Department
of Health certified that the crab cake was a wholesome and
edible food, not only to comply with world records regulations,
but also to ensure its fitness for consumption.
"It was fantastic!" Cupp said. "More people
were lined up around our tent than any of the barbecue competitors."
For now, the special baking pan is in Handy's
storage. "We can make another 235-pound crab cake sandwich
if someone wanted to do a fundraiser," Cupp said. "I have
a person in Wilmington considering something for an event
in June."
The previous world record, set by
the United Kingdom's Young's Bluecrest Seafood in 2003, was
a 55-pound cake made of 40 percent cod, seasoned potatoes,
breadcrumbs and batter.
Video:
235-pound crab cake earns world record
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