- This is the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Educational Center for Children located in Bishops Head, Maryland.

Hi there.

I'm John Shields.

And today, we'll tag along as the kids learn all about the Bay.

And we'll prepare a few delicious Eastern Shore recipes.

All this and much more coming up next, right here on "Chesapeake Bay Cooking."

(upbeat playful music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is brought to you in part by the Maryland Tourism Development Board.

In Maryland, enjoying the bounty of the Chesapeake Bay or sailing its waters are just two of the many fun things to do, which are surprisingly close together.

(upbeat playful music) - [John] The Chesapeake Bay is a beautiful reminder of what gifts nature has to offer us.

Whether used for recreation or as a source of food, the Bay is a vital element in many folks' lives.

The Karen Noonan Center is an educational resource where children can learn to appreciate and protect our precious environment through hands-on lessons.

This amazing facility is located on Water's Edge of the Chesapeake Bay's Eastern Shore here in Bishops Head, Maryland.

It's a beautiful remote location surrounded by a wildlife refuge.

The nearest city is an hour's drive away.

(upbeat playful music) The Chesapeake Bay Foundation operates the Noonan Center.

The foundation is committed to saving the Chesapeake Bay through education, hoping to guarantee that the Bay's waters will continue to thrive for future generations.

Elizabeth Buckman, a staff member of the foundation, invited me here to learn more about their efforts.

- The Karen Noonan Center is the newest of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Environmental Education Centers.

It's one of four residential centers.

Many of our other centers are actually boats.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is the largest regional nonprofit organization working to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay.

And we really have two areas of programs.

The first is called resource protection activities.

Our advocacy, our wetlands restorations, our fisheries programs.

And the second program is our education program.

And its whole purpose is to develop generation of kids, a constituency, that's passionate about the environment and passionate about taking care of this resource.

- I'm hungry to start learning, but we're waiting for the next group of children to arrive.

So Elizabeth shows me to the kitchen where I can make some lunch for everyone.

(upbeat playful music) And I find you can't go wrong with a platter full of crispy, Maryland pan-fried chicken.

This fried chicken is prepared in an unconventional manner, making it more tasty than the usual.

Now, whether you're on the Eastern Shore or the Western Shore, you can't miss with a panful of Maryland fried chicken.

Now I'm gonna show you how to do it.

It's a secret recipe, but a lot of it's in the marinade.

What I do is I take 4 cups of buttermilk, and then I take 1 teaspoon of salt, put that right in there.

I have 2 teaspoons of Chesapeake Bay seasonings.

They're the semi-secret seasonings in the Chesapeake.

(bowl clatters) And they have some celery salt, salt, cloves, thyme, whole bunch of things all put together.

Then I have a teaspoon of ground black pepper.

(bowl clanks) And I squeezed a fresh lemon.

And we have about the juice here of one and a half lemons.

So put that in there, too.

(bowl clanks) And of course, you have to have a little bit of garlic in all these recipes.

So I have some fresh garlic here.

And just gonna press down on there.

Take this off, get a little skin off of there.

(garlic skin crackles) Put that in there.

And we're gonna take, just cut it in half, and put it right into the marinade.

And I'll stir that up real good.

Now the buttermilk in the marinade, tenderizes the chicken, actually, as well as the lemon juice.

The acid in it goes right in there and it makes a really, really, really tender chicken.

(spoon clanking) Okay.

We have that mixed.

Now I have taken one frying chicken, cut it up into pieces, and washed it well, patted it dry.

And now, we're gonna put it right in the marinade here.

Get that all coated well.

Okay.

(plate clatters) Get that all covered there.

And now what we need to do, is we need to let it rest.

It's gonna have to sit, maybe four to six hours, but really if you have the time, I like to do it the night before.

And it really picks up all the flavors from this marinade.

So let's set this aside and let it rest for a while.

Okay.

I think our chicken is well marinated now.

It's been sitting there for quite some time, but we can't put that right into the frying pan.

Next thing we have to do is make the coating.

Now what we have is about 2 cups of flour.

It's just all-purpose flour.

We're gonna put into it about 1 tablespoon of salt.

Now this might seem like we're putting a lot of seasoning in this, but trust me, it's gonna make a great coating, and it's gonna be really, really good.

We have a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.

(bowl clanks) We have 2 teaspoons of the famous Chesapeake seasonings.

Gives it that certain smell.

(bowl clanks) Then we have a teaspoon of rubbed sage.

You could use some fresh sage, but I find that when you use the rub sage, it really comes out very, very well in the coating.

Now I like this chicken hot.

I like it to be jumping out of the frying pan.

So I'm gonna put in about a teaspoon of cayenne pepper.

(bowl clanks) But let me tell you something, if you wanna make it a little hotter, when you make your marinade, put in some Tabasco, it'll really get it going.

And then lastly, we have 1 teaspoon of whole thyme.

Put that right in there.

(bowl clanks) And we're gonna mix this all together very well.

Okay.

(spoon clattering) There we go.

Now next trick here is to coat the chicken.

(plastic wrap squeaking) Take the wrap off of it.

And I keep a little paper towel with me by my side, so that as I take the pieces of chicken out, I can just wipe them off a little bit.

Now let it drip down, get some of this marinade off, and then just lightly, very lightly, take some of that off, and place the chicken into the coating.

All right, now this chicken is happy.

Look at this chicken the way it is.

Nice and coated.

All right.

And I'll just put this on a tray until we're ready to fry.

Now I told you this was a secret recipe, but actually it's a three secret recipe.

First secret was the marinade, second was the coating, and the third is how you fry these chickens.

All right, first, wanna make sure this is a hot oil, want a real hot oil, about 400 degrees.

That's scientific.

But if you don't have a thermometer, take a little bit of water, (oil sizzling) drip it in there.

That's it.

400.

Exactly.

Now, as I said, we're gonna put in our larger pieces of chicken first, 'cause they take a little bit longer to cook.

So I put a breast in there.

Be careful when you do it, you don't wanna burn yourself.

(oil sizzling) There's another breast.

Oh!

(oil sizzling) And one of the tricks here is that you wanna get the chicken very, very crispy on the outside, on both sides in the first part of the cooking process.

So that's what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna let it sit here and fry until it gets very well brown on one side, and then we'll flip it.

What you're doing when you make it real brown on the outside, you're gonna seal the juices in as it cooks.

And again, you know, it's that hot oil that's the secret.

(oil sizzling) Most people when they're frying chicken, they just get it nice and hot, and flop it back and forth, and back and forth.

But this is a secret again, when you put the lid on this and reduce the heat, all that steam's gonna come up while the chicken's cooking, and it will be so tender and moist, you won't believe it.

It's great.

So now we're gonna continue cooking this for about 20 more minutes, turning it now and then, and then we're gonna have some good fried chicken.

(oil sizzling) Okay.

I think our chicken is just about done now.

Oh, it's looking good.

And what I do is I get a platter and I put some paper towels on it.

So that when we're taking the chicken out, any excess grease or oil will drain right on off to that paper towel.

(oil sizzling) All right, there we go.

We have a platter of Maryland pan-fried chicken.

Now it's great, you can serve it right now hot.

It's wonderful.

Or if you want, put it in the refrigerator and serve it the next day for a picnic.

It's great either way.

(upbeat playful music) - How about this?

- [Kids] Seagull.

- That's a pretty big wing for a seagull.

- Swan?

- Swan.

Exactly.

Yeah, swan.

- [John] The fun begins here at the Karen Noonan Center as soon as the children arrive.

The center's facilities provide a wonderful opportunity for the kids to learn about the Bay.

But unlike a school building, the Noonan Center also uses the great outdoors as its classroom.

- Our education center takes, on average, 33,000 participants, kids and their teachers usually, but others, onto the Bay.

And they spend at least a day, at most three days or a week with us doing hands-on, get wet, get muddy activities to learn about the Chesapeake Bay and its challenges, and what it needs to get fixed.

- [John] Perhaps the success of this program is that the young participants often have such a good time, they don't realize they're actually learning about the environment.

- It's a sea squirt.

Smoosh it, see if we can get any.

- [Kids] Ew!

- Ooh.

- [John] Resident staff members lead the children through all types of fascinating activities, giving them the chance to see firsthand the creatures of the Chesapeake Bay and the surrounding wetlands.

(upbeat playful music) - [Instructor] That's a skillet fish.

(upbeat playful music) - Whoa, I think he fell into your hair, Jenna.

- [John] Today, staff members Jessie Marsh and Leslie Woods, take the students out on a boat for some crabbing and fishing lessons.

- This petitions it off.

And what part of a house are these things?

- [Kid] The doors.

- Doors.

And that's done with funnels.

And what about this thing in here?

- [Kid] Where the bait is.

- The bait.

- [Jessie] What part of a home?

- Kitchen.

Kitchen.

- [Jessie] Kitchen.

You got it.

- [John] The children learn how a crab pot works, what kind of bait to use, and even the old waterman's trick of kissing the fish bait for good luck.

- Okay.

- [Leslie] You gotta thank the fish for giving up its life so we can get crabs.

- (lips smack) Ew.

- [Leslie] Yay.

- [John] This boat trip is a great way to learn that the Chesapeake Bay is a rich source of food.

A reason why we must protect the waters.

(crab pot splashes) I have to admit that I'm learning quite a bit today, even while enjoying a leisurely canoe trip.

And after a full day of activities with the youngsters, I'm thinking of a wonderful bread that not only tastes good, but has eight legs as well.

The perfect companion for a warm and savory crab dip, this slightly sweetened bread is shaped into the form of the Chesapeake blue crab.

My friend, Whitey Schmidt, an Eastern Shore crustacean expert and author, developed this recipe.

Whitey, thanks a lot for coming down to Bishops Head to show us your famous crusty crustacean bread recipe.

I've really been looking forward to it.

- You're welcome, John.

- And I also have to thank you guys for helping us out today.

Erica, thank you for coming.

And Brian.

These are our bread bakers.

And so your hands ready?

You ready to start kneading and everything?

- Yeah.

- Yep.

- Okay.

Well, Whitey, you show us what we're gonna do here.

- Well, I try to get my bowl at room temperature, and then I add in a little bit of warmer water that's approximately 105 degrees.

Now to that, Erica, if you would add the yeast.

And we're gonna stir this in until it's dissolved.

I love the smell of yeast and I love to taste it.

So we gonna stir this and if you would, Erica, go ahead and take the honors.

We're gonna stir that till it dissolves.

And to that we're gonna add some warm milk, also at the same temperature.

And we're going to, go ahead, Erica, if you would just stir that in.

(milk sloshing) - Brian.

You seeing all this?

You're gonna remember how to do this, aren't you, when you go home?

- Yep.

- All right, good.

'Cause we're gonna try yours, too.

- Mm-hmm.

Okay, Brian, if you would pass me that sugar.

And we're adding approximately a quarter cup.

- So, this is a sweet bread, has a little bit of sweetness to it.

- It is.

And that's going to compliment that wonderful crab dip that's gonna be served with this.

- [John] That'll be nice dipping into that.

- [Whitey] Oh, yeah.

- Thank you.

- And now, a little bit of salt, Brian.

We have 2 teaspoons of.

(spoon rasping) Okay.

Let's add that butter to it as well.

- So, do you melt the butter, or?

- I do.

- Okay.

- (chuckles) It's kind of frozen.

(all laughing) - Let's see what we got there.

Here.

Let's take it out with this.

- Yes.

Get a spoon.

- Just kind of softened.

- That's all.

Yeah.

Now you can soften it at room temperature.

Or about 10 seconds in a microwave oven works just fine.

Now we're gonna add, John, if you would pass me the flour.

- Flour.

Here you are.

- We add 2 cups, approximately.

Okay.

- Brian, you don't have a problem, do you?

You don't have problem with cleaning up with us, do you?

(John chuckling) - We add about 2 cups.

Brian, why don't you assist me there, and step right in and mix that up for me.

Till its nice and blended.

- [John] Yeah, that's good.

- [Whitey] Occasionally scrape the sides down.

- [John] All that flour in there.

- [Whitey] We wanna get it all mixed in real well.

We have to two beaten eggs.

Just slightly beaten, and we're gonna add those.

Okay.

Erica, blend all that together.

Then what we do is continue to add flour until we come up with a real stiff dough.

Now to knead this, I simply sprinkle a little flour on the surface.

- And you know what knead is?

- [Kids] No.

- You have an idea?

What we're gonna do is we're gonna be working this dough.

- [Whitey] Now we're gonna dump this right onto our kneading board.

- Does that look like bread to you yet?

- [Kids] No.

- No.

Not yet.

- All right.

Well, we're getting close.

- Looks like white stuff.

- [John] White stuff.

(Whitey chuckles) - Okay, so to knead this, you simply start combining all of the ingredients.

And we press it down with the heel of the hand.

Okay.

Erica.

And we wanna get in and keep adding flour as we do that.

Press with the heel.

That's it.

- [John] There you go.

- This is fun.

(chuckles) (all chuckling) - [Whitey] Okay, Brian.

Why don't you give it a try?

- [Brian] Okay.

- [Whitey] Okay.

Use them big muscles you have.

- [John] There you go.

- [Whitey] That's it.

Press it in with the heels of your hands.

About a quarter turn.

- [John] That's it.

- This feels good.

- [John] It does, doesn't it?

(all chuckling) - You just wanna get all of the stickiness out of the dough.

Okay.

Now feel it now.

Feel how.

- [Kids] Whoa.

- See, how nice that feels.

So now what I do.

So just get it into a smooth ball.

(dough thumping) (dough thuds) And then we take it and put it into a oiled bowl.

The smooth side down.

- I see you already put some oil right in here.

- I usually add about a teaspoon.

And so what we do is, just place it in, and then flip it over.

Now we cover that with a towel at room temperature.

- You don't want it to catch a cold.

No drafts.

(Kids chuckling) Put that right around there.

- Now we let that rise about 15 minutes.

- So Whitey, I think, is it bath time, you think?

- It's ready.

I'm sure of that.

- Shall we go?

You ready, guys?

- [Whitey] Let's take a look.

- [John] Okay.

- [All] Whoa.

- [John] Look at that.

- [Whitey] I like that.

- [John] The risen dough.

- Right.

At this stage, John, we simply take our fist and punch it down.

Aah.

- Gonna fly that dough to the moon.

Come on.

Come on, you guys.

Let it have it.

- Yep.

- Come on.

Get that dough.

Hit it.

- There you go.

Go ahead, Erica.

Press it down.

- Whoa, greasy hand.

- That's fun, isn't it?

Good.

Okay, let's, we don't wanna knead it again, but we just want to punch it down.

- Knock the wind out of it.

- Get the wind down of it.

And at this point, I'm gonna take it and cut it in half.

(blade rasping) Okay.

This will be my half.

Okay.

And what we gonna do now is shape the body of the crab.

And if you remember what a crab looks like.

And we will.

- [John] So, where's his face?

- [Whitey] Oh, well, this is his face.

- [John] Right there.

Okay.

- [Whitey] That's his face.

But what we're gonna do now is make the claws of the crab.

You gonna start getting this claw together.

And then, we're gonna take this and move it right to there.

And then, we're gonna have to pinch that right to the body of the crab.

- Is that too big?

- Yeah.

We can take half of that off of there.

- [Erica] It was fat.

(chuckles) - Here.

Let's see.

He's gonna go that way.

He's a left-handed one.

That's it.

- [Erica] Just like that?

- And add one of them legs on.

- Alright, I'll put a leg on.

- Brian, how about you?

You wanna add one of them legs on there?

Just kind of lift him up.

- [John] Lift and pinch.

- We need one more leg.

We better put him on there.

- You better put that on there.

Otherwise, he'll be off balance.

- Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

- Well, that is a pretty crab.

- You know what we oughta do is go ahead and put the eyes in.

And for that, we will need the raisins.

- Okay.

We have some raisins there.

- And a knife for this.

So we give it a little spot right there.

- [John] Ope.

(knife rasping) - That's just about enough.

- So what's he making now, Brian?

- The antennae.

- Okay.

- Mm-hmm.

Get them pointed in the outside.

There you go.

Okay.

At this point we take it.

Cover it with our towel one more time.

And then, it's left to rise for about 20 minutes to a half an hour.

- [John] Wow.

Look at that.

- [Whitey] Ooh, boy.

- [John] Looking good.

- [Whitey] It's looking good.

- [John] So we just eat him now, or what?

- Well, no, we gotta bake him now, John.

- Ooh.

- Actually, we're gonna give him a little brushing with some egg wash.

This is gonna help give him a nice golden coat.

- This looks good.

- All over the back.

- What do you think, John?

Let's throw him in the oven.

- Okay.

In the oven.

- We've got the oven set at 400 degrees.

- All right.

- We're gonna bake him about 10 to 15 minutes.

- Ooh!

- [Brian] Ooh.

- [Whitey] Oh, boy.

- Look at this crab.

- [Brian] That looks yummy.

- He's a beauty.

- [Whitey] Mm-hmm.

- Whoa.

That's pretty.

- Ooh, boy.

- Look at that crab.

- Can we eat it now?

- Mm.

Mm, mm, mm.

He looks good enough to eat, doesn't he?

- [Whitey] Yep.

(upbeat playful music) - [John] It may not be apparent to the kids, but they're staying in a very progressively designed building.

The Karen Noonan Center was built to conserve energy, so as to minimize its effect on the environment.

For example, the center uses low energy fluorescent lighting in all of its rooms, solar panels to assist in heating the water, and large windows to provide natural light during the day.

Janet Harrison is the architect who designed the center.

She transformed an old hunting lodge into an exceptional showcase of conservation from which the kids can learn.

- When we renovated the building, we tried not to waste any materials.

We reused a lot of the old building, wherever we could.

We reused all the doors and floors and the mill work.

And so they can, I think looking at that, they can tell that it's something old and it's been saved.

A lot of the materials in the house are recycled or recyclable.

For example, the insulation is cellulose insulation, which is made out of just newspapers.

And they recycle newspapers at home, so now they can see where it goes.

The other things are the glass bottles they recycle at home.

We have tiles made out of recycled glass in the bathroom and the kitchen.

- [John] All of the building materials used in the construction of the Karen Noonan Center are non-toxic.

So does that mean the building is edible?

- It is an edible building.

Everything in it is non-toxic and there are no poisons in it.

So you could eat the whole building.

- [John] (chuckles) That's amazing.

- I'm counting on you to come up with a good recipe.

(John laughs) - [John] The children who visit here are able to participate in group activities in the spacious and warm common area downstairs, and stay overnight in the comfortable sleeping quarters upstairs.

By staying at the center, the kids also learn simple ways to conserve that they can practice in their own homes, such as recycling and composting.

Janet designed the center's kitchen so the children could wash and dry dishes in a simple manner that saves water and energy.

- [Janet] There is no dishwasher.

We didn't wanna use any electricity.

We have a 3 compartment sink, which is the commercial way to wash dishes.

Basically, three dips, and you put it straight on the drying rack, which means you don't even have to handle it twice.

You put it up, and it stays there and air dries.

(geese honking) (upbeat playful music) - The beauty of this land and water inspires me to return home and put into practice the lessons I've learned here today.

The Karen Noonan Center at Bishops Head does an incredible job educating children as well as adults.

And they make it a whole lot of fun.

And don't forget to join me next time for another exciting culinary adventure right here on "Chesapeake Bay Cooking".

- [Announcer] Bring the flavors of the Chesapeake into your home with John Shields' companion book, "Chesapeake Bay Cooking".

To order, call 1-800-235-3000.

Or write to the address on your screen.

This 300 page volume with nearly 100 photos includes all the recipes you've seen in this episode, plus a whole lot more.

The cost is $27.50 plus shipping and handling.

Please have your credit card ready when you call.

1-800-235-3000.

Funding for this program is brought to you in part by the Maryland Tourism Development Board.

In Maryland, enjoying the bounty of the Chesapeake Bay, or sailing its waters, are just two of the many fun things to do, which are surprisingly close together.

(upbeat playful music) (upbeat horn music)