First thing first. You can’t have any dish here in USA that contains any type of seafood especially crab without old bay seasoning. It is used in crab cakes and crab boil and it is a very vital ingredient.
I think you know now how I hate buying spices that is pre ground. It only takes 3 to 4 minutes to grind spices in a mortar and pestle and less if you use a spice grinder. For me I do not mind pounding at all and it is an outlet for me when I am feeling most tense plus it is something that I really enjoy because I know it would taste good.
The spices for me that has been sitting on store shelves that are ground already for me this is no taste at all what so ever. I buy all of my spices whole and then I use them how I see fit in any type of combination that I please. So here we go and lets get busy.
In a mortar and pestle I add 1 pinch each of celery seed, mustard seed, (skip if you are using 1 pinch of mustard powder), black peppercorns, 4 allspice berries, 1 each of green cardomom, broken piece of cinnamon stick (skip if you are using 1 pinch of cinnamon powder), small whole red chili or 1 pinch of red pepper flakes, bay leaf, strand of mace. Grind these in to a coarse powder and empty it in to a small bowl. Peel wash and grind 1 small piece of ginger until it is a pulp and add this to the bowl. Add grated nutmeg by grating it with a small part of a cheese grater, now add the 1 pinch of all of the powder spices like mustard and cinnamon powder if you are using. If you used the mustard seeds and broken piece of cinnamon stick you don’t have to bother.
Add 1 pinch each white pepper, paprika and stir then set aside for use in next recipe. In case you get lost there is going to be a link to this page lol. In the future inshallah I am going to post a crab boil recipe to this blog. Please let me know how you like this recipe.
Also for my readers in Pakistan, All of these spices here I get are from Indian and Pakistani grocery stores.
benazir's blog 
4 thoughts on “Homemade Old Bay Seasoning Done My Way”