Saturday, February 11, 2017

Maryland and Boardwalk Style Crab Cakes - Aldi $4.99 each

Maryland and Boardwalk Style Crab Cakes - Aldi $4.99 each
I never knew Boardwalk style crab cakes were a thing. For 29 years I have gone down to the Jersey shore and walked the boardwalk, and not once have I ever seen an ad for crab cakes. Live crabs? Sure! But boardwalk style crab cakes? Never. (Then again, Wildwood is a special, pizza-filled, Doo-Wop snowflake.) I mean, I knew Maryland style was a thing, so it makes sense that there are other varieties, but not once have I ever heard of board walk style crab cakes. Am I alone in my noob-ish-ness? (I get the feeling that I am.) Welp, time to get educated!

FYI: I think I just set a new record for most amount of musical reference links used in a single paragraph on this blog. Click them and enjoy some tunes!

Specially Selected continues to step-up their game. These boxes look pretty nice! We've got a cool slate/chalkboard backdrop, some bright colored accents to make the product POP on the shelves, and some pretty appetizing product photos. I think this could be considered name-brand-passing. If I saw these in someone's freezer I would have thought they came from Whole Foods, or at the very least, Trader Joe's. Kudos to Aldi's design team! They just keep getting better and better!

Inside each box are two crab cakes, so they work out to be about $2.50 each. That's a little expensive when compared to other frozen Aldi items, which give you more servings per box, but that's a pretty reasonable price as far as crab cakes are concerned.
I decided to follow the oven instructions, which were easy and lazy, so I covered a cookie sheet with some parchment paper, turned the over to 400 degrees F, and baked them for about 13 minutes. For some reason the boardwalk style cakes require a longer bake time, so I flipped them over, pulled the Maryland ones out after a few minutes, and let the boardwalk ones do their thing. Then we were good to go!

I started with the Maryland style since that's more-so what I'm familiar with.
The Maryland crab cakes have a rich, almost cheesy, flavoring to them with a lot of fresh crab-meat flavor. They almost felt like they melted in my mouth! You get a sweet, but savory, garlic-y mound of oceanic goodness. I was really impressed with this flavor...until I tried the Boardwalk.
Boardwalk style is amazing! Not only do I taste the crab meat, but I can taste onions, peppers, and maybe a little Cajun seasoning? It's so flavorful that it pretty much ruined the Maryland ones for me. Sure, I thought they were great, until I knew this existed. Now? There's no going back. Towards the end I did find a little bit of crab shell in the boardwalk one, which was annoying and shows that there may be quality control issues, but it tasted so good that I really didn't care.

Honestly, both of these flavors were great, but if you're only going to buy one, make it Boardwalk style! They taste great on their own, but I imagine it'd make a fantastic crab cake sandwich (on a toasted Aldi brioche bun)! If you see these around, be sure to stock-up, because they're a Specially Selected item, and once those are gone, we never know if and when they'll ever be back!
 © Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net
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14 comments:

  1. I'm from Maryland and I still have yet to actually go to the Aldi's that just opened, so I think I found the first thing I NEED to buy! ;)

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  2. They are so good, but i've only been able to find them once. guess i have to try different aldis

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    1. Aldi is famous for a one time only of items. If you really like things you may never find them again so stock up if you can....

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  3. I actually had the Broadwalk ones today for lunch. Had purchased them at Aldi's several weeks ago and hid them in the freezer in the garage (I have a foodie son at home). I put a little olive oil on the cooking sheet and flipped them after 13 mins. and added juice of one lemon. Delicious -- Two were not enough!

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  4. I found four boxes of crab cakes in the freezer case at Aldi's today and cooked and ate both tonight, one on a brioche bun, one cold just now. EXCELLENT! As good as any $10 crab cake appetizer in a restaurant. :-D

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  6. They are $5.99 a box now... But taste great.

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  7. I tried them for the first time about a month ago.I RACED BACK TO THE STORE to buy every box of each of these. They were gone. I fell in a heap and cried!

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  8. I was at Aldi’s yesterday and they were unpacking these suckers and the clerk mentioned that they went really fast the last time they were offered. The Boardwalk was amazing but pack a lot of calories and at $6 seems a little high for Aldi’s BUT the quality is out of sight. Only question is what do I need to throw out of my freezer to make more room.

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    1. I agree, the price is a little steep these days, but since these are rarely in stock in my area I only buy them once in a while for a little treat. (So it's not too bad for my wallet.)

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  9. These are the best I have ever had aside from the restaurant Houston's here in Atlanta. I tried 1 pack of each to see which I preferred, both are AWESOME. Difference? Boardwalk is spicier and with peppers. I like that one a lot. I bought 10 packages when I went back and I was so afraid I would miss them because they were almost sold out. I am locating where to buy them online because every Aldi here is SOLD OUT OF THEM. Perfect meal to eat even alone without a side. I made AIOLI sauce to eat with mine and broccoli. THE BEST I HAVE EVER HAD YET! One little hiccup, maybe a tiny shell or two within the mixture at times, but nothing to get upset about. Thanks Aldi and please DO NOT DISCONTINUE these. Kim, Atlanta Ga

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  10. They're $7.49 now and usually out of stock but I found one thawed box of Boardwalk Style in my local ALDI dumpster. Threw it into air fryer and had delicious supper after busy dumpster diving evening.

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  11. my aldis alwys nhas them never out 4'99

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    1. This post was from 2017, and they were $4.99 at the time. Since then, the price has gone up a lot.

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