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lapucelle

(19,543 posts)
Thu Aug 15, 2024, 04:41 PM Aug 2024

An Ode to Old Bay, the Great American Condiment

An Ode to Old Bay, the Great American Condiment

Gustav Brunngasser wasn’t born anywhere near the Chesapeake Bay, and he didn’t meet a blue crab until he was almost fifty years old. A Jewish businessman who would later shorten his name to Brunn, he was born in Bastheim, a small town in Bavaria, in 1893. Brunn attended school until he was thirteen, when his family could no longer afford tuition. He became an apprentice at a tannery and, after saving up money by selling skins and hides to a wholesaler in Wertheim-am-Main, he bought that business, an older company that specialized in rawhide and furs but had a sideline of spices. By the end of the First World War, spices had proved to be the more lucrative and less laborious side of the business, and along with pure spices Brunn was selling seasoning mixes he blended and packaged himself.

But Brunn’s success collided with the rise of the Nazi Party, and soon enough his two children were being targeted by some teachers and fellow-students, his Gentile bookkeeper quit, and more and more customers stopped buying “Jewish” spices. In an oral history collected and archived by the Jewish Museum of Maryland, Brunn’s wife, Bianca, remembered how one day all the stores in Wertheim-am-Main had signs in the windows saying “Jews Not Wanted Here.” Hoping that they would be better off in a bigger city with a larger Jewish community, the Brunns moved to Frankfurt, in 1935. But antisemitism was spreading everywhere, and not even removing the labels from his spices allowed the merchant to circumvent the commerce laws restricting the purchase of Jewish goods. By 1937, recognizing that both their livelihoods and their lives were in danger, Brunn contacted a relative living in Baltimore, applied for a visa, and prepared to leave for the United States.

Before the Brunns could depart, though, Jews around Germany were targeted during the November pogroms, culminating in Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, when their homes, businesses, and synagogues were savagely attacked by the Sturmabteilung, the S.S., Hitler Youth, and civilians who followed their violent lead. Around a hundred Jews were killed and thousands of Jewish properties were destroyed. In an interview with the Baltimore Jewish Times, Brunn’s son, Ralph, remembered how the family survived. “Fortunately for us, they made a mistake,” he said. “We were living in Frankfurt in an apartment on the second floor. They picked the wrong house—there weren’t any Jews living there.” The Brunns’ good luck didn’t last for very long. When Gustav attempted to comply with a new order requiring Jews to forfeit any firearms, and went to the police station to turn over his hunting rifles, he was detained. Later that night, he was taken by cattle car to Buchenwald.

But Brunn’s wife had heard that there might be a way to get him out. “There was a lawyer in Frankfurt known to the Jewish community,” their son remembered, a man who required “five thousand marks at the beginning and five thousand marks once ‘the merchandise’ was received. If the second five thousand marks wasn’t received, ‘the merchandise’ went right back where it came from.” After sixteen days in the concentration camp, and within a week of Bianca’s providing the funds, Brunn was reunited with his family, and together they fled the country. They weren’t able to bring much of anything with them to America, but Gustav did tuck a small spice mill into their luggage...

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/an-ode-to-old-bay-the-great-american-condiment

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An Ode to Old Bay, the Great American Condiment (Original Post) lapucelle Aug 2024 OP
Years ago when I was in the Air Force stationed at Fort Meade, MD, I bought a bushel of crabs... SeattleVet Aug 2024 #1
That's a great story. lapucelle Aug 2024 #3
My grandson puts it on everything. It's his "King of spices." 3Hotdogs Aug 2024 #2
I've been using it for years in soups. lapucelle Aug 2024 #4
Another one for you to try -- Berbere. 3Hotdogs Aug 2024 #5
Thank you! lapucelle Aug 2024 #6

SeattleVet

(5,595 posts)
1. Years ago when I was in the Air Force stationed at Fort Meade, MD, I bought a bushel of crabs...
Fri Aug 16, 2024, 03:11 AM
Aug 2024

from a roadside truck to take to NY over the Labor Day holiday. I got a few huge trash bags and some ice and put them and the bushel in the trunk, then went to a local supermarket.

I was in the aisle with all of the various spices and seafood boil mixes, examining them to see what I wanted to bring home with me. A much older Black woman came down the aisle, saw my confusion. and asked what I was looking for. When I explained about the bushel of crabs and my search for a proper seasoning she looked at me like I had 3 heads and I immediately *knew* she was thinking something along the lines of 'Oh, you poor thing!'.

She reached up and picked a can of Old Bay off the shelf, and when she handed it to me she looked me straight in the eye and confidently said, "They ain't but ONE, Sugar!"

That sage advice has stuck with me for the past 40+ years, and that's been my go-to seasoning for blue crab since. It turns out that Old Bay is also one of the best things you can ever put on French Fries. I've been forever grateful to that helpful woman.

I didn't know anything about the background and history of this blend - thank you for posting the link to the New Yorker article!

(Background - when I had decided to drive to my folks house for that long Labor Day weekend I asked my mother if she wanted me to bring anything, and she mentioned crabs. I asked how many and she said, "Oh, I don't know...maybe 5 or 6 dozen." When I stopped at the roadside truck I asked for 6 dozen, and the guy told me that the whole bushel would only cost a couple of bucks more. Turns out that a bushel is about 12 dozen, so I spent the bulk of the day when I got there cooking pot after pot until I was done with the full gross of crabs. By the time I was done pretty much every surface in the kitchen was full of crab, and my mother had me take platters of crabs to a few of the neighbors, since we were totally out of refrigerator and freezer space. Good times!)

lapucelle

(19,543 posts)
3. That's a great story.
Fri Aug 16, 2024, 10:00 AM
Aug 2024

I'm sure that woman went home and also told the story, chuckling at your naivté and proud to have let you in on "the secret".

I didn't know the back story of Old Bay either, but it makes sense. Jewish (and German) cookery both do savoury very well.

I wonder how Mr. Brunn felt when, having been let go by McCormick years earlier, they handed him a big check for his recipe.

lapucelle

(19,543 posts)
4. I've been using it for years in soups.
Fri Aug 16, 2024, 10:08 AM
Aug 2024

Last night I put it on potato chips (hat tip to the New Yorker). Delicious!



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