All it takes to make these steak fries is tossing your sliced potatoes in oil and Old Bay and baking them for 45 minutes.

In honor of our great state, the end of the semester and my pantry’s overabundance of potatoes, the final edition of Maryland Munch is taking a stab at a student-accessible Maryland classic: Old Bay steak fries.

McCormick, as you might have heard, could be leaving Baltimore. Maybe in retaliation, Marylanders have been dousing everything with Old Bay recently to enjoy the spice while it’s still authentic. According to a meticulous 2014 Washington Post analysis, Old Bay might even be on the verge of going national — a recognition it deserves.

Old Bay can improve food that you thought was perfect already. Old Bay ice cream exists, and one insane creamery is actually making Old Bay ice cream sandwiches … with crab cakes. Apparently the spice is pretty good in dark chocolate — maybe it’s the salty/sweet craze taken to new heights. Even McDonald’s has realized Old Bay is the one true savior of their Filet-O-Fish.

To be honest, I find all of those options a little gross. If you’re just looking for a classic way to enjoy the tin of Old Bay from your freshman welcome package, this is your blog. Normally my apartment uses Old Bay for popcorn, but I keep buying huge bags of potatoes thinking I’ll finish them before they start growing eyes and fungi and other nasty crap. PSA: 5 pounds of spuds is a lot of food. I am just one person.

If you have recently made a similar potato-buying mistake, you can use up at least 2 pounds of the spuds (and a lot of Old Bay) with this recipe. All it involves is tossing your sliced potatoes in oil and Old Bay and baking them for 45 minutes. It takes almost no effort, and a side of these babies will make a dorm dinner look like an Outback Steakhouse special. As much fun as it is to dump half your tin of Old Bay on fresh microwave popcorn, sometimes you want something a little classier.

Then again, three of us finished an entire cookie sheet of these fries in 20 minutes today, so maybe classy isn’t the best description for them. Maybe classy isn’t possible with Old Bay. Maybe Old Bay inspires too much enthusiasm, too much devotion, for refined eating behavior.

I’m not sure that will ever be a bad thing.