Chesapeake Crab Cakes
A crab cake is an American dish composed of crab meat and various other ingredients such as bread crumbs, milk, eggs, yellow onions, and seasonings. Occasionally other ingredients such as red or green peppers are added, at which point the cake is then sautéed, baked, or grilled, and then served. Crab cakes are traditionally associated with the area surrounding the Chesapeake Bay, in particular the state of Maryland and the city of Baltimore.
The two most common styles of Maryland crab cakes are known as Boardwalk and Restaurant. Boardwalk crabcakes are typically deep fried and breaded, and are often filled with stuffing of various sorts and served on a hamburger bun. Restaurant crab cakes, which are sometimes called gourmet crab cakes, are often prepared with no filler, and are composed of all-lump crab meat served on a platter or open-faced sandwich.
There is a simple genius about a traditional crab-cake platter: The crispness and creaminess and intrinsic sweetness of the cakes are repeated by the crisp exteriors of the fries, which, at their best, will have their own subtle sweetness and interior creaminess. Then there is the coleslaw, a rough relish whose crunch is greater than that of the crab cakes' crusts or of the French fries but whose sweet-sour dressing complements the crab cakes. Simply put, it is one of the great classics of regional American cuisine.
Serve with French fries, potato salad, corn on the cob, or cole slaw. These also make good Crab Burgers.
Try with one of these sauces: Tartar Sauce, Spicy Avocado Tartar Sauce or Roasted Tomato Aioli
Chesapeake Crab Cakes
FMM: Most crab cakes are made with mayonnaise as the binder, but Brian and I had some crab mixture left from making crab ravioli, which we used to make crab cakes. We added the typical crab cake seasonings and found we liked these crab cakes better than the traditional ones we were making. This is that recipe, modified, which uses butter, flour and cream as the binder. Adding an egg would add flavor and help binding. I would still like to try other recipes to see if I can find one I like.
Maybe look at Phillips Crab Meat’s recipe for crab cakes, or Old Bay Seasoning’s.
1 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup cream
1 Tbsp. prepared mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
dash Tabasco sauce
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley
2 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning
1 pound lump crabmeat
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup green onions, minced
1/2 cup buttery cracker crumbs (such as Ritz)
1 c. soft bread crumbs
Salt and white pepper to taste
Vegetable oil for frying
Melt butter in a sauté pan over low-medium heat. Add the flour, salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes to make a blond roux. Gradually add the cream. Keep whisking the mixture to avoid lumps. Remove from heat and let cool.
Once cool, add the prepared mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, parsley and Old Bay Seasoning. Carefully pick through the crabmeat and make sure there are no bits of shell. Add the crabmeat to the seasoned bechamel sauce. Melt 1 Tbsp. butter in another pan and sauté the onions until translucent. Add the onions to the crabmeat, then stir in the cracker crumbs, and finally the bread crumbs. Mix, being careful to not break up the crab, then set aside to cool.
When the mixture has cooled, form it into 4 thick patties (do not pack too firmly; cakes should be as loose as possible and still hold their shape). Place on a cookie sheet and cover with waxed paper. Refrigerate about 1 hour before cooking; this helps keep them from falling apart while frying.
In a large cast-iron skillet put vegetable oil to a depth of about 1/4 - 1/2 inch; heat over medium-high heat to about 375 degrees. Cook crab cakes in hot oil about 3-4 minutes per side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
Serve on lettuce leaves with lemon wedges and tartar sauce.
Yields: 4 crab cakes
Maryland-Style Crab Cakes
from https://www.southernliving.com/
The Maryland crab cake is a contentious dish. Many restaurants pass off their patties as the real deal, but few outside the region get them right. They must consist of mostly crab with just enough binder to hold the meat together and should be scooped or balled by hand, never flattened or pressed. Two cooking methods are acceptable: pan-frying and broiling. The only variable is how much Old Bay seasoning to use.
1/2 cup finely crushed saltine crackers
3 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. yellow mustard
1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1/2 tsp. hot sauce
1 large egg
1 lb. fresh lump blue crabmeat (drained and picked over for shells)
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Lemon wedges, to serve
Stir together crushed saltine crackers, mayonnaise, 1yellow mustard, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, Old Bay seasoning, hot sauce, and egg in a large bowl until smooth. Gently fold in blue crabmeat; do not break up chunks of crab. Scoop and gently shape mixture into 6 balls (about 1/2 cup each); do not flatten. Place on a plate; cover and chill at least 30 minutes.
Heat butter in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high. Add crab cakes; cook, gently turning once, until deeply golden and crispy, about 4 minutes per side. Garnish with fresh parsley. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.
Baltimore-Style Crab Cakes
from https://www.foodandwine.com/
This quintessential Baltimore crab cake recipe comes courtesy of chef Andrew Zimmern. With minimal filler ingredients, these shine with pure crab flavor.
"This is the best crab cake recipe you will ever find. If you don't overmix, and don't pack your mounds too tightly, you will experience pure, unadulterated crab cake heaven," Andrew Zimmern says. "Seriously, they are that good. Follow the steps to the letter and you will be making these cakes every opportunity you have. For years I searched for a great crab cake recipe. I wanted one that didn't have a lot of filler. There is, in fact, a right and a wrong way to cook some foods, and putting a lot of junk in a crab cake is one of the biggest transgressions I find in American cookery," he contends.
"Anyway, one night about 20 years ago, my best friend's wife (who is from Baltimore) shared her mother's secret 'country club' recipe for crab cakes. This is it, verbatim. . . If you haven't eaten a cold crab cake on toast with sliced tomato and Russian dressing, then you are really missing out. . . Team these with homemade slaw, a warm potato salad, and some fruit salad."
Reviewers complained saying any Maryland crab cake needed to include Old Bay seasoning. Others said the recipe uses too much mayonnaise and crackers. One person commented, "Old Bay Seasoning was created at about the time when the cookbook that this recipe was published was written. Old Bay began its surge in popularity in the 1940's. This recipe is from another era... with the exception of Dijon which was not in the original recipe. My Mom has the cookbook from the 40's that this recipe comes from. We have enjoyed it for years."
1/2 cup mayonnaise [cut back to 1/4 cup]
1 large egg, beaten
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce [cut back to 2 tsp.]
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over
20 saltine crackers, finely crushed [use a buttery cracker such as Ritz]
1/4 cup canola oil, for frying
Lemon wedges, for serving
In a small bowl, whisk the mayonnaise with the egg, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce until smooth.
In a medium bowl, lightly toss the crabmeat with the cracker crumbs. Gently fold in the mayonnaise mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. [Refrigerating is the key to the crab cakes holding together as they fry]
Scoop the crab mixture into eight 1/3-cup mounds; lightly pack into 8 patties, about 1 1/2 inches thick.
In a large skillet, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the crab cakes and cook over moderately high heat until deeply golden and heated through, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the crab cakes to plates and serve with lemon wedges.
Make ahead: The crab cakes can be prepared through Step 2 and refrigerated overnight.
4 servings
