Crab Cake Recipe?
Does anyone out there have an absolutely fabulous, fail-safe crab cake recipe? We're planning to prepare them for a 60th birthday celebration this weekend. A couple of caveats:
First, they need to be more "traditional" style crab cakes--we live near Baltimore, MD, and our crew just won't go for anything too far afield...
Second, it would be great if they could be fried an hour ahead of time and then reheated in the oven, just to avoid the whole frying mess in the middle of a party.
Thanks in advance for your help, Serious Eaters!
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7 Comments:
I've made these with great results. Bob Kinkead's Crab Cakes. My husband worked with him years & years ago, at Harvest Restaurant in Cambridge, MA. He has since moved south, to the DC area. He is a marvelous chef. We have his book too ... worth a look.
I've found that making and forming crab cakes at least an hour ahead and refrigerating them makes them a lot easier to cook. I use an ice cream scoop to portion them. Just scoop the mixture and plop it onto a plate of crumbs. Then pat them gently into shape. I've frozen leftovers uncooked good results.
You could cook them off ahead of time and reheat them either in the oven or briefly in a saute pan (probably better). If you re-heat them in an oven, I'd put them on a rack of some sort, so they don't get soggy on the bottom.
kjgibson at 7:31PM on 08/13/08
My husband is from Maryland. His Grandfather was a oyster and crab fisherman. I remember watching his grandmother pick crabs apart! Amazing!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
1 pound backfin Blue crab meat or other lump crab meat
8 saltine crackers
1 egg beaten
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp mustard
1/4 tsp Worcestershire
1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
salt to taste
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Preparation:
Carefully check the crab meat for any cartilage. Put meat in a bowl and set it aside.
Crush the saltine crackers very fine and mix with all the other ingredients. Gently fold in the crab. Only mix enough to combine ingredients. You don't want to break up the crab into fine shreds. Shape into 6 crab cakes, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Heat about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan. Sauté until golden brown on each side. This will only take about 3-5 minutes per side.
I suppose you can cook them ahead and reheat, but not too far ahead. Peppers DO NOT belong in traditional Maryland crab cakes!
izatryt at 8:33PM on 08/13/08
I ese a crabcake recipe almost identical to izatryt's only I use panko and dry mustard. The panko binds without altering the core flavor and the dry mustard is tangy but not overly sour. I chop a bit of green oinions finely too.
JerzeeTomato at 4:39AM on 08/14/08
Here is a really simple recipe for Maryland Crab Cakes:
Ingredients
6 slices white bread
3/4 C. olive oil
3 eggs, separated
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 lb. crabmeat
Paprika
3 Tbs. butter
Directions
Trim crusts from bread and lay slices on a shallow platter. Pour oil over them and let stand until bread is thoroughly saturated. Use forks to break into small pieces. Combine egg yolks with mustard, salt and Worcestershire sauce. Beat lightly. Stir in bread and crab meat. Gently fold in stiffly beaten egg whites, and shape mixture into patties. Sprinkle with paprika and sauté in heated butter until golden on both sides.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 10:36AM on 08/14/08
@jenberger: Pardon me if you know this, but when frying don't try to turn the cakes over until they have a nice crust on the bottom. You don't want to burn them but if you turn them too soon they will fall apart and I, at least, have never figured a way to get them back together again.
Blue Iris at 3:14PM on 08/14/08
This recipe looks REALLY appealing:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008/05/cook-the-book-falafel-crab-cakes-recipe.html
hungrychristel at 4:28PM on 08/14/08
I don't have a URL for this, but the recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything was easy and delicious. We used it after we came back from Seattle with some fresh Dungeness crab. Good luck!
PAWriter at 4:59PM on 08/14/08