Crab Cakes

Old Bay Seasoning and of course large pieces of jumbo lump crabmeat are the keys to a great crab cake.  I offer one simple tarter-style sauce in the recipe below, but you can easily experiment with different sauces (e.g., spicy, tropical).

Crab Cakes
Ingredients

• 1 can of jumbo lump crabmeat (rinse under cold water and drain; picking out and discarding any shell fragments)
• 1/2 red bell pepper (wash pepper under cold water, cut in half removing stem, seeds, and any seed connective tissue or white ribs. Cut half of the bell pepper into a small dice; the other half can be saved for another use)
• 1 stalk of celery (wash under cold water, trim top and cut off large white bottom area. cut length wise into 3 to 4 strips, and then cut strips across width to produce a small dice cut of the celery)
• 1 shallot (peeled and minced into small dice)
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup of light mayonnaise
• 1 egg (cracked into small bowl to prevent shell fragments and beaten)
• 4 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning (adjust amount to taste)
• 1/2 fresh lemon (for the fresh squeezed juice)
• 1/4 cup of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley (use fresh parsley and not curly parsley)
• 1 - 2 cups of plain bread crumbs (amount will vary)
• 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil

Method

Make Crab Cake Mixture: In a large bowl, add red bell pepper, celery, shallot, mustard, mayonnaise, egg, Old Bay Seasoning, lemon juice, and parsley. Mix ingredients together well.  Everything is mixed well before adding the crabmeat so it can be folded in more gently to prevent from breaking the jumbo pieces too much. Gently fold crabmeat into mix. Start with about 1/4 cup of bread crumbs gently folded into the crab cake mixture.  Using clean hands, pick up about 3/4 a cup of crab cake mixture and gently squeeze and form into a small baseball size ball.  If the mixture will not stick together and seems too wet, add some more bread crumbs to the mixture and reattempt.  Continue to add small amounts of additional bread crumbs until the formed ball just holds together. (Note: no salt is added separately to the crab cake mixture as the Old Bay Seasoning brings sufficient salt)

Form Crab Cakes: Cover the bottom of a separate shallow bowl with bread crumbs (for coating the outside of the crab cakes).  Line a baking sheet pan or other flat surface with wax paper (for a staging area for the crab cakes before cooking).  Form a small ball (about 3/4 cup) of crabmeat between your hands, roll the ball in the bowl with bread crumbs to lightly coat the outside.  Place the coated crab cake ball on the wax paper and press down the top with the flat of your hand while pressing in the expanding edges with your other hand to form a thick patty shape (the crab cake shape).  Repeat until all of the crab cake mixture is used.

Cook the Crab Cakes: Place a large, preferably non-stick skillet on medium heat. Once the skillet is warm, add 1/4 cup of vegetable or canola oil.  Place three crab cakes (or however many will comfortably fit in a single layer with room between to easily flip the cakes) in the skillet.  Cook for about 2 minutes before carefully flipping the crab cakes over (the cooked side should be a golden brown).  Cook for another 2 minutes before carefully removing the crab cakes and placing them on paper towels to drain any excess oil. Repeat in batches until all of the crab cakes are cooked.

Simple Tartar Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 cup light mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons capers (rinsed and roughly chopped)
• 1/3 cup worth of small diced pickle (avoid bread and butter or other overly sweet pickles, but you can choose between dill, garlic, kosher, or gherkin pickles)
• 1/2 fresh lemon (for the fresh squeezed juice)
• 1/4 cup of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley (use fresh parsley and not curly parsley)

Method

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.  Add a small pinch of gray sea salt (not too much as the capers are often salty) and some fresh cracked pepper.  Stir well to incorporate.