Chesapeake Bay Crab Cakes Recipe
TIME/SERVINGS
Makes: Serves 8 (2 crab cakes per person)
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From: The Appetizer Atlas , by Arthur L. Meyer
The Chesapeake is the largest estuary in North America, touching on Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. May is molting and mating season for the blue crab and the beginning of blue-crab-eating season. Soft-shelled crabs are eaten whole, steamed, sautéed, or grilled, but mature hard-shell crabs are always steamed, then often dusted with crab seasoning and dumped onto a newspaper-lined table, ready to be attacked with mallets, fingers, and picks. While fun, this can be a lot of work to get to the succulent crabmeat. The crab cake takes all of the work out of enjoying the meat of the blue crab. There are plenty of recipes around for the best crab cake, but the locals agree on one thing: mostly crab, very little filler.
- ½ cup [120 mL] mayonnaise
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon [15 mL] Dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon [1 mL] Tabasco
- 1 teaspoon crab seasoning, such as Old Bay or Wye River
- 1 tablespoon [15 mL] Worcestershire sauce
- 20 saltine crackers, coarsely crushed
- 1½ pounds [675 g] jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over for bits of shell and cartilage
- Oil, for pan frying
- Additional crab seasoning
- Lemon wedges, for garnish
- Mix the mayonnaise with the egg, mustard, Tabasco, crab seasoning, and Worcestershire sauce.
- Sprinkle the crushed saltines over the crabmeat. Gently fold the mayonnaise mixture into the crab mixture, being careful not to break up the crabmeat. (The crabmeat mixture can be made several hours in advance.)
- Form the mixture into 16 crab cakes, about ¼ cup [60 mL] of mixture per cake. Dust the tops with a bit of crab seasoning.
- Sauté in hot oil in a heavy skillet, about 2 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and hold warm for service. (The crab cakes can also be baked at 375°F [190°C] for 8 to 10 minutes.)
- Serve 2 crab cakes per person accompanied with lemon wedges.
This recipe, while from a trusted source, may not have been tested by the CHOW food team.
Copyright © 2003 by Arthur L. Meyer and Jon M. Vann. All rights reserved.
I like this recipe alot..Its alot like mine minus the Worcestershire.....good eats