Maryland Crab Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Gently mix, by hand, crabmeat, scallions, herb, Old Bay, bread crumbs, and mayonnaise in medium bowl, being careful not to break up crab lumps. Season with salt and white pepper to taste. Carefully fold in egg with rubber spatula until mixture just clings together.
• Divide crab mixture into four portions and shape each into a fat, round cake, about 3 inches across and 1 1/2-inches high. Arrange on baking sheet lined with waxed paper; cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 30 minutes. (Can refrigerate up to 24 hours.).
• Put flour on plate or in pie tin. Lightly dredge crab cakes. Heat oil in large, preferably nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Gently lay chilled crab cakes in skillet; pan-fry until outsides are crisp and browned, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Serve hot,.
• Chef's Notes.
• Use a *very* delicate hand when mixing. You don't want to break up the crab meat.
• Use the bare minimum of filler necessary to just hold the cakes together. These are Crab Cakes, not crab flavoured bread cakes!
• You can broil them rather than fry. In that case, omit the flour dusting. Be very careful when turning. You don't want them to fall apart.

Steps:

• Mix together eggs, mayo, OLD BAY, pepper, worcestershire sauce, and mustard, until creamy.
• Add bread crumbs, mixing evenly.
• Add in the crab meat, being sure to mix evenly.
• Shape into cakes.
• Makes 6 large or 9 medium crabcakes.
• Saute in pan with a little oil for about 5 minutes on each side.
• You can also broil them until brown. This may require you to flip them, depending on your pan.
• Serve with tartar sauce and lemon.
• Tip: Try a crabcake sandwich. I use a Martin's Brand potato roll topped with tartar sauce and crisp lettuce.

Steps:

• Pick the crab meat to remove any remaining pieces of shell.
• Pick bread into small pieces and place in medium-size bowl with crabmeat. Add egg, mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and Old Bay seasoning ™. Mix ingredients by hand to avoid overworking the crabmeat, you want to keep the lumps of meat as much as possible. Form into patties; this should make 6 good-size cakes.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet, then fry cakes for about 4 minutes each side or until brown crust forms on both sides of the crab cake.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Combine all ingredients excluding crabmeat and mix thoroughly. Add crabmeat and toss gently to prevent the lumps from breaking up. Portion to 4-ounce servings and bake for 11 minutes.

Steps:

• Trim the crusts from the bread; discard, or reserve for another use. Tear the remaining bread into little pieces (about 20 pieces per slice); handle the bread lightly, so the pieces remain fluffy and don't flatten out. Place the bread pieces in a bowl, and sprinkle them with the wine; toss lightly to distribute the wine evenly.
• Pick over the backfin and the jumbo lump crabmeat to remove any bits of shell. In a large mixing bowl, toss together the backfin and jumbo lump crabmeat. Season to taste with salt and with Maryland crab seasoning. Add the soaked bread, beaten eggs, lemon juice, and melted butter; toss lightly, making sure to keep the crab lumps whole. Add the mayonnaise, and toss the mixture gently with your hands, distributing the mayonnaise evenly. Taste again for seasoning, if desired (if you don't want to taste raw egg, you can saute a bit of the mixture in butter). For even better flavor, allow the mixture to sit in the refrigerator for a few hours.
• When you are ready to cook, place a large, heavy-bottomed saute pan over medium-high heat; the pan should have enough room for 3 crab cakes. Add enough lard and vegetable oil (in fifty-fifty production) to create a 1-inch depth of oil. When the oil is medium-hot, quickly shape 1/2 the crab mixture with your hands into 3 cakes, each roughly the size and shape of a large hamburger. Gently place the cakes in the oil, making sure to preserve their shapes. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the cakes are golden on one side. Flip them carefully with a spatula, and fry on the other side for 3 to 4 minutes. After about 8 minutes, the cakes should be golden brown on all sides and heated through (you want the pieces of bread inside to virtually disappear). Remove the cakes from the pan, and place them on paper towels. Repeat and make 3 more cakes with the remaining mixture.

Steps:

• Clean the crabmeat of all shell fragments without breaking or crumbling the delicate lumps.
• Place the bread in a food processor and, using the metal blade, process until finely crumbled. Measure and reserve 2 tablespoons of the bread crumbs to use in the filling. The remaining bread crumbs will be used to coat the crab cakes.
• Mix the crabmeat with the sweet peppers, garlic, jalapeno, cilantro leaves, and mayonnaise. Add the "Old Bay" seasoning powder, 2 tablespoons of the bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Mix well, then refrigerate for twenty minutes before continuing.
• Cover a work surface with waxed paper sprinkled with the reserved bread crumbs. Using a 2-ounce ice cream scoop, form eight equal-size portions of crabmeat. With the palm of your hand pat each portion into a disk-shaped cake approximately 3/4-inch thick. It is important for the crab cakes to be the same thickness so that they will cook uniformly. Press each cake into the bread crumbs, turning them so they coat evenly on all sides. Refrigerate for at least an hour to prevent them from crumbling during cooking.
• No more than half an hour before you plan to serve the crab cakes, add enough oil to cover the bottom of an oven-proof saute pan. Heat until just before it begins to smoke. Add the crab cakes gently, being careful not to crowd the pan. (Cook them in two batches if necessary.) When the crab cakes are well browned on both sides, place in a 375 degree F. oven for six minutes to ensure that they are fully cooked and hot at the center. Serve with mesclun salad, chili mayonnaise and garnish with finely chopped tomato.

Steps:

• Even though crab meat is packaged fresh and clean of shell there are always some shell fragments remaining. Open the crab meat, dump into a clean dish, and with scrupulously clean hands, pick through and clean the crabmeat of all shell fragments. Be careful of the delicate nature of such a high quality product and try not to crumble the large lumps of crab. Mix the crabmeat with the sweet peppers, garlic, jalapeno, cilantro leaves, and mayonnaise. Add the seasoning powder, 4 tablespoons of the bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Mix well then refrigerate the mixture for twenty minutes. A cold mix is easier to work with and form into cakes.
• Cover a work surface with waxed paper and sprinkle with half of the remaining bread crumbs. Scoop up and divide the crabmeat into 6 equalsize portions and place each mound on the work space. With the a portion of crab in the palm of one hand pat the crab with the fingers of your other hand into a diskshaped cake approximately 3/4-inch thick. It is important for the crab cakes to be the same thickness so that they will cook uniformly. Pat each cake with the bread crumbs, turning them so they coat evenly on all sides. Refrigerate for at least an hour so that the firm enough to cook and in this way prevent them from crumbling.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Not more than half an hour before you plan to serve the crab cakes add enough oil to cover the bottom of a saute pan. Heat until just before it begins to smoke. Add the crab cakes gently, being careful not to crowd the pan. (Cook them in two batches if necessary.) Turn the cakes and brown the second side. When the crab cakes are well browned to a rich golden on both sides, place on a heat proof platter and into a 375 degree oven for 6 to 8 minutes to ensure that they are fully cooked and hot at the center. Serve with chili mayonnaise and a mango salad.

Steps:

• Heat broiler, with rack 4 inches from heat. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; set aside. Keeping each pound of crabmeat separate, turn out onto paper towels; pick through to remove any shells or cartilage.
• In a large bowl, stir together mayonnaise, parsley, lemon juice, egg, mustard, Old Bay, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
• Add crumbs and small-size crabmeat to mayonnaise mixture; stir well to combine. Gently fold in large-size crabmeat to mayonnaise mixture just until combined. Dividing evenly, form mixture into 8 cakes. To make ahead, see Cook's Notes.
• Place cakes on prepared baking sheet; drizzle with melted butter. Broil until golden brown and warmed throughout, 12 to 15 minutes (move to lower shelf if tops brown too quickly). Serve with tarter sauce and lemon wedges.

Steps:

• Mix all ingredients (except canola oil) together and shape into cakes (about 8-10).
• In large skillet, heat canola oil over medium heat.
• Add cakes and cook, turning once, until brown (~3 to 5 minutes per side).
• Drain well on absorbent paper.
• Serve with tartar sauce or Dijon mustard, or make crab cake sandwiches with lettuce & tomato.

Steps:

• Mix first 6 ingredients in a large bowl.
• CAREFULLY fold in crabmeat by hand into well blended ingredients, so as not to break up crab lumps.
• Add bread crumbs and, using hands, blend all ingredients -- still taking care to not break up lumps.
• Carefully form into 10 slightly flattened cakes.
• Refrigerate cakes several hours or overnight.
• Prepare by either frying in olive oil or butter, or broiling.
• Note: Frying in electric skillet in a little olive oil and butter for several minutes per side works very well for me.

Steps:

• Finely crush the saltine crackers in your hands and place in a large bowl. Add the crabmeat, reserving any crab juice in a separate small bowl.
• To the bowl with the crab juice, add the mayonnaise egg, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce; whisk until smooth. Season with black pepper.
• Gently fold the mayonnaise mixture into the crab and saltines. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Scoop the crab mixture into six patties, about 1 1/2-inches thick. Be careful not to handle the mixture too much.
• In a large skillet, heat the oil over moderately high heat until shimmering. Add the crab cakes and cook until deeply golden and heated through, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the crab cakes to plates and serve with lemon wedges.

Steps:

• Preheat oven broiler.
• Mix together crabmeat, bread crumbs, parsley, salt and pepper.
• Beat together egg, mayonnaise, hot sauce and mustard. Combine with other ingredients and mix well. Form into patties and place on a lightly greased broiler pan or baking sheet.
• Broil for 10 to 15 minutes, until lightly brown.

Steps:

• Mix all ingredients except butter until well blended.
• Shape into 8 patties.
• Cook patties in melted butter in large nonstick skillet 4 to 5 minutes on each side or until golden brown on both sides.

Steps:

• Mix egg, Worcestershire sauce, mayonnaise, parsley, seafood seasoning, baking powder, and salt together with your hands in a large mixing bowl. Tear bread into tiny bits; add to the egg mixture. Gently fold in crabmeat; form into 4 cakes and arrange onto a lined baking sheet.
• Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Bake crab cakes until heated through and lightly browned, about 30 minutes.

Steps:

• To make the crabcakes: mix together the mayonnaise, egg, Old Bay seasoning, if using, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and parsley. Fold crabmeat into the mix, then add the breadcrumbs. Chill for 20 mins before shaping into 6 equal-sized cakes.
• Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Heat a large ovenproof frying pan, add the olive oil and brown the crabcakes on each side. Then transfer to the oven for 10 mins or until cooked through.
• To make the butter sauce: boil the white wine, shallots, thyme and bay leaf until reduced to about 3 tbsp. Add the cream and bring back to the boil. Remove from the heat and slowly add the butter, whisking all the time. Finish the sauce with fresh lemon juice and season to taste.
• To serve, put the crabcakes onto plates, add a little pot of sauce and serve with dressed green salad leaves.

Steps:

• Make these patties 1/2 hour to 1 hour before you want to cook them and let them set up in the fridge covered with a piece of plastic wrap.
• Note that the dried slices of bread ARE going into the mix while the bread crumbs ARE NOT. Right before frying- coat the cakes lightly with the breadcrumbs on each side.
• Gather all your ingredients and 2 large mixing bowls. If you have a large wooden spoon- use that; if not- put it on your shopping list. Mince your onion and chop your parsley. Chop your sliced bread up in small cubes. Beat your egg. Chop your claw meat into 1 square centimeter cubes (or just tear into pieces).
• In one bowl: mix onion, bread, and milk. Then add: mayo, dijon, worcestershire sauce, egg. Mix well.
• Make sure there's no moisture in your second bowl so the seasonings don't stick. In your second bowl: Place your crab meat in bowl. Season evenly with the black pepper, parsley, and Old Bay seasoning.
• Add the seasoned crab meat to the mixture in the first bowl and mix together gently. You paid extra for those big claw portions so don't go smashing them all up when your mixing.
• Form the mixture into crab cakes as big or as small as you like them and place them on something flat that can fit in the fridge ( I use a hard plastic cutting board). Spray the cutting board very lightly with cooking spray to keep the cakes from sticking while in the fridge. Cover with plastic and put in fridge for 1/2 - 1 hour.
• If you are frying your cakes (recommended) I would use Canola Oil in your pan. If you are broiling- I recommend coating the baking sheet with Olive Oil and also drizzling just a little Olive Oil over the tops of your cakes.
• Pour your breadcrumbs on a dinner plate and coat each side of your crab cakes lightly with them.
• Heat the Canola Oil in your pan over a medium-high heat. When the oil starts putting off a little smoke it should be ready. You want to hear a little sizzle when you drop your crab cakes in the pan- that's how you know your oil is at a good frying temperature.
• Once you have your crab cakes in the pan- give them a minute to just sit- undisturbed. After about a minute- gently start shaking your pan- you want to see some movement in the pan to ensure they're not burning. Make sure they're not cooking too fast- if you start to smell a burn coming on- lift the pan off the heat and flip the cakes- reduce heat and return pan to stove.
• The method I use for cooking a perfect crab cake is simple- my fingers. Tilt your pan just enough to move the oil down to one side of the pan- feel around the bottom of one of the cakes at the top of the pan. The cakes are ready to be flipped when they begin to crisp around the bottom edges. If you have more sensitive fingers (like normal people) just simply use a slotted spatula to lift the cakes out of the pan and look at the bottom of the cake- when it's nice and golden-brown you can flip them.
• Don't depend on a timer to cook when pan frying because that's not always reliable. Use your eyes and your fingers.
• Take a big dollop of Tar Tar sauce in the middle of a plate. Take a spoon and push down in the middle of the dollop and lightly spread in circles to make a perfect little bed for your crab cake. Place your crab cake on its bed and serve with your favorite sides.
• I'll add a recipe for Tar Tar sauce sometime soon. For now- just use your favorite.