Crab Cakes

Having grown up in the Baltimore, MD area, I have had my fair share of crab cakes. We lived on the water and would catch our own crabs.

I always like it when I see Maryland style crabcakes on a menu. It reminds me of home but I’m not sure what makes a Maryland style crabcake. The only consistency I have seen with many of these “Maryland style” crabcakes is the fact that the main ingredient (is or should be) crab meat. Sometimes the crabcake is stuffed with a lot of fillers (like breadcrumb). In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with having a little bit of filler but I think the main ingredient should be some type of lump crabmeat (jumbo lump when it is on sale).

Here is my favorite crabcake recipe. There are lots of recipes that call for ingredients such as lemon juice, worcestershire, mustard, etc. I think the aforementioned ingredients are too strong in taste and also may water down the crabcake some.

My idea is that the crabcake can have some seasoning (mostly dry seasonings) where the taste of the crab is still inherent.

This is also my first attempt at doing some videos that show my technique. The most important things to keep in mind when making crabcakes is to ensure that there are no shells. A crabcake is one of those things where if you get even once piece of shell, your whole meal could be ruined.

Another aspect of making crabcakes that I want to highlight in the video is to fold the ingredients together (especially when you have jumbo lump crabmeat). There is no need to get any type of lump crab meat if it is to be broken apart and mashed together. If you buy lump to mash it together, you are better off just buying backfin crabmeat.

Ingredients

1 Pound Jumbo Lump Crab Meat
15 saltine crackers
1 Cup Mayo
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon parsley
1 egg
1 teaspoon old bay

Technique

Note: This is my first attempt at doing a Tasty style video. In all of the excitement, I forgot to include the step where I added the mustard powder. Also, the final presentation of the crabcake is only in picture form. Lastly, I realize that the ingredient names are upside down in the video. This was due to the way I had my camera angled to do the video.

1.  Crush saltines and put in bowl. I use either my hands (with ziploc bag) or a rolling pin.

2.  Add all spices, egg, and Mayo to bowl.  Stir to combine.

3.  Clean crab meat and add to mixture.

4.  When mixing, do not break up the lumps of crab meat.  Just gently incorporate/fold it all together.

5.  Form into balls being careful not to break up lumps.  Use baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray the foil.  You can also spray the tops of the crabcakes with some of the spray.  Optionally, you can put a dab of butter on top of the crab cakes.

6.  Put into preheated oven at 425 degrees.  Cook 15 minutes or so until the top is golden and to desired doneness.  You may want to turn heat up to broil at end but that is optional.