Maryland Crab Cakes Recipe

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Know what? OLD BAY is a staple even 4000 miles to the north in ALASKA. YUM!

[KYHeirloomer]

MARYLAND LADY CRAB CAKES

1 lb crabmeat
1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
1 large egg
About ¼ cup mayonnaise
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 tsp Worcestershire
1 tsp dry mustard

Remove all cartilage from crabmeat.

In a bowl mix breadcrumbs, egg, mayonnaise and seasonings. Add crabmeat and mix gently but thoroughly. If mixture is too dry, add a little more mayonnaise. Shape into 6 cakes.

Cook cakes in fry pan, in just enough fat to prevent sticking, until browned, about 5 minutes on each side.

Note: If desired, crab cakes may be deep fried at 350F 2-3 minutes, or until browned.

Makes 6 crab cakes.

From the Maryland Seafood Cookbook, published by the Maryland Office of Seafood Marketing.

HELEN STOVALL’S CRAB CAKES

3 cups crab meat
2 eggs
2 tbls mayonnaise
1 tbls flour
Black pepper to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste
Salt
½ cup fine bread crumbs
1 egg

Don’t break crabmeat too fine; sift in the flour. Beat eggs, mayonnaise, seasonings into the crabmeat. Mold the mixture very gently into cakes. Beast the extra egg. Dip the cakes into this; then coat lightly with bread crumbs. Fry until the color of toast. Sprinkle gently with frizzled parsley.

From Helen Stovall of Carteret County, North Carolina

THE CLASSIC CRAB CAKE

1 egg
2 heaping tbls mayonnaise
1 heaping tsp prepared yellow mustard
1 tbls cream
Salt & pepper to taste
1 slice bread, toasted and crumbled
1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 lb fresh crabmeat

Mix together all ingredients except crab. Stir in the crab and form into 4 patties.

Fry in cooking oil until golden, about 5 minutes on each side.

Yield: 4 servings

From the book, From A Lighthouse Window: Recipes and Recollections from the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Side notes on this recipe say: Every Bay cook has a “best” crab cake recipe. They don’t come any better than this.

This is followed by the following recipe, with the sidenote: A purist’s delight, with no “sawdust” to diminish the splendor of pure crabmeat:

THE ULTIMATE CRABCAKE

1 lb lump crabmeat
1 egg, beaten
Crab seasoning to taste

Mix the ingredients together, seasoning to taste. Form mixture into two 8-ounce crab cakes.

Place crab cakes on a preheated, oiled frying pan. Cook over medium heat on both sides until browned, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Serve hot.

WINNIE’S CRAB CAKES

1 lb crabmeat
2 eggs
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
12-3/4 cup bread crumbs

Mix ingredients together and form into cakes. Fry in no-stick pan until golden brown on each side.

Recipe provided by a lady who’s full name I never got. We were crabbing together off a pier on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. She pointed out that this same mixture could be used to fill cleaned crab shells and baked at 350F for about 20 minutes.

CRAB POTATO CAKES

1 lb crabmeat
1 cup mashed potatoes
1 egg, beaten
½ tsp salt
Dash pepper
Dash onion salt

Remove any shell or cartilage from crabmeat. Combine all ingredients. Shape into 12 cakes. Place cakes in a heavy frying pan which contains about 1/8 inch of fat, hot but not smoking. Fry at moderate heat. When cakes are brown on one side, turn carefully, and brown on the other side. Cooking time is approximately 5-8 minutes. Drain on absorbent paper. Serves 6

Traditional recipe from Beaufort, North Carolina

RED’S CRAB CAKES

1 lb cooked crab meat
2 eggs, beaten
½ lb onions, chopped
½ cup cornmeal
½ cup flour
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
¼ cup vegetable oil or shortening

In a large mixing bowl combine crab, eggs, and onions. In a separate bowl combine cornmeal, flour, salt and pepper. Add just enough of the cornmeal mixture to hold crab meat together when patties are formed. Panfry patties in hot oil, browning each side.

From “Red” Otis Radford, Carolina Beach, North Carolina

CRAB CAKES WITH MUSTARD SAUCE THE CASTINE INN

1 cup onion, finely chopped
2 tbls vegetable oil
1/3 cup parsley, minced
5 large eggs, beaten lightly
2 tbls finely ground toasted hazelnuts
3 tbls milk
2 cups Saltines, crushed
2 lb lump crab meat

for the sauce:

2/3 cup dry vermouth
3 tbls red wine vinegar
2 shallots, minced
3 black peppercorns
1 ½ cups fish stock or clam juice
2 cups heavy cream
White pepper to taste
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
2/3 cup sour cream

½ stick unsalted butter, melted

In a small skillet cook the onion in the oil over moderately low heat, stirring occasional, until it just turns golden. In a large bowl combine the onion, parsley, eggs, hazelnuts and milk and stir in 1 cup of the Saltine crumbs and the crabmeat.

Make the mustard sauce: In a saucepan combine the vermouth, vinegar, shallots and peppercorns. Bring the mixture to a boil and boil until liquid is almost evaporated. Add the stock and boil until reduced by half. Add the cream and boil until reduced by one third, and add white pepper and salt to taste. Remove pan from the heat and whisk in the mustard and sour cream. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve into a bowl and keep it warm, covered.

Form the crab mixture into cakes, using 1/3 cup for each cake, and transfer them as they are formed to a shallow bowl holding the reserved cup of Saltine crumbs. Coat the cakes well and transfer to a baking sheet. Bake them in the middle of a preheated 450F oven for 8 minutes. Brush the tops of the crab cakes with the melted butter and broil the crab cakes under a preheated broiler, about 4 inches from the heat, for 2-3 minutes, or until they are just golden.

Serve the crab cakes with the mustard sauce.

From a magazine article sent by a friend. Neither the magazine nor the location of The Castine Inn were identified.

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Nice offerings, Brook.

Another idea worth trying, especially this time of year- try tossing a wee bit of your very best sweet corn into your crabcake mix- then topping with a pat of butter when it's lifted from the skillet. Kind of what I like to think of as an Illinois/Alaska hybrid!

[KYHeirloomer]

I like them like that, Kevin. Unfortunately, Friend Wife can't do corn. She loves it, but it doesn't love her.

Until going through my recipe cards, notes, and cookbooks I didn't realize how many recipes do not specifically include Old Bay. What an oversight! I add it to any crab cake recipe.

Another addition that perks up most crab cake recipes is a shot of creole mustard. I tend to add it unless I'm planning to plate my favorite way: a crabcake sitting on a slice of fried green tomato, all of it slathered with remoulade sauce. Ummmmmmmm!

The list I gave represents maybe half the crab cake recipes in my collection. But after awhile they all start sounding samee-same. Note, though, that they all call for the minimum amount of filler. The idea is to headline the crabmeat.

The only recipe I have that piles on the filler is for Fisherman's Wharf Crab Cakes. That one calls for 2 cups of breadcrumbs, plus other truck. But, of course, Fisherman's Wharf services the tourist trade, so they want to make them as cheaply as possible. After all, they're never gonna see that customer again, so what difference does it make how good or bad they prepare their products?

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Nice, Brook- I keep creole mustard on-hand for two purposes- crabcakes and believe it or not- as a "secret" ingredient to Mac & Cheese. Whisking a bit into a bechamel before adding the cheeses adds TONS of dimension and flavor- it's certainly detectable to the tongue- but not in so strong a way that anyone can tell you exactly what it is they're tasting.

(You've mentioned your fav fried-green-tomato crabcake-treatment often, Brook. I've never tried it... but now, I feel I must!)

By the way- I worked at a restaurant years ago that right on the menu under "crabcakes" claimed: 'the simplest recipe ever- pulled directly from the pages of Hemmingway's "The Old Man and the Sea".

[KYHeirloomer]

Been a long time since I read any Hemingway, Kevin. I don't recall whether there was a crabcake recipe or not.

Oh, well. What's another trip to the library.

[cookie]

I never heard of Old Bay, I Love crab-cakes. I have never made them before. I always bought them frozen & had them in restaurants at brunch. All these recipes sound really good, mm Cookie

[KYHeirloomer]

Cookie, Old Bay is available in just about every supermarket in America. You should have no trouble finding it.

Originated by the Baltimore Spice Co. more than 60 years ago and now owned and packaged by McCormack, Old Bay is a seasoning mix particularly formulated for seafood, but good for poultry and meats as well.

Ingredients are celery salt, mustard, red pepper, black pepper, bay leaves, cloves, allspice, ginger, mace, cardamom, cinnamon, and paprika.

Making your own crabcakes isn't difficult. Anyone who can make a hamburger can do it. The trick is to keep the filler content as small as possible, so that you taste crab rather than breadcrumbs. And to use real crabmeat. The make-believe stuff won't work.

[cookie]

Thanks I will look for Old Bay. I love the ingredient's. I use McCormick all the time different spices. Cookie

[KYHeirloomer]

Truth to tell, Cookie, Old Bay is one of the very few seasoning mixes that I buy. Usually I prefer making my own blends. But this one is just so perfect for the purpose there's no need to play around.