My grandfather was from the eastern shore in Maryland. There was no way we could make crab cakes or steam crabs without Old Bay. I tried Phillips one time and I'll never do that again. It had more salt then spice and it just didn't seem a Maryland tradition.

DCMerkle

salt added to the Old Bay before putting it in the steaming crabs as being a part of the Old Bay Seasoning?? I have never purchased Old Bay that had too much salt in it. I have been buying and using it since I came to MD in 1968. I add a lot of salt to the Old Bay and all the folks I know who steam crabs, including seafood restaurants, do as well I cannot imagine crabs being steamed without it. I use Old Bay in crab cakes and many other dishes unrelated to seafood and do not find it too salty for that either.

Crabcakes

Makes 10.

1 pound lump crabmeat
2 cups Panko Japanese bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely diced Spanish onions
2/3 cup finely diced red, green and yellow bell peppers
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup pasteurized eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Scant teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Scant teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
2 - 3 T. fresh cilantro, finely chopped

In one large clean bowl combine mayonnaise, eggs, lemon juice, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, Old Bay seasoning, salt, pepper, onions and peppers and cilantro. Mix thoroughly.
Add bread crumbs and fold in completely. Gently fold in the lump crab keeping the pieces as large as possible.
Using a large tablespoon or ice cream scoop portion the crab cake mixture into 3 inches in diameter by 3/4 inch high cakes.
Lightly dust each cake with flour and drop in a hot (365 degrees F) fryer or skillet. Cook thoroughly or until each side is golden brown.

Makes 10 crab cakes.

Mama, have you actually used this recipe? Reason I ask is that's an awful lot of breading for a pound of crabmeat. Good crabcakes typically contain from 1/2 to 1 cup of breadcrumbs per pound of crab; the less the better. You want just enough filler to bind everything together and no more.

I'd also question the yeild. Recipes using one pound of crabmeat typical yeild 4-6 crabcakes. So, unless we're talking appetiser size, ten is really pushing the envelope---even with that incredible amount of filler.

It's all a matter of taste - ditto with size.

If a recipe tells me tomake 1-inch meatballs - do you think I do????