On a recent trip to southwest Florida, I set out to eat plenty of seafood. I enjoy most all seafood and fish, but one of my favorites is crab. And one way I like crab most is in the form of crab cakes.
Simple, tasty and filling.
On my Florida trip, however, I was disappointed by the crab cakes at two different restaurants. Both served a cake that was as flat as a sausage patty. At one location, the flat patty (no more than one-fourth of an inch thick) was served on a huge kaiser roll. Really? The patty was lost in the bun, which was four times its size. To the restaurant's credit, the menu listed it as a "housemade crab cake" instead of a "Maryland-style" crab cake.
Maybe it's a regional thing. Maybe crab cakes made in Florida just aren't the same as those from Maryland. Or maybe the restaurants were trying to save money by using as little crab as possible in their cakes.
I've never been to Maryland, but I've made and eaten plenty of Maryland-style crab cakes. This style of crab cake reigns supreme _ and for good reason. A true Maryland crab cake has discernible pieces of crab. It's made with just enough filler to hold it together, and it has a sweet crab flavor.
Long ago, when I first started making crab cakes, I took cues from the pros and from friends who hail from the Chesapeake Bay region, where blue crab is king for crab cakes.
Some restaurants, I've found, add too much filler to their cakes in the form of bread or cracker crumbs. Use too little filler and the crab cakes will fall apart. Too much, however, leaves them mushy and tasting like filler.
Crab is something that should be treated simply. Don't over-season or add too many ingredients. You don't want to take away from the flavor of sweet crab meat from the salty coastal Atlantic.
Here are some tips for making crab cakes.
What is a Maryland-style crab cake?
These are all about the meat: chunks of stark white crab from blue crabs. The cakes are held together with minimal binding ingredients.
What kind of crab do you use?
First, you need to prepare your wallet. Crab is pricey depending on what you buy. The cost is high not because of a shortage or crab but because of a shortage of crab pickers. Crab is classified into the following grades.
_ Jumbo lump or colossal: The priciest of all. These are large, unbroken pieces taken from the crab's two largest muscles. The pieces are connected to the crab's back swimming legs and are removed intact.
_ Lump or backfin lump crab: These are slightly smaller pieces, but have the same flavor. Sometimes this contains broken pieces of the jumbo lump.
_ Special: Smaller pieces of white meat from the body of the crab.
_ Claw meat: It comes from the swimming fins of the crab, is brownish in color and has strong crab flavor.
How do you make and shape them?
Mix jumbo or lump crab carefully with bread or cracker crumbs. Add maybe an egg and mayonnaise as a binder and some seasonings.
You can first mix together all the binding ingredients and seasoning, then carefully fold in the crab. Use a spatula to mix it together gently so you don't break any of the precious lump crab pieces.
Use an ice cream scoop to make the cake. Place scoops of crab mixture onto a baking sheet and press down slightly. Chill the mixture 30 minutes to an hour before cooking.
Today's recipe is favorite from our archives that I've tweaked here and there. Though the sauces pair nicely with the crab cakes, they are purely optional. The sauce flavors should complement, not compete with, the crab.
