I'm so tired of Jesse talking smack about my Mom's cooking. I took such offense to his insistence that this magic "table cream" ingredient made it so it was possible to make food better than my mom can make. Seriously, why would you put table cream into her hot and melty mac & cheese, or the Sweet Baby Ray's-based pulled pork, or her crab cakes.
So, armed with the knowledge that I had a pound of backfin crab meat in my fridge, and my desire to defend her cooking honour from Mr. Craft's libelous accusations, I emailed my mommy around New Year's with a simple statement: "Jesse is talking smack about your cooking on his blog. I want to make one of your recipes and put him in his place. How do I make crab cakes?"
Ingredients
- 1 Pound Can Backfin Crab
- 1/4 Cup Bread Crumbs
- 1 Teaspoon Dried Parsley
- 1 Teaspoon Ground Mustard
- 1/8 Teaspoon Worcestershire Ground Black Pepper Blend
- 2 Teaspoons Old Bay
- 1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
- 2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
- 1 Teaspoon Lea & Perrin's Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 Egg
- Tartar Sauce (on the side, not for use during cooking)
- Beer (for drinking when you eat the delicious crab cakes)
That's a simple enough list, no? You have the options of cooking these a variety of ways. I opted to use my Griswold 9" cast-iron skillet. Why? Because, as Alton Brown is sure to tell you, cast iron rocks. You could also bake these. Mom's even made them in the toaster oven before.
This is one of those recipes that just makes sense. First thing's first: mix up the dry stuff. The Old Bay, pepper, bread crumbs, mustard powder, and parsley can all go into a big mixing bowl. Set this aside.
Next up, you'll need to mix up the wet ingredients -- the melted butter (throw it in a pyrex liquid measuring cup and microwave), the egg, mayonnaise, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix it until it has a smooth consistency.
Now it's time for the wet and dry to come together. Pour the wet into the mixing bowl and start to mix. You want this to be a consistent pasty mixture, no rough spots. It should look sort of like this:
It's time to open up your can of crab meat! I opted for backfin. This is sweet crabmeat, picked from the body of the crab. Sure, you could pick the crabs yourself, but that's way too much work when the canned stuff is perfectly tasty.
Dump the crab meat into the mixing bowl and get your hands dirty. Well, wash your hands first. But then get them dirty. Mix it up good and you should have a bowl of wonderful crabby goop. YUMMY!
Take this opportunity to start heating up your cast iron skillet. I used a bit of vegetable oil spread (store-brand Country Crock) to prevent sticking. With cast iron, your best bet is to cook over a low to medium heat. It may take a bit of time to heat up, but it's worth it.
Let's turn the mixture into crab cakes! This is easy. Scoop some out with your hands, roll into a ball and flatten. I made five evenly-sized cakes -- each is probably a quarter pound or so when you consider the breading/sticking mixture.
Put the cakes in the skillet! DO IT! I have a 9" pan. I can do about three at a time. I didn't time it or anything, but figure about ten minutes, flip, ten minutes. Aside from the egg, all of your ingredients are cooked, so you don't have to worry about dying. And hell, Rocky drank raw eggs all the time.
You now have crab cakes! They are awesome. Put them on a plate and eat with tartar sauce. You can also make them into sammiches. Put them on a kaiser roll with lettuce, tomato and TARTAR SAUCE! Don't get cheap tartar sauce. Get the good stuff. I went with Legal Seafoods, but Bookbinders is good too.
Also, you should drink beer when you eat your crab cakes. I suggest pairing a hoppy IPA. I went with Victory Hop Wallop, which is seasonal and local to the northeast. Also consider Victory Hop Devil (year-round availability) or Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA.
The full photo gallery of my crab cake adventures is located
here.
