Chesapeake Bay Crab Cakes

Chesapeake Bay Crab Cakes
M A RY L A N D

The Chesapeake is the largest estuary
in North America, touching
on Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.
May is molting and mating
season for the blue crab and
the beginning of blue-crab-eating
season. Soft-shelled crabs are
eaten whole, steamed, sautéed,
or grilled, but mature hard-shell
crabs are always steamed, then often
dusted with crab seasoning
and dumped onto a newspaperlined
table, ready to be attacked
with mallets, fingers, and picks.
While fun, this can be a lot of
work to get to the succulent
crabmeat. The crab cake takes all
of the work out of enjoying the
meat of the blue crab. There are
plenty of recipes around for the
best crab cake, but the locals agree
on one thing: mostly crab, very little filler.

serves 8 (2 crab cakes per person)
1⁄2 cup [120 mL] mayonnaise
1 egg
1 tablespoon [15 mL] Dijon mustard
1⁄4 teaspoon [1 mL] Tabasco
1 teaspoon crab seasoning, such as Old Bay or Wye River
1 tablespoon [15 mL] Worcestershire sauce
20 saltine crackers, coarsely crushed
11⁄2 pounds [675 g] jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over for bits of shell and cartilage
Oil, for pan frying
Additional crab seasoning
Lemon wedges, for garnish

A D V A N C E P R E PA R AT I O N
1. Mix the mayonnaise with the egg, mustard, Tabasco, crab seasoning,
and Worcestershire sauce.
2. Sprinkle the crushed saltines over the crabmeat. Gently fold
the mayonnaise mixture into the crab mixture, being careful
not to break up the crabmeat. (The crabmeat mixture can be
made several hours in advance.)

C O O K I N G M E T H O D
3. Form the mixture into 16 crab cakes, about 1⁄4 cup [60 mL] of
mixture per cake. Dust the tops with a bit of crab seasoning.
4. Sauté in hot oil in a heavy skillet, about 2 minutes per side.
Drain on paper towels and hold warm for service. (The crab
cakes can also be baked at 375°F [190°C] for 8 to 10 minutes.)

S E R V I C E
5. Serve 2 crab cakes per person accompanied with lemon
wedges.


C H E F N O T E S
Be careful not to break up the
lumps of crabmeat when folding
it into the mayonnaise mixture.
Do not press the crab cakes too
firmly before frying. They should
be loosely formed, pressed only
enough to hold together when
frying.