A plate of food with asparagus and a fork on a wooden table.
Most chefs make thousands of crab cakes in their career and eventually settle on their own 'secret weapon' crab cake recipe.
I haven't experienced too many exceptional crab cakes at restaurants-most have fillers, cheap crab meat, too much breading etc... so I simply make my own!
A plate of food with asparagus and a lemon on a table.

Fish cakes prepared with bluefish; mint & basil pesto

Crab Cakes & Fish Cakes

I think of crab or fish cakes in 'garde manger' terms... an exceptional, main ingredient, small amount of binder, garnish & seasoning. I usually prepare delicate crab cakes so I make them small & easy to pan fry and flip AND I serve them immediately upon cooking! Life changing...

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Prep Time: 3o min

Cooking Time: 20 min


Ingredients

Yield: 4 portions


Ingredients              

1 1/2 lb                 Crab meat, picked  or (codfish, fluke, bluefish etc…)

1 ea                        Egg, cracked & whisked

5  Tbsp                Mayonnaise 

1 Tbsp                 Dijon mustard                       

1 Tbsp                 Old bay     

1 tsp                     Kosher Salt

.5 tsp                   Cayenne Pepper

3 Tbsp                 Celery, washed, peeled & minced                       

3 Tbsp                 Scallion, sliced very thin (white section only)                 

4 Tbsp                Ritz Crackers, ground fine

3 Tbsp                Panko


2 Tbsp                 Bacon, crumbled and crisp (optional)

2 Tbsp                 Red bell pepper, minced (optional)

 

1 qt                     Canola oil for frying                        

How to make Crab Cakes

A large crab is sitting on top of a metal tray.
A close up of a tray of gnocchi on a table

Step 1

Although it's simple to purchase a variety of different crabmeat products, cooking live crabs, cooling & picking the crabmeat produces a more delicious crab cake. I like baking the crabs to avoid extra moisture. If you prefer to use moist heat, simmer about 10 minutes in water w a bay leave and some peppercorns, then cool.


If making fish cakes, season & bake the seafood fillet until firm (145 °F about 8 minutes in 350 °F oven); cool and break or cut into a small dice. The fish in the picture is baked cod fillet.



A close up of a crab salad with a spoon in it.
A white plate with a cookie on it on a yellow table
A pan filled with crab cakes is sitting on a table.


Step 2

Place the egg into a bowl, add the mayonnaise, mustard and seasonings; whisk to blend. Add the celery, scallion, crab meat, Ritz crackers and panko into the bowl, blend with a rubber spatula. 



Use an ice cream scoop to form one small ball and fry as a 'taster'; evaluate seasoning and/or panko based upon the flavor and texture. Some types of crab meat have excess liquid and it purges into the mixture after a few minutes so you may need to add more panko, depending on which crab meat you choose to cook with.


When the crab cake flavor and texture is the way you like, form the remaining filling into 8 or 9 balls, laying each onto a parchment paper, lined tray. Flatten (I use a cookie cutter ring to make the cakes evenly round).



A close up of a fried patty on a white plate

Step 3

Heat oil in an 8 inch sauteuse (this is a saute pan but with straight sides-not sloped sides, used for pan frying) There should be about 1/8th inch of oil in the pan. Pan fry 3 or 4 cakes at a time so you have room to flip the cakes with a spatula-I jiggle the pan so the cakes get evenly light brown.


I tilt the pan so that the hot oil is at one end, then carefully flip the cakes on the side of the pan with no oil so I don't splash hot oil.


I like to serve with a spicy tartar sauce and cole slaw.

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