Maryland-Style Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes

For my wife's birthday, I decided to try my hand at making rather than buying a dish she had requested - Maryland-style jumbo lump crab cakes. We lived in Maryland for many years, and this was one of our favorites. It turned out to be fairly easy to make and we were happy with the results. I found this recipe at http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/classic-maryland-crab-cakes.aspx.

I made two small changes: I used chopped green onions instead of parsley and canned bread crumbs instead of fresh bread crumbs.

I purchased fresh jumbo lump crab from the Pinchers Restaurant in Lakewood Ranch (http://www.pinchersusa.com/lakewood-ranch-sarasota.php). The Pinchers chain has its own fleet of fishing boats and obtains the crab along Florida's Gulf Coast. The crab meat was beautiful and had only one bit of shell mixed in. Pinchers was selling the jumbo lump crab meat for $29.99 per pound and the lump crab meat for $19.99 per pound.

It is important to be careful not to break up the jumbo lump crab meat when preparing the dish. Otherwise, there's no point in buying the jumbo lump. My wife once showed me laughably idiotic instructions for a crab recipe in a major women's magazine. The instructions in the recipe called for processing the jumbo lump crab meat in a food processor!!!!!!

Some crab cake recipes call for a remoulade for the cakes. This would be sacrilegious in Maryland. We did use tartar sauce on them.

This recipe produces eight small crab cakes. Three of us easily finished them off.

Ingredients

- 1 lb. jumbo lump or backfin crabmeat, fresh or pasteurized
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1&1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1&1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning (It's sold at Publix.)
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
- 1&1/4 cups fresh breadcrumbs (from soft white bread such as Pepperidge farm)
- 1 tbsp chopped, fresh, flat-leaf parsley
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- lemon wedges for serving

Directions

1. Drain the crab meat, if necessary, and pick through it for shells. Put the crab meat in a medium bowl and set aside.

2. In a small bowl, whisk the egg, mayonnaise. mustard, Old Bay seasoning, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and salt. Scrape the mixture over the crab, and mix gently until well combined. 

3. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs and parsley over the mixture, and then mix them in thoroughly, but gently. Try not to turn the mixture into a mash. It should be somewhat loose. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 to 3 hours.

4. Shape the crab mixture into eight cakes about 1 inch thick.

5. Heat the butter and olive oil in a 12-inch, nonstick skillet over medium heat. When the butter is frothy, add the cakes to the pan. (The original recipe says that eight cakes should fit comfortably in a 12-inch skillet. I found that they completely filled a 14-inch skillet.)  Cook until dark golden on the underside - about 4 minutes. Flip the cakes, reduce the heat to medium low, and continue cooking until the other side is well browned - 4 to 5 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges on the side for squeezing on the cakes.