Perfect crab cakes have a delicate balance of textures and flavors. They’re meltingly soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. They’re not too bread-y or heavy, but not so loose they fall apart in the skillet. Crab is the star ingredient of course but it needs aromatics and spices to cut through its sweetness. These crab cakes are all that for me. They’re studded with celery, scallion and red pepper and seasoned with Old Bay and a hint of Tabasco, then rolled in a combination of fine breadcrumbs and panko for the perfect light crispy crust.
The classic presentation for crab cakes calls for remoulade sauce for dipping. Remoulade sauce contains some ingredients that I rarely use, if ever, namely capers and pickles. (If you know me at all you know I’m not a pickle person.) To make a quantity small enough for two people I would mince about a half teaspoon of each of those, and then the rest of the jar would sit in my refrigerator, mocking me, for months until I finally tossed it out. So since John is perfectly happy with store bought tartar sauce and I prefer cocktail sauce, I skip the remoulade and we each do our own thing.
Making this ahead, and what to do with leftovers:
- The crab cakes can be mixed and formed (without the breadcrumb coating) earlier in the day and kept chilled until needed.
- Leftover cooked crab cakes can be kept for one day and reheated in the microwave or a 300-degree oven; the breadcrumb crust will be a little soggy, but a few minutes under the broiler will revive it somewhat. Topping with a poached egg, and/or a dollop of warm sauce such as hollandaise, goes a long way to disguise the second-day softness of the crust.
To see this recipe featured in a menu, including timing for preparing this and the other dishes, read my post for Saturday Night, September 21, 2019.
Crab Cakes
Ingredients
- Neutral oil (I use organic expeller-pressed canola oil)
- ½ cup plain dry breadcrumbs, divided
- ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon hot sauce (3 shakes of Tabasco)
- 2 tablespoons minced celery
- 2 tablespoons minced scallion (white and green parts)
- 2 tablespoons minced red bell pepper
- 1 tablespoon minced parsley
- 8 ounces lump crabmeat
- Remoulade sauce, tartar sauce, or cocktail sauce, for serving
Directions
- Step 1 Place a nonstick skillet over medium heat and add oil to a depth of ½” inch. Don’t scrimp on the oil. It’s important that the oil be deep enough to reach at least halfway up the crab cakes once they’re in the pan, so the edges will brown.
- Step 2 While the oil is heating, make the crab mixture and coating: Combine ¼ cup of the dry breadcrumbs with the panko on a small plate. Set aside.
- Step 3 Crack the egg into a medium-sized bowl and beat it lightly with a fork just to blend the yolk and white. Add the mayonnaise, mustard, Old Bay and hot sauce and stir with the fork to blend. Stir in the celery, scallion, red pepper, parsley and remaining ¼ cup of the dry breadcrumbs. Add the crab and toss gently with your fingers, being careful to preserve the lumps of crab without breaking them up too much.
- Step 4 Form the crab cakes: Divide the mixture into equal-sized portions depending on how many crab cakes you want to make. (Four cakes serve two people as a light meal. Six or eight smaller cakes will serve three or four people as an appetizer.) For each cake, form the desired portion of the crab mixture into a patty 1 inch thick – the diameter will depend on how many cakes you’re making, but the thickness should always be 1 inch.
- Step 5 Lightly press the crab cake onto the breadcrumb/panko mixture and turn it to coat both sides and all the edges evenly with the coating. Set the crab cake aside. Repeat with the remaining cakes. You may not use all the breadcrumbs.
- Step 6 The oil is hot enough when a panko crumb tossed into it sizzles enthusiastically. When the oil is ready, lay the crab cakes carefully into the pan. Cook them until deeply browned on both sides, 4 or 5 minutes per side. Remove the crab cakes to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain briefly before serving.
