Crab Cakes

Name: Crab Cakes
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 1 lb lump or jumbo lump crab meat (picked over for shell); ¼ cup mayonnaise; 1 unit egg (large); 2 tsp Dijon mustard; 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce; 1 ½ tsp Old Bay seasoning; 1 tbsp lemon (juice); 2 tbsp parsley, flat-leaf (finely chopped); 18 unit saltine crackers (crushed fine — about 2/3 cup of crumbs); 1 tbsp butter (melted, brushed on the tops); ¼ tsp salt; ¼ tsp black pepper (ground)

Meat & Seafood · American

12 ingredients · 60 minutes · 2 servings

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Contains gluten, dairy, egg, shellfish, fish · sometimes contains soy — check the label

Restrictions

Containsgluten · dairy · egg · shellfish · fishIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.

Sometimes contains — check the labelsoy (Mayonnaise)Some brands have it, some do not. The recipe cannot tell, so this is the one you check yourself.

Diets

PescatarianNo porkNo alcohol

Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.

Ingredients

Servings:

1 lb	lump or jumbo lump crab meat (picked over for shell)
¼ cup	mayonnaise
1 unit	egg (large)
2 tsp	Dijon mustard
2 tsp	Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ tsp	Old Bay seasoning
1 tbsp	lemon (juice)
2 tbsp	parsley, flat-leaf (finely chopped)
18 unit	saltine crackers (crushed fine — about 2/3 cup of crumbs)
1 tbsp	butter (melted, brushed on the tops)
¼ tsp	salt
¼ tsp	black pepper (ground)

Optional

Not counted above. The dish works without them.

½ cup	panko (in place of the saltines)
2 tbsp	celery (very fine dice)
1 tsp	hot sauce
1 tsp	baking powder (for lift)
1 unit	lemon (zest)
3 tbsp	neutral oil (pan-frying alternative)

Steps

prep4 min
by hand, over a sheet tray
crab meat, tipped out and gone through with the fingertips for shell and cartilage — feel rather than look, since shell reads as white against white. Break up only the smallest pieces; leave every intact lump exactly as it is. This is the last moment the crab can be handled freely, and everything after it is designed to disturb the meat as little as possible
whisk4 min
in a separate bowl, until completely uniform
mayonnaise + egg + Dijon + Worcestershire + Old Bay + lemon juice + parsley + salt + black pepper, whisked until there is no streak of yellow or brown left and the mixture has thickened slightly = binder. Building it away from the crab is the whole reason this cake holds together on so little binder: a homogeneous emulsion coats every lump on first contact. Whisk mustard into the crab instead and you will stir the meat to shreds chasing the streaks
fold3 min
rubber spatula, from the bottom, under a dozen strokes
crab + binder poured over it + saltine crumbs, turned over on itself rather than stirred — cut down through the centre, sweep the spatula along the bottom of the bowl and lift the mass over. Stop the moment no dry crumb is visible. The goal is stated the same way in every source: the lumps stay whole. Every extra stroke trades a bite of crab for a bite of paste
rest45 min
shaped into 6 cakes, covered, refrigerated
shaped cakes, packed lightly into rounds about 3 inches across and an inch tall, then chilled through. This is a structural step, not a convenience: the filler load is deliberately too low to hold the cakes at room temperature, and only the fat in the mayonnaise and egg yolk setting cold gives them the strength to survive handling and the heat. If the mixture will not hold its shape, the fix is more time cold, never more crumbs — every added spoonful of filler is a spoonful of crab you no longer taste
broil5 min
rack 4 inches from a high element, spaced apart, never turned
chilled cakes, brushed with melted butter, under the broiler until the peaks are deep gold and the sides have just set. Broiling is the canonical route because it never asks you to flip a cake, which is when they break. Watch it: the window between golden and scorched under a broiler is under a minute, and the crab inside is already cooked, so heat past colour only dries it out. For the pan-fried alternative, give the cakes a full hour cold, then fry in a thin film of oil over medium heat 3 to 4 minutes a side, turning once with a wide spatula. Crowding the pan or the sheet steams the cakes pale either way