I found this nice recipe on the Internet and it varied from my crab cake recipe enough that it was worth giving it a try. It sounded pretty good. The variations were essentially in the seasonings for both the crab cakes and the tartar sauce. I made a few changes to the recipe for alternate ingredients, like using a shallot instead of a red onion, and slight changes in cooking directions.
The results were very nice! So this recipe deserves to be in Food Nirvana. The choice of the seasonings makes these crab cakes more bold in taste than those from my recipe. Both are nice.
Worthy additions at meal time are hot French fries, chilled coleslaw and ice cold beer. Make coleslaw in advance and keep it covered and chilled. Fry French fries immediately after making the crab cakes, while keeping the crab cakes warm/hot in a 180 degrees F warming oven. Alternatively, you might skip the French fries and instead use soft buns and a few pieces of lettuce and tartar sauce to make crab cake sandwiches.
Ingredients: (makes six large or eight medium size crab cakes)
For the Crab Cakes:
1 pound of lump crab meat
2 extra large eggs
2½ tablespoons of Hellmann's® mayonnaise
1½ teaspoons of Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of Old Bay® seasoning
¼ teaspoon of sea salt
¼ cup of finely diced celery
2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh parsley
½ cup of Panko bread crumbs
3 tablespoons of Canola oil, for cooking
For the Tartar Sauce:
1 cup of Hellmann's® mayonnaise
1½ tablespoons of sweet pickle relish
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of minced red onion (or use a shallot)
2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions:
For the Crab Cakes:
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean-up later.
Combine the eggs, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Old Bay® seasoning, salt, celery, and parsley in a two or three quart bowl and whisk well to combine the ingredients.
Add the crab meat (be sure to check the crab meat first for any hard or sharp cartilage and discard it).
Add the Panko bread crumbs.
Gently fold the mixture together with a wooden spoon or a soft spatula until just combined, being careful not to shred the crab meat.
Shape the mixture into 6 or 8 crab cakes by hand and place each on the prepared baking sheet.
Cover the crab cakes with plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 1 hour. This helps them set so they don't fall apart during cooking. It also gives you time to prepare/use the ingredients for any other meal items.
Preheat a 12" nonstick skillet over medium heat, coated inside with the canola oil.
When the oil is hot, put half of the crab cakes into the skillet and cook/fry them until they are golden, about 3 to 5 minutes per side.
Remove the crab cakes to a paper towel lined plate, then repeat the frying for the remaining crab cakes.
Serve the crab cakes with the tartar sauce, or, you can keep the crab cakes warm/hot in a 180 degrees F warming oven on a plate for up to 30 minutes before serving them. That allows time for you to make French fries if you choose to have them.
For the Tartar Sauce:
Whisk together the mayonnaise, relish, mustard, onion (shallot), and lemon juice In a one pint bowl.
Season the mixture with salt and pepper, to taste. Cover it with plastic wrap and chill it until you are ready to serve the crab cakes.
Serve the crab cakes warm/hot and the tartar sauce cold.
Hot French fries, cold coleslaw and ice cold beer go well with these tasty crab cakes.
You might decide instead to skip the French fries and use soft buns with some pieces of lettuce and tartar sauce to make crab cake sandwiches.
Enjoy!