Oven Fried Crab Cakes
This recipe leans more toward a New Orleans style than a Maryland style of Crab Cake with a recommended Remoulade Sauce.
Maryland Crab Cakes and New Orleans Crab Cakes both use lump crab meat from the Blue Crab. Maryland Crab Cakes are made with Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab meat and are generally made with very little breading. New Orleans style Crab Cakes will use Gulf Coast Blue Crab meat, but have a little breading and are generally more heavily seasoned. And if you’re in San Francisco, you most assuredly will get a crab cake made with Dungeness crabs.
“Lump Crab” is not a type of crab, but a grade of meat from the crab; it’s what you want to make a descent crab cake if you’re not near the source. If you order a crab cake in either New Orleans or Maryland - or San Francisco for that matter - you'll be getting fresh crab. And crab meat is highly perishable, so the fresh crab meat in a crab cake made at the source is only hours old, and it’s not a flavor you can duplicate.
Since I don’t live near a source, I have to rely on crab meat which has been processed, pasteurized and packaged. I much prefer the type of crab meat that stays refrigerated and comes in see-through containers, generally sold in the meat and seafood section of your neighborhood grocer. A popular one is Phillip’s Premium Lump Crab, and it is superior to the crab meat you buy in a tin can that has been sitting at room temperature on a grocery store shelf. Regardless, look for the word "lump" on the label, which is pricier but higher in quality. Steer away from any canned crab meat that says "back-fin" or "claw meat" on the label. While less expensive, they tend to have the strongest crabby flavor and are stringier in texture. In any case, you should rinse your canned crab meat in cold water and let it drain, or dry it in paper towels to remove any preservatives before adding to this recipe.
The Kitchen Tapestry recipe for Remoulade Sauce is highly recommended for these crab cakes. It’s a close to the Big Easy as you can get without buying a plane ticket. The recipe is posted below.
Oven Fried Crab Cakes
Ingredients
- 8 oz jumbo lump crab meat
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise
- splash Worcestershire sauce
- dash Tabasco sauce
- 1 tbsp Old Bay Seasonings
- 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs (like, Progresso)
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard (like, Grey Poupon)
- 1 green onion, finely minced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced
- 1/2 green bell pepper, finely diced
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
- 1 egg, blended
- 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
- 8=9 grinds freshly cracked black pepper
- non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)
Instructions
- Sift through the crab meat with your fingers and remove any shells, then rince with cold water through a colander.
- When thoroughly dried, put the crab meat in a large mixing bowl and break up any large pieces with your fingers, but don't masticate the meat. You want uniformity but texture.
- Next, mix in all the remaining ingredients except the bread crumbs. Blend everything together with wet hands.
- When the crab mixture is well incorporated, add the bread crumbs into the mixing bowl a bit at a time until the mixture is no longer loose and balls up into a single mass. Cover this with plastic wrap and put into the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
- Divide the mixture in quarters and form four uniform sized patties.
- Pre-heat the oven to 400°F.
- Place the crab cakes on a plate or on a sheet pan, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate again for another 20-30 minutes.
- Place the patties on a cookie sheet or sheet pan sprayed with cooking spray. Also spray a little cooking spray on the tops of the patties.
- Put in the middle rack of the oven. Bake 35-40 minutes until browned.
- Serve hot out of the oven with some Remoulade Sauce under each cake.
