“Are you kidding me? Crab cakes. How could you not have a good time eating crab cakes? I love ’em. Crab cakes, I love crab cakes.”
-The Wedding Crashers
“Crowdsource: the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.”
– https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crowdsourcing
We tried an experiment this week with Food Friday. We tested crowdsourcing, asking you for your favorite crab cake recipes. We did not realize how sensitive and personal an issue this could be. It was akin to wrestling the secret ingredients for Coca Cola or Kentucky Fried Chicken out of the close-lipped few who are privy to those details. I promise you that everyone who prepares crab cakes using these recipes will be pleased for some insider info that is not financially compromising. I do thank our willing contributors, the people who know their way around a kitchen and a crab, or two or three. And the next time we solicit recipes we will try for something a little less guarded, like McDonald’s Special Sauce or Oreos…
Our first recipe comes from Maura Kelly Rogers, who attended Washington College and many a crab fest there. Regularly, at our Red Hot Reunions, she is called upon to whip up a batch of crab cakes. They are always better when we are all together on the Eastern Shore, of course.
Originally from Maryland’s Way
© 1966 with modifications
“Rich” Crab Cakes
1-pound backfin lump crab
1 egg
1-2 tablespoons flour
¼-cup heavy cream
Old Bay Seasoning
Butter for the pan
Pick any remaining shells from crab. Beat egg, cream and Old Bay (to taste) together. Sprinkle flour over crab and just mix-gently. Pour egg mixture and gently fold. Put this in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Melt butter in a skillet. Using a spoon and your hands, form crab cakes and brown in the butter, turning once. Be patient. After the first time you’ll know whether you need to use a little more flour to bind. Don’t skip the chilling. If you didn’t add enough Old Bay you can use more at the table.
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Tonia’s Tilghman Crab Cakes
From Tonia Kulp of West Chester, Pennsylvania, who also has a cottage off of Chicken Point Road on Tilghman Island.
She says, “Buying that little place was the best decision we have ever made. So wonderful to have our boys be able to ride their bikes to the country store and put down the video games. Best people on earth.”
Here is the recipe I use. My family loves it a little spicy
1-pound lump crab, fresh caught on Tilghman
1 egg
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
¼-cup breadcrumbs
1 jalapeño pepper
2 tablespoons crushed red pepper
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Mix everything together, folding the crab in last. Make four firm patties and place under broiler for 2-3 minutes per side.
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The Best Damn Crab Cake I’ve Ever Had
And from Ramsey Poston, who will be confidently be feeding a crowd:
2-pounds fresh crabmeat
2 eggs, beaten
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups Italian-style bread crumbs
In a large bowl mix well eggs, onions, celery, mayonnaise and Worcestershire. Add crabmeat; gently mix with your hands. Breadcrumbs should be on separate plate or bowl. Make “hamburger style” crab cakes with hands. Dredge cakes in breadcrumbs, coating outside of each crab cake. Pat to solidify if necessary. Refrigerate for at least one hour. Drop into a hot deep fryer for 4 or 5 minutes. Drain and season immediately. Makes eight large crab cakes.
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How interesting that one of the universal foods of the Eastern Shore can be interpreted in three completely different ways! One could easily spend a summer trying every permutation. Don’t forget the beer.
And from our friends at Food52, yet another variation on Maryland Crab Cakes:
https://www.food52.com/recipes/11520_mill_creek_crab_cakes
“Have you ever watched a crab on the shore crawling backward in search of the Atlantic Ocean, and missing? That’s the way the mind of man operates.”
-H.L. Menken
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