Location: My tiny kitchen
This is one of the most time-consuming type of cake you could make. But I must confess I actually enjoy the amount of effort involved in making this dish. When I tell people I pick the meat out of whole crabs to make my crab cakes, they would roll their eyes and think this girl must have nothing better to do with her spare time. Well maybe I don’t, but made with almost no filler, these crab cakes are truly delicious. So far I have only made them using Dungeness crabs. It would be interesting to make them with Stoned Crabs or Sri Lanka crabs, if I can get a hold of these crabs one day.
This is for you, S.
Most of the work lies in preparing the crab meat. I use fresh crabs in this recipe because they give the best result. I have tried using canned crab meat in the past but there is a fishy smell in the crab cakes. If picking crab meat doesn’t sound like a fun thing to you, you can buy cooked crab meat from gourmet stores like Urban Fare. Of course, you have to be prepared to pay big bucks for their labour 
This recipe makes 4 large crab cakes, which serve 2 people. To get 4 large crab cakes, you will need 4 lb of crab. I bought 3 crabs which together weigh 4 lb. If you get larger crabs, then you can save some of the time spent in picking out the meat.
To prepare for the crab meat:
1. Turn the oven on to 350F.
2. I always have the conflict of loving animals and eating them. To make myself feel better, I always freeze the crabs and then kill them quickly. I don’t know if doing this will help to reduce their pain. If not, then I console myself by thinking that they have served a good life for being delicious.
Put the crabs in the freezer for half an hour. In a large pan, bring water to a boil. Put the asleep crabs into the boiling water. Once the crabs turned red, take them out.
3. Put the crabs in a large baking pan and bake them for an hour.
4. Take the crab out of the oven and let them cool down completely.
Once the crabs have cooled down completely, start the detailed process of picking the meat out of the shell. Be careful not to leave any shell in the meat.
Into the crab meat add:
- 1 tsp of coarse grain mustard
- 2 tbsp of bacon bits
- 3 tbsp of chives
- 1 tbsp of onion powder
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- A few dash of Tobasco juice
- 1 tsp of tarragon
- A generous amount of freshly grounded black pepper
Do you notice that NO salt is added into the crab meat? This is because the crab meat is naturally salty from the salt water.
Mix all the seasonings from the last step into the crab meat. Also add into the crab meat:
- 1 tbsp of full fat mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp of reduced fat mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup of bread crumbs
I love using Panko, the Japanese bread crumbs, in my recipes. The small amount of bread crumbs are used only as a binding agent to bind the crab meat to help them stay together during frying. Because such a small amount of bread crumbs is added, you can hardly taste them in the crab cakes. When I order crab cakes in restaurants, I’m always very tired of eating those that are made with a lot of filler.
Mix the Panko and mayonnaise into the crab cakes. Form the crab meat into 4 patties that are 1 inch thick and 2 1/2 inch in diameter. Cover the cakes with a plastic wrap and put them in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Heat a non stick pan with 3 tbsp of oil. Once the pan is hot, gently place the cakes into the pan. Make sure the bottom of each crab cake is soaked with the hot oil. Fry one side of the cakes under medium to high heat until the side is golden brown and crispy. Then using two spatula, gently flip the cakes over to the other side and continue frying.
A friend and my husband both like arugula in their salad. I served the crab cakes with a salad made with baby arugula, truffle oil, extra virgin oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt and paper. To assemble, I put the crab cakes onto the salad, drizzle a small amount of truffle oil over the dish and served with a few lemon wedges.
Tasted creamy and sweet, these crab cakes are a great treat for someone special.
