for decades I struggled to make crab cakes ala "my kid recollection"
tried bazillions of "recipes" - and pretty much all of the mayo approach types failed "uber miserably"
DW found a 3x5 car tucked in as a bookmark in a totally unrelated book, from her mother....
it's working . . presented here with a few undocumented updates and 'tasty' extrapolations.
1 lb / 450 g steamed and picked crab meat
2 eggs - large
1/4 c finely diced onion 35-40g
1/4 c "crumbs"
side notation, and highly recommended: Corn Flake crumbs 20-25g(*)
3 T / 39g mayo
1 T / 15g yellow mustard
light sprinkle of Old Bay for seasoning, approx. 1 teaspoon per pound, to taste.
recommended:
"blue claw" aka Callinectes sapidus; "lump" size, "Jumbo lump" not needed
explicitly DIS-recommended - swimming/asian/south american = Portunus armatus formerly Portunus pelagicus.
(sigh) this is the typical supermarket crab, pasteurized in cans .... it does not have the same taste as real blue claw crab;
if you grew up with Delaware/Chesapeake Bay crab - you'll be sorely disappointed with the 'swimming crab'
and I wasted a lot of $/fake crab can and time trying to replicate the 'real deal'
technique:
drain the crab meat. depending on vendor/source, it will have more/less water content.
put into an overly large bowl, cursory check for shell "oops."
use a fork to break up any clumps of crab meat.
sprinkle the diced onion/crumbs/Old Bay over the crab meat, use a spatulas or spurtle to fold and blend with the crab meat.
"stirring" is not a good method - avoid breaking up the crab meat.
in a smaller bowl, use a hand/electric whisk to combine / beat eggs + mayo + mustard
a homogeneous mixture works best.
spread the liquid mix over the crab and toss to coat and combine.
the crab mix is "loose" - portion it out for 4 to 6 crab cakes, lightly hand squeeze to compact into patties.
(*) I crush extra corn flake crumbs 'just in case' more are needed to eliminate free liquids in the patty mix.
(recommended) refrigerate the patties for at least two hours, so they "set up"
tasty option adds:
- diced pimento
- capers
- 0.5 tsp creamy horseradish to egg/mayo/mustard mix
looks like:
(+ pan steamed spinach + cornbread . . .)
