Lump Crab Cakes
History: This is an update to Lump Crab Cakes (2003-04-29).
We vary our jumbo lump crab cakes by using lump crabmeat and using crispy Panko breadcrumbs for the coating. There is a long prep time in getting the cakes formed, and then they are best refrigerated for an hour so they hold together, but they cook quickly. They are crispy on the outside and have a moist wonderful crab taste. Originally served as part of Crab for the Out-of-Towners.
- Maryland Crab Cakes (2002-05-19)
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh Blue lump crab
- 2½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (divided)
- ¼ cup yellow onion (minced)
- ¼ cup red bell pepper (minced)
- ¼ cup green bell pepper (minced)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- salt & pepper
- ½ cup dried plain bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon chives (cleaned and snipped with scissors)
- ½ tablespoon fresh, Italian flat-leaf parsley (cleaned and chopped)
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon thyme (cleaned and de-stemmed)
- 1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
- sprinkle cayenne
- ½ large lemon
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup Japanese bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (divided)
Instructions
We start by heating a pan over medium-low heat with a teaspoon of olive oil. We add the onion and sweat for a few minutes. Next we add the red and green bell peppers and cook for another few minutes over medium heat. When the vegetables have softened, we add the garlic and some salt and pepper and stir for a minute. We spread the cooked vegetables onto a plate and put in the fridge for a quick cool.
Now we mix up our bread mixture. In a large bowl we combine the dried plain bread crumbs, the chives, parsley, lemon thyme, Old Bay seasoning, and a sprinkle of cayenne. We zest the lemon half and add it to the bread crumb mixture. In a cup, we combine the egg, Worcestershire sauce, and half a tablespoon of the lemon juice. We set aside our wet and dry ingredients and take the crab out of the fridge.
We rinse our crab meat in a colander quickly. We pick over and remove small bits of shells and cartilage. We combine the dry bread crumb mixture, cooled off vegetables, and wet egg mixture together in the large bowl and stir with a fork. Next we gently add in the crabmeat and mix with our well-washed hands. We form 6 crab cakes—they are barely held together so we are very careful—and place on a large dinner plate. We refrigerate for about an hour.
When we are about ready to pan-fry the crab cakes, we pre-heat the oven to 350°. We will place the browned crab cakes in the oven to heat through.
We pour the Panko bread crumbs onto a dinner plate and season with a little freshly ground black pepper. In our non-stick pan, we heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1½ teaspoons of butter to pan-fry the crab cakes over medium heat. When hot, we gently dip both sides of one of the cakes in the Panko bread crumbs, and then place it into the pan. We repeat with two more. We brown the three crab cakes on one side for a few minutes, add a little more olive oil, and turn the crab cakes.
When the cakes are nicely browned, we place in a baking dish and put in the oven for a few minutes to heat through. We repeat with the rest of the butter and olive oil—coating and then cooking the remaining 3 crab cakes. We put the second batch of browned crab cakes in the oven, lower the heat to 300°, and serve the first batch of crab cakes.