This Recipe for Maryland-style crab Cakes is great. Â Lightly breaded with complementary ingredients such as roasted corn and red pepper, these crab cakes combine to create a delicious dish that can be served as an appetizer or as a meal, and are browned in a skillet, on a grill, or even in a fryer. Â The warm interior, complemented by the crispy texture on the outside, makes this a winning recipe.
The Deliciousness of Crab
There is something about crab that is so delicious. Â Crab meat tends to be sweeter in flavor, in my opinion, than even lobster. Â Crab meat requires a little more work to attain. Â You have to crack the claws and pull the meat out. Â You can buy crab meat already processed. Â Most times it is available in cans.
The amino acids, found in high concentrations in crab, are said to be the secret to the sweetness of their meat. Crabs are like an ocean bug; they crawl around and scavenge on dead fish and anything they can get hold of to eat. Â
Crab meat is an excellent complement in seafood stuffings for fish, mushrooms, lobster dishes, and other seafood dishes. Â Crab meat is often delicate, and when cooked for extended periods, it breaks down into thin, stringy fibers. Â Jumbo lump is desirable as well as king crab because they are a heartier meat.
Crab is such a complimentary ingredient, it is in classic dishes such as Veal or Chicken Oscar.  These dishes are thin cutlets that are sautéed and finished with crab meat and hollandaise sauce.  They are a delicious alternative. Â
Types of Crab
There are many types of crab.
Jumbo Lump crab- comes from larger crabs, similar to stone crab in shape a bit smaller though.
Leg meat is the meat found within the thin walking legs of a crab.  This meat is no longer as readily available as it once was.
Back fin- is primarily loose strands of crab meat; this is a cheaper variety than jumbo lump, and is excellent if you don’t need the big chunks for appearance in your crab cake.
Special crab is white meat from the back of the blue swimming crab (Cheapest.
Stone Crab-Â is the coveted claw used in crab cocktail, where the claws are cut and you twist and pull them apart. Â Great form of crab for cocktails
Dungeness crab is a relatively sustainable option for crab found on the northwestern Pacific coast up to the bay of Alaska.
Blue Crab–Â is most prevalent in the east near the Chesapeake Bay area.
Swimmer Crab- these are more of a Pacific waters crab that come out to feed at high tides, they are good swimmers, not as sweet as meat.Â
Snow Crab- or the commonly known name, opilio crab (made famous by the show Deadliest Catch) is widely seen on buffets.
Soft Shell Crab- are blue crabs that have grown out of their shell and shed the hard shell, they develop a soft shell that, for a brief time, is edible.  They are breaded and fried in sandwiches, or served crispy with sauce, or even as a complement to the Spanish dish, Paella.
King Crab- these are the monsters that come in the size of about 5 lbs as a whole crab. The legs are prized, and the meat is much more prevalent, which is why the price is the highest.
Variations of this Recipe
There are several variations to this recipe. Â The crab is the prized ingredient; however, the jumbo lump is more costly and not crucial to the recipe, yet it is preferred. Â The jumbo lump offers a textural and visual experience that impresses people with the large chunks of meat. Â They are less fibrous than backfin or special.
Crab cakes can be made entirely with special crab or backfin crab. Â The weight would need to be equal to the recipe. Â You would lose the big lump look, which is appealing. Â The look gives confidence in the amount of crab inside the cake. Â You also lose the higher cost that lump brings, which can be a nice benefit; however, it is essential to note that the Jumbo lump is prized.
Another change could be to drop the mayonnaise from the recipe. Â Mayonnaise serves as both an enriching agent and a binding agent. Â So you will need to adjust the recipe to accommodate this.
You will double the cornflake crumb and add some heavy cream.  This recipe calls for 3/4 cup of crushed cornflakes and 1/2 cup of mayonnaise.  You should be able to keep everything the same except for these two ingredients.  You will double the cornflakes and add 1/4 cup of heavy cream.  Combine these two ingredients to soften the crumb before adding to the recipe. Â
When you make this recipe change, you are looking for your mixture to be slightly sticky, so you can press it together to form a cake.  This is the most crucial component to achieve the desired cake-like appearance in the final product, as pictured here. If it is too dry add a touch more cream or corn flake crumb if too wet.
Bring your pot to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 1.5 hours, keeping the meat submerged under the water line.
Making them more nutritious
To make this more nutritious, I will offer two suggestions. Â
1st suggestion
Follow the above change instructions with the additional corn flake crumb, and in place of the cream, add the same amount of milk. Â As listed above, you will want to soften the crumb in milk before using the recipe. Â Once mixed, you will need to determine if it can clump to make cakes. Â If it’s good, you’re ready. Â If it is too wet, add more crumb; if it is too dry, add a little more milk.
2nd suggestion
The other suggestion will alter the appearance of the final product slightly if you brown them in a pan without additional oil. Â You will only use the pan spray to achieve the browning. Â You won’t achieve the final browning that you have here. Â The cakes pictured here had a greater surface area exposed to the heat through the oil.
Maryland Crab Cake
Ingredients
- 3 oz corn roasted corn in oil, salt and pepper
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 oz red pepper roasted, small dice
- 1 lb crab meat jumbo lump
- 1 lb crab meat leg meat or backfin
- 1/2 cup mayo real mayo
- 3/4 cup corn flake crushed in a ziploc bag
- 1 cup flour seasoned, salt and pepper
- 3 each egg scrambled for egg wash, large
- 2 oz milk for egg wash
- 12 oz bread crumbs panko preferred
Instructions
- take corn, if fresh shave off cobb, mix with light amount of olive oil, salt pepper roast at 400 for 10 – 20 minutes until lightly golden in color
- open cans of crab, drain or clean fresh, place in a large bowl
- combine, crab, crushed cornflake crumb, mayonaise, red pepper and roasted corn, mix well. You should be able to form into small cakes
- Portion into desired cake like shape. This recipe yields 1.5 oz cakes. Make larger if desired, however your yield will be reduced accordingly.
- chill crab cakes, freeze if necessary, then bread cakes in flour then egg then bread crumbs, standard breading technique
- Once cakes are breaded you will want to brown in them in a skillet with small amount of oil, medium heat. Let pan heat before adding cakes.
- once browned remove to sheet pan or cookie sheet, this browning can be done ahead then cooked in the oven at 375 for 8 – 13 minutes depending on if you have a conventional oven which is slower or convectional oven which should take about 8 minutes.
- The cakes should reach an internal temperature of 145 to 155 before serving
