Eat Together, Make Life Delicious...

I was always taught that less is more when it comes to crab cakes because adding too many ingredients will ultimately drown out the delicate crab flavor. This is a mistake most often done in restaurants, and the reason I think is because most restaurants use foreign crabmeat, or blue swimming crab, to prepare their crab cakes. Foreign crabmeat has a flatter flavor that isn’t sweet like Maryland meat—so when using Maryland crabmeat for crab cakes, keep it simple: less is more.

Another note about making crab cakes is to treat the meat tenderly. You don’t want to over mix the crabmeat. And for that reason, I always mix everything else together first and then fold in the crabmeat last. Once the crabmeat is folded in, I prefer to bake my crab cakes because I am guaranteed perfection and I can basically leave the crab cakes alone for 20 minutes in the oven until they are done. Frying crab cakes in a pan also works but does require that you stand there the entire time and some skill is involved when flipping the crab cake (think of it like a really delicate burger.)

Our family motto is, “Don’t mess with it too much!” When making crab cakes, this is the best advice.

Chesapeake Crab Cakes with Tartar Sauce
Makes 4 Servings

1 large egg, beaten
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons finely chopped pimiento
8 no-salt saltine crackers, crushed 1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 pound freshly picked lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage
Tartar Sauce for serving
optional: lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 400F with an oven rack set in the middle.

Prepare the crab cakes. In a medium bowl, combine the egg, mayonnaise, pimiento, half the crushed crackers, salt, seafood seasoning, and parsley. Mix well. Gently fold in the crabmeat. Avoid over-blending. Form the mixture into 4 patties, which will be fairly wet. Gently coat the patties with the remaining crackers on both sides.

Place the crab cakes on a metal sheet pan and place them in the oven to bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Half way through the cooking process turn the crab cakes around so they cook evenly. For added flavor, brush the crab cakes with butter or mayonnaise on top before baking.

Serve the crab cakes immediately with tartar sauce for dipping. You can add a sprinkle of lemon zest on the tartar sauce,

To fry your crab cakes: Choose a skillet large enough to hold all the crab cakes. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and ½ tablespoon of unsalted butter in the skillet over medium-high heat until the oil slides easily across the surface. Fry the crab cakes until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side, gently turning once with a thin metal spatula.

Labels: american classics, Blue Crab, crab cakes

I love everything mini. It allows me to try a variety of flavors in one meal without feeling overstuffed. And my kids think these minis are "so cute" helping serve this dish with much "lick-the-plate-clean" success.

Several years ago I wrote a cookbook called Burgers, and this recipe was one of the most popular—it is reminiscent of a classic burger, smallish, but bursting forth with big personality. The burger patty is made with beef, chicken, turkey, buffalo, salmon, and shrimp and the bun is toasted in a waffled iron to make the bread waffled. Great condiments further enhance this dish such as homemade ketchups, mayo spreads, bread and butter pickles to name a few (at some point, I'll be posted about those, so for now, just use what you've got in the pantry.)

Mini Burgers with Waffled White Bread
Makes 4 Servings

3 pieces sliced white bread, crusts removed
9 ounces ground beef, or ground meat or seafood of your choice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons chopped parsley, plus 12 sprigs, for garnish
2 tablespoons olive oil
12 thin slices Cheddar cheese, about 2 inches square

Preheat an electric nonstick waffle iron to medium. Place a slice of trimmed bread in the center of the hot iron and press down hard to toast and perforate the bread for 1 minute, or until the waffle design has browned itself onto the bread. When toasted, cut each slice into square pieces about 1 inch by 1 inch. You should have enough bread for 12 mini-burgers.

In a medium bowl, combine the beef, salt, and chopped parsley, and mix well with your hands. Remove a heaping tablespoon of the mixture—a little less than 1 ounce—and roll it into a ball. Flatten it slightly into a patty no thicker than 1 inch. Repeat until you have made 12 mini-burgers.

Warm a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Slick the skillet with the olive oil. (Alternatively, if you’re using a grill, cook the mini-burgers on a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil perforated several times with a fork to allow the juices to drip away.) Cook the beef burgers (see below for other meats and doneness), no longer than 1 minute per side for medium-rare, topping with the optional cheese as soon as you flip. Serve each burger between 2 slices of waffled bread, with a sprig of parsley on top.

Cooking Times:
Beef: 1 minute per side for medium-rare
Chicken and Turkey: 2 minutes per side, or until opaque inside
Buffalo: 1 minute per side for medium-rare
Salmon and Shrimp: 1½ minutes per side, or until just opaque inside

Labels: american classics, mini burgers, waffled bread