July 23, 2012

The Best Crab Cakes Ever (??)

Today I'm guest-posting for Kristen at Established: 2008.  She's in Boston.

I'm in Alaska.


Let's not talk about it.  Mine envy overfloweth. 

But you should totally go check out her blog.  
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Last year, I tried a crab cake for the first time at the Alaska State Fair.
It was delicious.

Two months later, in Maine, I had crab cakes again.  They were amazing.

A month after that, Scott made crab cakes at home.

Scott is the kind of cook who will print a recipe off of the computer, take it to the grocery store, and scurry up and down the aisles buying all of the ingredients.  Sure, we may already have "1/4 teaspoon salt" at home, but why not buy some more?

He'll then take over the kitchen (turning on that blasted overhead light) and cook exactly according to the recipe.

I'm the kind of cook who will look for recipes based off of what I already have in the cupboard.  If I must go to the store, it will only be for one or two ingredients and, gosh darn it, my meals are planned a week in advance.  If I need carrots for something, we'll have 3 meals including carrots that week because I want to use them all up if I'm going to buy them.  (Actually, this statement is more applicable to "jar of pasta sauce" because carrots stay fresh in the crisper forever.  This I know.)

Anyway, Scott went to Paula Deen to look for a crab cake recipe when he wanted to make them.

I went to Pinterest.

Men and women are different that way.

Scott hated the crab cakes he made (I thought they were fine, for the record).

He loved the crab cakes I made, proclaiming them "the best ever".
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So this Maryland Crab Cakes recipe was the one I used, simply because I thought the picture from Pinterest looked yummy.  (The above picture is mine.)

I broke my own rule, failing to survey the fridge before leaving to buy the crab legs, and we were out of mayonnaise.  Also, we had no Old Bay.  And then I forgot to put in the Worcestershire, even though it was sitting on the counter.  I subbed plain Greek yogurt for the mayo.  I added a teaspoon or so of Tabasco sauce.  I didn't measure the panko bread crumbs at all, just dumped them in until it felt right.   I chilled my cakes for all of 15 minutes, not one hour, and I added at least a full tablespoon of fresh lemon juice to the mixture, as well as squeezing it onto the cooked cakes.

Oh, and there was no fresh parsley.

Well, there was some at the store, I'm sure, but I was too dumb to look at the recipe before I went shopping, so there was no fresh parsley in my crab cakes.

Briefly, I thought about pulling out my phone, going to Pinterest, looking up the Pin, going to the website, and re-reading the recipe.

But that seemed like far too much work.

So what you've got are crab cakes.  You can follow the recipe exactly and I'm sure have tasty results.  Or you can follow my path of discombobulation and maybe get lucky.


Good luck.

Do you like crab?  Or lobster?  Or (yuck) salmon?  
I eat crab, halibut, haddock (if fried), and shrimp.  I'm pretty picky about my seafood.
Did you know that if you cook halibut by boiling it in 7up and then dip it in butter it tastes like lobster? Just another fun fact that I've picked up in Alaska...


Shared at:
Mingle Monday
Make it Pretty Monday
Mix it up Monday

Plus, I'm hooking up to the GFC Blog Hop!

13 comments:

  1. Crab cakes are my FAVORITE!! I never follow a recipe either. I guess we're just too rebelious for that nonsense. And you made the best crab cake ever, so I'd say you're pretty awesome. I will have to try that 7 up trick. Mmmmm lobster....

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  2. I just got a bunch of fresh lump crab caught by a patient at the office I work at so I will be making this recipe! Thanks for sharing :)

    And Halibut is really pretty superior to Salmon...unless we're talking about red salmon then it's a close call :P

    --Erinn

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  3. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who has discovered that carrots last forever in the crisper....

    I LOVE crab and lobster. I do not like fish. I also like shrimp, and I eat tuna in pasta dishes (aka Tuna Helper). That's about it for me!

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  4. Mmmm, crab cakes! I also love that you changed all these things in the recipe and yet they still look so delicious! Love it.

    Happy Monday! Stopping by from Mingle Monday!

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  5. Stopping by from Mingle Monday! Yummy crab cakes! Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Looks delicious! I'm interested in what you said about boiling halibut in 7 up... have you done it? How do you do it?

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  7. I don't care for seafood, but crabcakes are my husbands favorite. I'm pinning this and sending it on to him to make. (he used to be a chef) Stopping by from the Dedicated House.

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  8. While I don't like crab cakes, my husband LOVES them! So thanks for sharing. New follower from GFC blog hop!

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  9. Hi, I'm Shar!
    Your newest follower from the blog hop!

    Yum! I love crab cakes!

    xoxo ♥ -Shar
    http://sharmartinez.blogspot.com

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  10. i used to not eat and fish but now I love it - I love all those - although i don't think I've had haddock before. but crab cakes - YUM!!

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  11. These sound so good! I love your cute blog, and am a new follower on GFC. Patsy

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  12. I love crab cakes! Yummy! Thank you for sharing this at my Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House. Hope to see your prettiness again on Monday. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

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