tex-mexy crabcakes
Description
seriously, these are the bomb. i choose to make mini-crabcakes and serve as appetizers at parties but you can feel free to make these into giant patties for sandwiches too. based around phillips's classic recipe.
Ingredients
| 1 | Pound | jumbo lump crab meat |
| 1⁄2 | Pound | backfin crab meat |
| 1 | large egg | |
| 1 | Teaspoon | worchester sauce |
| 1 | Tablespoon | dijon mustard |
| 2 | Tablespoon | mayonnaise |
| 2 | Teaspoon | lime juice (lemon is ok as substitute) |
| 1⁄4 | Teaspoon | cayenne pepper |
| 1 | Tablespoon | unsalted butter, melted |
| 1⁄4 | Cup | cilantro, chopped |
| 1 | Teaspoon | old bay (other seafood seasoning mixes can be substituted) |
| 4 | jalepenos, seeded and minced | |
| 1 | red pepper, seeded and minced | |
| 1⁄2 | Cup | toasted breadcrumbs |
| vegetable oil |
Instructions
in a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients but the crab meat and the oil. gently fold in crab meat -- be careful not to break up the lumps as everyone likes to see big hunks of crab in their crabcakes. form into cakes an inch or larger in diameter. heat the oil on high 'til smoking (you want about a half inch of oil at the bottom of the pan so the amount of oil depends on your skillet), then turn to medium-high and fry crab cakes til golden brown and delicious-looking (5-12 minutes depending on how hot you have the oil, and how big the cakes are).
Notes
the yield is kind of wonky on this one because it really depends on how big you make them, but i think everyone here can decide for themselves exactly how much that amount of crab meat will serve in your household and adjust accordingly.
if you don't want to fry them, you can bake them for 5-10 minutes at 375 (thick sandwich patties need the high end, while smaller appetizer ones need the low end) but what the fuck.
Comments
whatsa diff between "backfin" crab meat and the other stuff?
lump crabmeat is from the crab's legs, and backfin is from the body. the lump comes in larger, unbroken, uh, clumps for lack of a better word, while backfin is much flakier, smaller bits. the flavors are slightly different; think like chicken thigh v chicken breast (tho it isn't that dramatic!). you can certainly just use one or the other in the recipe and it will still be good. i like using both because of the texture variation.