Crab cakes

I'm so lame. I'm publishing an entire post about crab cakes. I bet you're a little embarrassed to know me right now.

Moving on. One of my 2010 To-Do List items is to make crab cakes (sidebar!). Aside from Mike's mashed potatoes and maybe a perfect cupcake, they're my favorite food. But unlike sex or pizza, you actually can have a bad crab cake. I don't want my first (hand-cooked) crab cake experience to be bad!

Neither does Mike. He puts up with a lot of my experimenting in the kitchen, but he'd sure like to know he's getting something delicious for dinner.

Do you have an incredible crab cake recipe? Do you know of one you can link to? So far, I'm leaning toward trying the Barefoot Contessa's recipe. She's from prime crab country after all.

But, still. You are the smartest people I know. If anyone can trump the Barefoot Contessa, it's you.

(Also, we're staring down our last Meatless March day. I'm doing just fine but I'm pretty sure Mike is going to have a cheeseburger for breakfast on Thursday. His words today: "I'm over this crap." Anyway, I'll write about our meatless month soon.)

Comments

[Raven]

I craved meat for the the first time in my own meatless foray the other day, brats are apparently VERY HARD for me to resist, who knew?

[Tessie]

In my experience, you can really never go wrong with Barefoot Contessa.

[andrea]

This is my go-to recipe for crab cakes. I order them every single time we go to Tom Douglas' restaurant and we make them at home on occasion too.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/11/earlyshow/living/recipes/main1790113_page2.shtml

I am sure Ina Garten's recipe is delicious too, her cook books are my in heavy rotation around here.

[Life of a Doctor's Wife]

Whatever recipe you choose, please please pick one without a lot of breadcrumbs or other filler. It should be mainly about the crab.

And there is totally such a thing as bad pizza! The perfect pizza - where sauce, crust, and toppings meld together in a harmonious blend of tastgasmic goodness - is a rare and wonderful thing.

[Holly]

Barefoot Contessa is ALWAYS who I turn to when I want a recipe to turn out. It may not always be the most lowfat version, or the least picky version of any recipe, but they always turn out well. She has a knack for good seasoning, I think.

I'm totally impressed with Mike and the not eating meat thing. On the Thursday of our second meatless week (though both of us had splurged once the week before) Garrett gave me this sad face after asking what was for dinner and said in a very childlike voice, "Baby, I need a steak." And, lo -- he got a steak. Though always open to new things (and very patient with my kitchen experimentation as well) a vegetarian, that man never will be. :)

[Steph]

We buy good quality canned crab meat (does that sound like an oxymoron?!), and there is a recipe on the back of it that we use...they always come out good! Though I do end up adding a tad bit more mayo than called for & a tad bit more of some other ingredient that I can no longer remember...

Also, Ina calls for PLAIN bread crumbs, I use the 'Italian' kind and it never interferes with the crab... Her recipe seems like it'll be delicious!!!!

Hmmm. I feel like I'm forgetting something crucial.

[Elsha]

I've never made crab cakes, so no advice here. Good luck though! Let us know how it goes.

[Operation Pink Herring]

I don't have a recipe, but I can offer some reassurance. I made crab cakes once years ago, and they came out really well! I am not a natural born chef and they turned out to be really easy. Good luck!

[Laurie]

All of the below should be taken with a grain of salt and a great big crab claw, because I am from crab cake country. That said:

Oh.

No.

Capers in a crab cake? All of those peppers in a crab cake?

I will eat capers on anything but keep them out out out of my crab cakes. :)

Where is she FROM? I don't know, but she is clearly not a Marylander. And we, my friend, consider these works of art indigenous to our region. :)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/saras-secrets/baltimore-orioles-maryland-crab-cakes-recipe/index.html

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/food5_crabcake.html#trad

Insert story blahblahblah of sitting at the picnic table shelling crab meat with my grandaddy, blahblahblah (true story. Come visit me and I will take you to a crab feast. Sarah can come up from Virginia and Tracey from Baltimore. It'll be a big-ass party. :))

[A'Dell]

Does buying them all put together and ready for pan frying from Central Market count? They have several kinds there - might be worth a try to see what flavor combos you like best without buying frillions of ingredients.

[Amy --- Just A Titch]

I don't have a crab cake recipe, but I would like the record to show that you CAN have truly bad sex. TRUST ME. Or, ask me. HA.

[girlvaughn]

my husband makes these and they are amazing

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/shrimp-and-crab-cakes-recipe/index.html