Hamcock’s Crabby Cakes
These might be the best crab cakes.
This seems to be a popular recipe. The cakes are simple and highlight the crab—there’s not much filling but the cakes still hold together well enough to cook. Makes 5-6 cakes.
Phillips Jumbo crab meat is good stuff. Buy this or something similar.
Ingredients
Cooked Vegetable Mixture
¼ c minced onion
¼ c minced bell pepper
¼ c minced celery
2-3 minced garlic cloves
2-3 tablespoons drained capers
Bay leaf
Olive oil
Salt/pepper
Crushed red pepper flake and/or
Cajun/creole seasonin'
Wet Ingredients for Cake Mixture
2-3 tbsp mayo
1-2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 egg
¼ c chopped herbs (basil, cilantro, dill, parsley, thyme, etc)
Salt/Pepper
Red pepper flake/cayenne/Cajun seasoning to taste
Dry Ingredients for Cake Mixture
1 lb crab meat (jumbo lump prefered, claw meat also good)
Scant ½ c bread crumbs
Breading
¼ c AP flour
¼ c bread crumbs
Salt/pepper
Dash Cajun seasoning
Horseradish Aoli
¼ c (52 g) mayonaise
juice of scant ½ lemon
2 tsp dijon mustard
½ tsp horseradish
dash of dill
few dashes Old Bay or cajun seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
Cooking the vegetable mix
Sweat the minced vegetables and other ingredients from the first list in olive oil on low/med heat until translucent. Remove bay leaf. Let cool.
Mixing and forming the Crabby Cakes
Beat egg lightly in bowl. Add cooked vegetables, mayo, mustard, seasoning, herbs, spices. Maybe add a dash of hot sauce. Mix until well combined.
Add drained, picked crab meat and scant half cup of breadcrumbs to wet mixture. Fold gently to combine. Add more breadcrumbs if the mixture is too sticky.
Mix flour, more breadcrumbs, and seasoning in plate for coating cakes.
Form crab cakes by hand and coat each side lightly with breading. Wrap in parchment and freeze as-is or cook immediately.
Cooking the Crabby Cakes
To cook, pan fry them in shallow oil for 3-4 minutes on each side: however long it takes to get them golden brown. Place on paper towels to drain after cooking.
They can also be baked, but I don't know the time/temp needed. Maybe on parchment at 450°F for 7-10 minutes each side?
Horseradish Aioli
Just mix all that stuff together is those basic proportions. There's no need to be precise.
Recipe courtesy: Based on a recipe from Prime Time Emeril (2001) that’s really been kicked up some more notches.
