Thread: Eastern Shore Crab Cakes

Got a call from Bon Temps inviting my Bride & I over to eat some of His Fabulous Boiled Crabs, not a invite to pass on. My Bride woke up with a sore throat and Cold symptoms so She stayed home. Bon Temps is a mean Seafood Boiler, an absolute treat to sit down with them and enjoy. I cooked a Key Lime Pie, grabbed a few bottles of Wine & Mead (made with His honey) and headed their way as soon as the pie came out of the oven. Interesting experience as I have driven numerous pies over to friends here but the ride to Bon Temps' was long enough my hot Meringue kinda collapsed during the drive. Presentation was a little lacking but just a small piece was left after everyone ate. So like usual He cooked too many Crabs and told me to take some home. I was going to get a dozen for my wife but He said take what I wanted. I told him to dump what he wanted into my cooler. Needless to say hand stacking as tight as possible I filled one of my 18qt brining containers over the top with Crabs when I got home.



After pressing both fermenters of Blueberry Wine & the cleanup that follows I sat down I cleaned 1/2 of the Crabs this morning into the early afternoon.



Cleaning a very Hearty amount of Crabs provided enough Crab Meat to make quite a few Eastern Shore Crab Cakes.

Eastern Shore Crab Cakes

4 slices of white bread with the crusts removed and sliced into cubes.
1/4 cup milk
1/2 Tsp Dry Mustard I use Colemans
1/2 Tsp salt
1/2 Tsp Paprika
1 Tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 eggs
1 Tbls dried parsley flakes
1 Tbls Tony's Seasoning





A New Orleans Italian trick for the lightest Meatballs is to soak your bread in milk first. Well I put a bit too much milk so in the recipe I will cut back. Soak your bread for 30 minutes at least.



I drained off about 2/3rds of the milk seen in the photo.



Another neat trick to stiffening the mixture was separating the egg yokes from the whites. I use a third bowl to crack the eggs in just in case I break a yoke. No yoke at all in the egg whites if you plan on whipping them later.



Using 2 forks shred the bread then combine with the egg yokes. Afterwards add all the seasonings to this bowl. Now when it comes to the salt. If using boiled Louisiana Crab meat like I am use unsalted butter to fry in and don't add any salt without a test fry first. Bon Temps' Crabs were super juicy so salts were added by way of all that Crab meat.



When your binder is mixed just dump it on top of the Crab Meat and carefully fold to combine.



I used Avocado oil & a stick of unsalted butter to fry the Crab Cakes in. The stove is say 2/3rds up on the heat.



While the pan is heating up and the butter melting I use a hand mixer to whip the egg whites to very stiff peaks then fold the egg whites into the mixture.




Setting the Crab Cake mixture next to the skillet I fry 3 at a time dropping the mixture in with a large spoon. As the edges start firming I'm pushing the edges in with the flat spatula shaping the Crab Cakes as they set. One flip once the crust on the underside is firm enough to handle being lifted without breaking into pieces. They are too tender to place on a wire rack so I place them on parchment paper before serving. Now these are about Hamburger sized Crab Cakes, the leftovers will be used for sandwiches on buns tomorrow.



My bride only wanted the Crab Cakes, comfort food for her so I didn't bother to cook any pasta & make a light Lemon - Dill sauce. Presentation is kinda plain. You can see in the last picture it's all Crab Meat.

Shout out to Bon Temps for providing the Crab meat.

Now ya talking with the hot sauce….yum!