Crab Cake Recipe (Baltimore Crab Cakes) - The Cookie Rookie® (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between Maryland crab cakes and regular crab cakes? ›

The Differences In Maryland Crab Cakes

For starters, they typically use more meat and less other filling compared to regular crab cakes. Of course, every recipe is different, but Maryland's versions really allow the crab meat to shine and only use enough fillers to hold the cakes together.

Are crab cakes better baked or fried? You can either bake or fry these crab cakes. My personal preference is to bake them because it's easier (no risk of them falling apart when you flip them) and they are less prone to drying out (it's easy to overcook the crab cakes when frying them in a pan).

Set a medium skillet over medium heat, and add enough canola oil to reach a ¼-inch depth. When the oil is between 350°F and 375°F, you can begin to fry the crab cakes.

While crab cakes show up on menus around the country and the world, there are few places where they are as much a part of the culture as in Maryland. The story of how this became the local specialty dates back to the 19th century and earlier.

While egg is a popular choice, it alone is not enough to make crab cakes retain their shape. A starch binder is also required. The key here is maintaining the proper balance, as too little binder means your crab cakes will fall apart, but too much will give your crab cakes an unfortunate texture.

The cost to produce Maryland crabmeat is very high, and the price it can fetch at the market is consistently undercut by imported alternatives. Truth-in-advertising advocates have pushed for designating crab cakes made with imported crabmeat as “Maryland-style” but with limited effect.

How do you fry crab cakes and also retain its original shape? Try adding a bit more flour, and chilling before cooking. Butter is best choice over oil for frying. You may want to add some bread or cracker crumbs as well.

If the goal is to deep-fry your crab cakes, then the answer is easy. You'll probably want to use a mild vegetable oil. Perhaps most importantly, butter's low smoke point makes it incompatible with the high-heat required for this technique. Another reason is simple — the price.

For example, I personally add a little flour to my crab cakes to help them hold together. 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs is a filler; 1 Tbs is a binder.

What is the best type of crab for crab cakes? ›

It's very important to use fresh, good-quality lump crab meat. Look for fresh-off-the-boat crab meat, which is sold in a clear plastic container, usually resting on ice in the seafood department. It's expensive, but one pound is enough to make six generous crab cakes (or 12 mini ones).

Oprah has had the crab cakes shipped around the world over the years, according to Pappas Restaurant & Sports Bar owner Mark Pappas. “These perfectly seasoned Maryland crab cakes have more fresh, sweet lump crabmeat than I've ever seen in a cake. The blend of ingredients comes from a 45-year-old family recipe.

The Cost of Catching and Processing Crab Meat. One of the main reasons why crab meat is expensive is due to the high cost of catching and processing the crabs. Crabbing is a labor-intensive process that requires skilled workers to operate specialized equipment such as crab traps and crab pots.

Maryland crab cake

Crab cakes in Maryland traditionally consist of no other ingredients than jumbo lump meat picked from steamed blue crabs, a very small amount of binder and maybe a spice with a significant tie to the state like Old Bay.

Both are prepared with the same delicious ingredients except that one is made with only Jumbo Lump crab meat and the other is made with only Backfin crab meat.

Maryland Crab Cakes

Restaurant style cakes are more gourmet and are made with large chunks of crab meat so it the crab is the main focus. Boardwalk style cakes are filled with smaller chunks of crab, egg, breadcrumbs, and seasoning- Old Bay, of course.

Two Styles of Crab Cake

These are the boardwalk style and restaurant style. The restaurant style is also known as the gourmet style and does not rely on breading; at the very least, it's not supposed to. Instead, they are broiled over open flames or cooked in a buttered pan.