Maryland Crab Cake Recipe

Maryland Blue Crab lump crab meat with Old Bay Seasoning and little else packed into this mostly ‘crab’ cake. 

Guy’s Grocery Games Crab Cake Winner

While competing on Food Network’s Guy’s Grocery Games, my hometown Maryland Crab Cake is what I chose to prepare for the first round. It was such a hit with each of the judges.

While it wasn’t edited into the final cut but I can tell you we all heard judge Robert Irvine say, as he bit into his crab cake, “I’d put this on a menu anywhere in America, and I’m delighted that you toasted the bun”!

Maryland Blue Crab Crab Cakes

No one visits the east coast of the United States, particularly Maryland, without remembering the best Crab Cakes they’ve ever had! The recipe I am sharing with you comes from a long line of Marylander’s rarely straying from this ingredient combination. 

I can NOT, however, take credit for this recipe. Before heading out to California to compete on GGG. My son Omar Daumit, an Executive Chef of a fine dining events catering company of Annapolis Maryland, suggested that if it fit into the competition, I should try to incorporate crab cakes. He then proceeded to teach me how to make the best dang crab cakes on the planet!

The recipe for these crab cakes can also be found in my ‘tapas-size’ cookbook (great gift for your foodie friends), with lots of stories about the foodie family I am honored to be a part of. The World On My Plate takes an intimate look into my passion for food and what it ignites around a table. 

Crab Cake Sandwich

When choosing to make crab cakes as a sandwich, be certain to choose a nice brioche-type of bun and quick brown the inside of the bun (in the same pan you cooked the crab cakes or on a griddle to give them grill marks).

Toasting the inside of the bun adds a bit of crunch and keeps the bun from becoming soggy when the crab cake is added. 

Crab Cake Appetizers

For crab cakes as an appetizer, simply make mini cakes instead of dinner size cakes and place each mini crab cake on a plain water-type cracker. A tiny dollop of your favorite seafood sauce can go on the cracker or served on the side, but it really doesn’t need a sauce.  

Crab Cakes As The Star

As the star of a few great salads, crab cakes are so delicious that they really don’t need a bun or cracker though it does make it easier to eat these yummies. A great coleslaw and potato salad on a plate with a large crab cake to be the star, is a favorite way to eat crab cakes in my home. 

Old Bay Seasoning And Crab Cakes

Here in Maryland, crabs are steamed right out of the bay with Old Bay seasoning, a seasoning also found in a delicious Oyster Chowder.

The ingredients in this seasoning is unlike any I’ve ever had. For me, it is the flavor that enhances the taste of many a seafood dishes.  

Making Crab Cakes

When making crab cakes, the most important thing to remember is not to over-stir the mixture, taking care to keep the lump crab in as large a lump as you can. The other secret? Sauté in a hot pan with Butter! 

If making several batches of crab cakes, take care to wipe out the pan after each batch, add more butter and continue to sauté. The last thing you want is burnt bits in the pan. 

Ingredients Needed

• Lump Crab Meat
• Mayonnaise
• Egg
• Old Bay Seasoning
• Lemon juice
• Panko crumbs
• Salt
• Butter

Equipment Needed

• Mixing bowl
• Wooden spoon
• Whisk
• Fork
• Spatula
• Cast Iron Pan
• Measuring spoons
• Stovetop

Maryland Crab Cake Recipe

Recipe by Robin DaumitCourse: Dinner, Lunch, AppetizersCuisine: American

Servings

6

servings

Maryland Blue Crab lump crab meat with Old Bay Seasoning and little else packed into this mostly ‘crab’ cake. 

Ingredients

• Lump Crab meat – 1 lb.

• Mayonnaise – 1 tablespoon

• Egg – 1

• Old Bay Seasoning – 1 tablespoon

• Lemon juice – 2 teaspoons

• Panko crumbs – 1 tablespoon

• Salt to taste

• Butter – 2-3 tablespoons, as needed to sauté

Directions

• Gently mix all the ingredients, except the butter. Form small balls.
• In a medium hot pan, melt butter. As soon as the butter begins to look golden, add the cakes. Sauté until the underside looks golden and begins to brown. Turn the cakes over, adding a little more butter if needed. Flatten the cakes just a little. When the underside turns golden, remove from the pan and serve.

Notes

• While making crab cakes for Guy’s Grocery Games, the challenge was ‘heat’. I added jalapeño to the recipe. Ordinarily, it is not added to the classic crab cake recipe.  

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rdaumit

I am all about the gratification of the senses, and so I have become passionate about capturing the stimuli for my senses through videography and photography. Food provides some of the most alluring subject matter to capture on film, and videography does what a still shot can not do: capture sound. When you hear something sizzling, or pouring, your taste buds and sense of smell are already engaged.

I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.

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