Crab Cakes
Note from Mark: You’re on board with the challenge, but what should you eat? No worries. The Worker Bees and I have you covered. Every Saturday and Sunday during the 30-day challenge we’ll be bringing you some delicious Primal recipes. (Sorry, no Weekend Link Love for the next few weeks!) Enjoy!
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There are certain foods that people have very strong opinions about. Often, these opinions are regionally based. If you’ve ever been stuck in the middle of an argument about New York vs Chicago pizza, you know how heated the debate can get. Crab cakes also elicit a strong emotional response. Some cooks swear by Old Bay Seasoning, others use paprika. Some cooks add red pepper, others think it’s sacrilegious to use anything more than diced celery. But across the board, one ingredient seems to remains the same: breadcrumbs. You have to add breadcrumbs to crab cakes to bind them together. Or do you? Questioning these sort of food fallacies is a common practice for modern day Groks. Yes, breadcrumbs hold crab cakes together, but the main reason they’re in crab cakes is to act as filler, so restaurants don’t have to put as much crab in your cake. Making a perfectly delicious crab cake bound together solely by egg yolks is easy to do.
First, let’s talk about fresh crab. You can buy whole crabs, but already picked meat is both easier and usually not much more expensive. Some stores also sell packaged wild-caught crab meat that is pasteurized and refrigerated and slightly less expensive. (this is much different than imitation crab, which should be avoided at all costs). For crab cakes, Dungeness Crab is the most sustainable choice and Blue Crab is a good alternative. Lump meat is the bigger chunks from the body of the crab, often lighter in color with a richer texture. It’s considered the premium part of the crab and you’ll pay premium prices for it. Claw meat has more of a shredded texture – it’s less pretty, but can also be more flavorful (and it often sells for half the price of lump meat.) This recipe uses a combination of the two, for texture and flavor.
Ingredients:
1 pound crab meat, combination of lump and claw
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot or onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped celery
2 tablespoons finely chopped dill
1 teaspoon lemon zest (grated off the outside of a lemon)
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/3 cup olive oil
Directions:
Bundle the crab in a thin dishtowel and give it a few hard squeezes to release moisture. You’ll probably be able to get a couple tablespoons of liquid to drip out.
Whisk the egg yolks. Add the shallot, celery, dill, lemon zest, hot sauce and paprika. Gently mix this into the crab. The mixture is not going to look like it will hold together, but don’t worry.
To form the crab cakes all you need is a round cookie cutter about 2 inches wide. Using a tablespoon measurement, scoop 2 generous tablespoons of crab into the cookie cutter.
Press the crab down very firmly with your fingers. Gently lift the cookie cutter.
Using this method, you should be able to make at least a dozen crab cakes. Cover the cakes and refrigerate for one hour or more. This helps the ingredients bind together.
Preheat your oven to 375. On the stovetop, heat the olive oil in a pan. When the oil starts to sizzle, use a spatula to slide the crab cakes into the pan. Cook about 2-3 minutes on each side until they are browned and crispy. Don’t put too many in the pan at once.
Use a spatula to scoop the cakes out the pan and onto a cookie sheet. Put in the oven for another six minutes to make sure they are warmed through the middle. Garnish with dill.
The most important steps in this recipe are using the cookie cutter to shape the crab cakes and refrigerating them for at least an hour before cooking. Other than that, let your regional tastes take over. Add red pepper if you like or mustard. Play around with the seasonings. But forget all about the breadcrumbs. You won’t even miss them.
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Posted By: Worker Bee
Cool, I’m gunna try this with some of the canned salmon I got sitting in the pantry. I’ve also used flax meal as bread crumbs before. I’m sure coconut flour or almond meal would work decently as well.
Tried these with canned salmon and 1T of coconut flour and 1 egg as binder….along with some onion, hotsauce, cilantro and lime juice. It was really good over mixed greens. Not bad for a thrown together meal!
These look awesome! Thanks Mark
Looks really good. Surprised they would be good without the bread crumbs, but will give them a try.
This is a recipe I could do. I can only figure out simple things like this… looks good too.
I really appreciate all the recipes and other food advice you offer on this site.
I’m not big into crab myself but my mom will definately appreciate this recipe
Looks great, and something even the kitchen-challenged can handle.
Crab cakes are downright comfort food for my non-primal spouse. Hmmm… a light bulb is flashing here!
I have never actually tried a crab cake. Maybe it’s time.
help, i’m naked, send me a shirt!!!
Now that’s my kind of “cake”!
I can’t wait to make this…perfect timing too since I need to make up my grocery list soon
Thanks worker bees!
Thanks from a Baltimore native!
Ok, you forced my hand…I’m getting some crab and making these.
That looks great! I haven’t eaten crab in so long. I’m going to try this recipe.
Those look great! Cant wait to try them.
No seafood for me, perhaps growing up landlocked ruined my taste for it, but I sure would like a grok t-shirt! I promise to post pictures of it in the wild.
Oh sorry about that Michael, meant to comment on the post!
Yum! At my house we *love* crab cakes & now we can eat ‘em guilt free!!!
Man, I love crabcakes, so a primal version will definately be put on my To Make list!!
These look so good! I love crabcakes and can never find any that aren’t mostly breadcrumbs. I also like the idea of making them with tuna or salmon.
Delicious! I’ll make these tomorrow night — thanks for the suggestion, Mark.
As usual, I’ve flagged this recipe post in my RSS reader! So many good ones to try
Of course, the first response I got when mentioning this was: “Oh yeah, *I* know how to make crab cakes.”
Nice! I am going to forward this to my Dad; he’s not primal but is wheat and gluten intolerant so any burger/patty-type recipe that doesn’t involve breadcrumbs as a filler is fantastic! Thanks for the recipe
I don’t eat crab… but I’d LOVE a t-shirt!
I keep thinking that Crab would be a good addition to my diet – never found a good way to do it though. Thanks for the idea – I’ll give it a whirl…
This is so much better than the food at lollapalooza! And definitely way more Primal.
Grok love crab…Grok hate cake…Grok melts for crab cake!
First time poster long time lurker. Cooking this later…
What great insight! Never thought to use a cookie cutter before. I kept trying to figure out how to keep them from becoming a big ball of mush. I knew the refrigeration helped everything adhere together but I still ended up with a soggy mashed-patty. I like to add some worcestershire sauce for some added kick. Not too much or the taste of the crab will suffer, but just enough to pack a punch.
I can’t wait to try these. I hate breadcrumbs in crab cakes. It always seems like I’m being cheated.
Thanks for another perfectly primal palette pleaser
I don’t mind breadcrumbs in stuff like this as I considered them a necessary binder. Thanks for the binding techniques sans breadcrumbs- good advice for everything from meatloaf to salmon patties.