Cakes of Crab

Funny how things conspire. Over the past week, I’ve been exposed to crab cake mania. Of course with the Greek visitors in the area, Crab Cakes were extolled as a local delicacy, and something you must try. For an alleged food critic, (this has been said before) such things as crab cakes are an enigma. In the never ending American passion for ranking things, we’re always searching for “number one”, or “the best”. Guess what? It’s not an absolute solution. It’s all in what tastes best to your particular likes. I like anchovies, you don’t. I hate asparagus, you love it. So what? Are either the less? Classical cooking might be a bit different. For instance, Sole Mornay is supposed to be made only one way, and then we can judge quality. But in the case of crab cakes, chili, stuffed ham, it’s all about what appeals to you. What I like in a crab cake is crab. Not Old Bay, no peppers, no celery, no onions, no crackers, just the minimum binder to hold the crab meat together. And it should be lump, not just shreds that come from who knows where. To illustrate, here’s the ingredient list for a couple of crab cake recipes:

Dec 2004 Gourmet:

• 1 tablespoon finely chopped scallion
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 1/4 sticks (5 oz) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons Sriracha hot chile sauce
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 slices firm whole-wheat sandwich bread, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 lb jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over

And one from a June 2008 Gourmet:

• 2 slices firm white sandwich bread
• 1/2 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over
• 2 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter

Prep for the first has 166 words and multiple steps (sweat, combine, make roux…), the second has 65 words and is basically “mix it up”.


So, which one is “better”? It’s up to you… I think I know what I would prefer.


Conspire part:

Locally, in the course of things, I’ve seen the plated version of crab cake at Hilton Garden Inn, the “famous” version at Stoney’s, and last night a re-visit to Clarke’s Landing. Clarke’s has always been high on my answer list to “where’s the best crab cake?”, usually asked by/for out of towners, so the setting plays kind of a role here. Plus I have pretty much enjoyed their version. Since this is getting long I’ll cut to the chase. Both the HGI and Stoney’s were composed of homogeneous strings of crab, spherical in nature, and appeared kind of mushy. For last night’s experiment at Clarke’s, I ordered the small platter with sides of salad/blue cheese, and onion rings. We ate on the porch (we had an out of towner), and endured the “be taking care of you” speech, but other than that, she was friendly and pretty attentive. When my cake arrived, it was on the “gill” portion of the omnipresent little blue fish plate, with a little tub of tartar sauce (does anybody ever eat that?) and five, count ‘em, five, onion rings. The cake was much smaller than I remembered, smaller than a hockey puck, but at least it was that shape so the inside could cook. Dissection revealed many identifiable lumps of crab, and had fairly good flavor. Memory is always a false standard, but it didn’t quite measure up to what I remembered from past visits. Still, it was much preferable to the other two. For the record, my long time favorite for crab cakes is Brome Howard Inn (and I have to admit I have not tried Corbels).

New Entry?

A stringer with a good palate reports that he is off Stoney’s (was a fan), but has stumbled on a little place in Prince Frederick, which I think you all have seen on the end of the Mr. Tire store/complex south of town. It’s called Jerry’s, and Jerry turns out to have moved here from Lanham/Seabrook, where (according to sources) he was “legendary”. It was described as “what Stoney’s used to be”. My friend had been 5 times and enjoyed every visit – especially the cakes of crab..

DFD