A real Maryland crab cake is crab held together by as little as possible. Big lumps, barely any binder, and nothing in it that turns the thing into a fish cake. Maryland does the seasoning with Old Bay. Voodoo Salt does the same job here: paprika, garlic, onion and pepper, with jalapeño heat behind it, which crab takes better than you would expect.
Grilled, not fried. You get a golden top and you never have to turn anything delicate.
45 mins, 30 of them in the fridge. Makes 6.
Ingredients
- 500g Crab meat, the biggest lumps you can buy, picked over for shell
- 2 tsp Plateit Voodoo Salt, plus a pinch to finish
- 4 tbsp Whole egg mayonnaise
- 1 Egg, beaten
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 40g Dry breadcrumbs, or 12 saltine crackers crushed fine
- 2 tbsp Flat leaf parsley, chopped
- 1 Lemon
- 20g Butter, melted
Green salad
- 150g Mixed green leaves
- 2 tbsp Plateit French Vinaigrette
Method
- Tip the crab into a bowl and go through it with your fingers for shell. Do it properly. One fragment ruins the whole plate.
- In a second bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, egg, Dijon, Worcestershire, 2 tsp of Plateit Voodoo Salt, the parsley and the juice of half the lemon.
- Pour it over the crab and scatter the breadcrumbs on top. Fold three or four times with a spatula and stop. Mixing shreds the lumps, and the lumps are the entire point.
- Shape into 6 loose mounds, taller than they are wide. Do not press them flat and do not compact them.
- Fridge 30 mins on a lined tray, uncovered. This is what holds them together under the heat.
- Grill on high with the rack about 15cm from the element. Brush the tops with the melted butter. Eight to ten mins, until golden and just firm. No turning.
- Dress the leaves with the Plateit French Vinaigrette at the last second. Crab cakes out, a pinch more Voodoo Salt over the tops, remaining lemon in wedges, salad alongside.
Do this: Buy the best crab you can and buy less of it. Six good cakes beat twelve padded ones, and filler is the only thing separating a crab cake from a fish cake.
Tip: Tall mounds, not flat discs. A flat cake cooks through before the top takes colour and comes out dry.
Swap it: Blue swimmer or spanner crab is what you will actually find here and both work. Buy picked meat from the fishmonger rather than a tin.