Receta Gulf Coast Crab Cakes with Lemon Beurre Noir
Some
dishes are so associated with a single ingredient in my mind that when I come
across a recipe without that ingredient, it’s almost a red flag. So it was when I happened across this recipe
for Gulf Coast Crab Cakes. In this case, it was the complete absence of Old Bay
Seasoning that threw me for a loop. I
cannot remember a time I made a crab cake absent this 77 year old seasoning mix
of mustard, paprika, celery salt, bay leaf, black pepper, crushed red pepper
flakes, mace, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, cardamom and ginger. Old
Bay was invented by a German immigrant named Gustav Brunn. Before the Second World War, crabs were in
such high supply that they were offered free at bars in Baltimore. Salty seasonings like Old Bay created a
thirst which built bar businesses. The
Crab Cake itself is far older than Old Bay. In fact, it’s a lot older than I
ever imagined.
The practice of making minced meat into
cakes and patties is ancient. Minces mixed with bread, spices and fillers were
popular for two reasons: Taste and Economy.
History points to crab-cake type dishes being introduced to the Colonies
by English Settlers. A look at historic
American cookbooks finds crab recipes from Colonial times onward. By the 19th century these recipes
were everywhere. Many combined bread
crumbs and spices, some were fried. They
were called ‘Crab Patties’ or ‘Crab Croquettes’. Only in the 20th Century was the
phrase ‘Crab Cake’ used. According
the Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink (Lebhar Friedman: New York 1999),
the term Crab Cake dates in print to 1939 in “New York World’s Fair
Cookbook”. They were called Baltimore
Crab Cakes. And to many people the only crab cake there is is a Chesapeake Bay or
Baltimore Crab Cake. I was among them.
But I was hardly alone. Go to any of the great recipe anthologies--The Gourmet
Cookbook, The Bon Appetit Cookbook or the New York Times Cookbook—and you’ll
see a single recipe for Maryland/Baltimore/Chesapeake Bay Crab Cakes. The truth is that both the Atlantic Coast and
the Gulf of Mexico also harbor the right conditions for Blue Crabs. They are one of the most popular of more than
4500 species of crab worldwide. Once
you’ve cracked the shell of a steamed crab, the work of deep diving for the
crab meat begins. Much simpler by far is
the crisp-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside, crab cake. The provenance of the Gulf Coast Crab
Cake recipe is difficult to pin down. You would think that a cookbook like “Star of
Texas”, a publication of the Junior League of Houston, would be rife with Gulf
Coast Crab Recipes. But
no. Or that Paul Prud’homme’s Louisiana
Kitchen might have the recipe. He didn’t.
Perhaps Emeril Lagasse has one.
He does but aside from being the longest and most complicated 22
ingredient Crab Cake recipe I’ve come across, he gives not one hint of any Gulf
Coast beginnings. Ahah! Finally, I stumble across “Emeril’s Gulf Coast Fish
House Crab Cakes”. This 30 ingredient
extravaganza (including two sides) turns out not to be the name of the Crab
Cakes but of a Restaurant Chef Lagasse owns in Gulfport, Mississippi. All right, I give up. Let’s just make these
crab cakes, shall we? First off, as I try to do whenever I
cook seafood, please check with http://www.seafoodwatch.org/. This will
take you to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch where you can single out
sustainable crab meat from some dubious crab meat sources. There’s a free app that you can install on
your phone and take to the fishmongers with you. Never buy canned crab, always look for fresh
or pasteurized. While this looks
time-consuming, much of the time is spent cooling ingredients and chilling the
crab. This makes the crab cakes hold together.
The goal is to have as much crab as possible with as little binder as
possible. The mark of a bad Crab Cake is
too much filler and not enough crab. Here is the recipe:
Recipe for Gulf Coast Crab Cakes with Lemon Beurre Noir Hands-on time: 50 mins Total time: 1 hr, 55 mins Makes
12 3-inch Crab Cakes servings
1/2 cup finely diced
red bell pepper 1/2 cup finely diced
green bell pepper 1/2 cup finely diced
yellow onion 2 tablespoons minced
garlic 8 tablespoons extra
virgin olive oil, divided 2 tablespoons Creole
or Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons
Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon kosher
salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly
ground black pepper 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne
pepper 3/4 cup fine, dry
breadcrumbs 2 large eggs, lightly
beaten 1 lb. fresh lump
crabmeat, picked and drained 1/2 cup minced green
onions 3 tablespoons butter For the lemon butter:
1 Cup Unsalted Butter
(2 sticks)
Juice of 1 whole
lemon.
½ tsp. Kosher Salt
In a small saucepan
over low heat, melt the butter. Juice the lemon and pour the juice through a
fine strainer to eliminate any seeds. Once the butter is melted, add the strained
lemon juice and the salt and warm very gently.
Leave on low until ready to serve with the Crab Cakes.
How to Make the Crab Cakes:
1. Sauté bell
peppers, yellow onion, and garlic in 2 Tbsp. hot oil over medium-high heat 8 to
10 minutes or until tender. Stir in mustard and next 4 ingredients. Add
breadcrumbs, and sauté 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Cool 15
minutes.
Fold eggs into
breadcrumb mixture until blended. Gently stir in crabmeat and green onions.
Shape into 12 (3-inch) crab cakes (about 1/3 cup each). Cover and chill 30 to
40 minutes.
2. Melt 1 Tbsp.
butter with 2 Tbsp. oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 4
crab cakes to skillet; cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until browned.
Remove from skillet, and keep warm in a 200° oven. Repeat procedure with
remaining oil, butter, and crab cakes, wiping skillet clean after each batch.
Serve with Lemon Buerre Noir