Tex Mex Crab Cakes?

[DATsBBQ]

Fixin to make up some crab cakes for dinner tonight. Recipes and textures tend to run all over the place on the information super highway. Anyone have killer crab cake recipe they're willing to share?

[Boots]

I tricked up my Moms (she was from Annapolis) and Texaned it some. Use lump crab if you can get it. Some recipes call for a scrambled egg and crushed saltines as a binder, I use that. But I also mix in McIlhenney Cajun mayo, chopped roasted red peppers, finely chopped green onions, and add a half teaspoon of good fresh chili powder. Just a tad bit of crushed fresh garlic doesnt hurt. For some heat a finely chopped jalapeno or chipotle or chipotle powder will do.

If you put them on the grill I would brush em w melted butter first. I actually prefer mine pan seared in butter and olive oil. I cook them to a hard brown for a little crunchy crust. I never bread mine in a flour dredge; a lot of folks in Maryland seem to do this butIMHO it just comes out bland. They're best for me when either broiled or pan seared.

I have also added crushed pecans into the mix on occasion w good success.

[Boots]

Since I never write down recipes, here is the one I found looking around during lunch that is closest to the one I do. Ol' Ms. Deen here cooks largely the old fashioned way, which works for me. Some suggestions, just for what works or doesn't work for me: Ditch the Worcestershiiistershister. Adds nothing in my opinion to most foods and tends to overpower other beneficial flavors. As per my prior recommendations, use the Cajun mayo but if need be you can utilize her mayo and cayenne substitution. Also, ditch the "dusting", just gets in the way of a good grilled or seared surfacing to the meat. Instead of the bell peppers I would substitute using home roasted and skinned red bells, or the roasted italian bells you can get in the jar at the grocery. I really like those for a number of reasons, including they have a good kind of pickled taste to them, using salt, a little vinegar, and olive oil I think. Instead of the mustard powder I use a good German or French mustard but you can go either way. Also, in addition to the other spices mentioned before, if you want to be more authentic to Maryland style add either some Old Bay or some paprika. And the peanut oil she recommends is probably a good choice because you can use it really hot; I just prefer using butter with olive oil for taste reasons.

Also included a recipe from Vidalia, one of my favorite restaurants when I go up to D.C. They also make a mint julep that is world class, I kid you not, and grits that are unbelievable. It's not cheap...but it's worth it.

Good hunting on this, I envy you having fresh crabmeat right in your backyard practically.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paul ... index.html" target="_blank
http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/best ... abcake.php

[DATsBBQ]

On paper the Vidalia recipe looks better to me than Ms Deen's. The Mrs isn't big on onions but I can usually sneak some scallions in without too much of a fuss. Thinking that Jalps might over power the crab?

All the quasi-public access sites on the Bay side have signs stating no crab traps but I saw them on sale at Academy so they must be legal somewhere. Maybe the Gulf side but with the surf I think they'd have to be anchored somehow to keep from getting washed up and lost in the pile of seaweed on the beach.

[tex_toby]

On paper the Vidalia recipe looks better to me than Ms Deen's. The Mrs isn't big on onions but I can usually sneak some scallions in without too much of a fuss. Thinking that Jalps might over power the crab?
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All the quasi-public access sites on the Bay side have signs stating no crab traps but I saw them on sale at Academy so they must be legal somewhere. Maybe the Gulf side but with the surf I think they'd have to be anchored somehow to keep from getting washed up and lost in the pile of seaweed on the beach.

Dats - I've witnessed first hand crabbing on the gulf side at the state park. The guy I was watching had 4 or 5 traps with string tied to 2 liter coke bottles (like a jug line) and spread them apart about 10 feet from each other in 2 ft of water. He had chicken pieces in the traps for bait. Anyways, he would set them all out and after about 5 minutes he would go start checking them. He was making constant trips out to each trap, bringing them to shore and dumping 3 or 4 blue crabs into a 5 gallon bucket each time. Withing about 30 minutes, his bucket was full. I was intrigued and wanted to do it myself, but was a bit intimidated on how to clean and cook them. The catching part seemed plenty easy enough.

[Boots]

When I was a kid we crabbed in the fish passes between the Gulf and the bay when we went to "the coast" for vacation.

Funniest thing, we went down to Port A one year when I was about 10, my Dad and his buddy were all fired up to catch specs and flounder. Specs this, specs that, specs the other. Got sick of hearing about specs on the drive down from Dallas, I can tell you.

First morning out, he and the buddy load themselves up with waders and poles and Hemingway caps and about 40 pounds of tackle each and we head to the fish pass. They dumped us kids off at the pass about 7AM with a package of chicken necks, two crab nets, and a 70 or 100 quart cooler full of old Dr Pepper and peanut butter sandwiches and then they took off wading into the bay, hot to trot, and disappeared from sight (this was back in the day when you could actually leave kids to play on their own without too many creepy crawlers wandering around). Two of 'em didn't even show back up for lunch.

'Round about 3 PM they show back up, looking like a pair of steamed Maine lobsters in the June heat, fried up like shrimp. I kid you not, Dad's buddy was so red I thought he had been converted and made Cardinal all in one day; might of just been all the Budweiser he drank. And you guessed it, not a spec or flounder between the two of them. All they caught all day were croakers. Their hands looked like pincushions from being stuck by the top fins on all thoses croakers, trying to get the hooks outta their mouths. Dad says to me with a scowl, "well Son, I guess it's gonna be Mrs. Pete's tonight for dinner, we didn't catch anything".

At which point I said, "Don't worry Dad, we caught plenty to eat", and raised the lid on the cooler and showed that we had filled it up completely with crabs, all nicely iced down now. I'm guessing like about 40 of them. I burped loudly too, which was considered bad manners and forbidden in front of my Dad; we had drunk all the Dr Pepper. We went back to the old Anchor Courts and steamed up crabs and ate real good. Dad's buddy kept moaning about a bunch of kids outfishing them, and then I beat him playing chess too. He and the Budweisers decided to retire early.

Next day, Dad and his buddy greased up big with Coppertone to cover their lobsteritis and took us kids back down to the fish pass. The poles and gear stayed in the truck. The two of them hid in the shade under the overpass and wouldn't let us kids have a turn on the crab nets all day either, dern 'em. Pretty ungrateful, if you ask me. But we had crabs that night again, and Mom made me some crabcakes with her recipe. Dad seemed to be grinning a lot in spite of the lobsteritis.

I always tell my buddies, do cool stuff with your kids, you'll be amazed at what they remember when you're gone.

[DATsBBQ]

Dats - I've witnessed first hand crabbing on the gulf side at the state park. The guy I was watching had 4 or 5 traps with string tied to 2 liter coke bottles (like a jug line) and spread them apart about 10 feet from each other in 2 ft of water. He had chicken pieces in the traps for bait. Anyways, he would set them all out and after about 5 minutes he would go start checking them. He was making constant trips out to each trap, bringing them to shore and dumping 3 or 4 blue crabs into a 5 gallon bucket each time. Withing about 30 minutes, his bucket was full. I was intrigued and wanted to do it myself, but was a bit intimidated on how to clean and cook them. The catching part seemed plenty easy enough.

It looks like its not that hard. I've watched a couple of videos on the net (google is your friend) and it appears you can either ice 'em down then take to cleaning -pull abdomin thingy down, cut in half lengthwise, then cut remaining part containing eye and head off each piece then clean out anything that ain't white meat under running water. Then boil. Alternate method is to cut every thing below the eyes off, rip off the top and shell and get rid of the guts. A little more barbarian to be sure.

Or, you can boil first then dis-member as you eat 'em. The Mrs ain't having none of this method I can assure you. No limits on the buggers, just can't take a sponge crab (female with eggs) and they have to be 5" across the spine. At the state park, you don't need a fishing license (guess they clip you enough for the entry fee).

[Boots]

Been to many crab boils way back when my uncle still had the tobacco farm, near Gambrels, I think. The always cooked live and whole. Get the big pot at a rolling boil with a little Old Bay in it (go easy, it's potent on the aromatic side and if you dump too much in the pot the steam will run you outta the house), the dump the crustaceans in live and whole. I forget how long, but I think they're done when they're good and red. Then they'd dump em out on butcher paper on a picnic table and go to town, cracking and picking like cavemen. First time I went I was about 8 and raging hungry. Got really frustrated because I didn't know how to peel em and the relations just let me fend for myself; Mom finally showed me how to get into the claws and I narrowly avoided starvation.

My uncle's still alive at near 90 and feisty as ever. Attributes his longevity to a lifetime of crabs, cigars, and Early Times (for medicinal purposes of course).

[brandotexan]

Being in Maryland, we go crabbing all the time. It's all about the experience! We have a pretty good setup now and I'll take a couple buds and plenty of suds to last till noon. We use 2x 600' trout lines with chicken necks attached that lay on the bottom of the bay. Bring em slow and get them in the boat. We head out about 4am and normally catch about 2 bushels before calling it a day. That's enough to feed about 10 hungry Marylanders or 20 normal people! We steam them up and what we don't eat, we put in the ice box and pick them later for crab cakes, crab soup, or crab dips. Got recipes for all of it, send me a PM and I'll send the one you're looking for.

As far as how to cook/clean them. I would certainly cook them first (steam or boil) then pick the meat out.

Steam Recipe:

Put live crabs on ice to keep the ornery things calmed down and easier to fill the pot.

Using a 34qt stock pot with a 1" riser grate in the bottom to keep the crabs off the liquid.

1 1/2 cup white vinegar
2 beers (I use whatever is old leftover beer in the back of the beer fridge)
1 1/2 cup water

take the crabs and place in the pot 1 layer at a time, sprinkle enough Old Bay, black pepper, kosher salt, dry mustard, and cayenne pepper to cover their bodies. I use this procedure for each layer:

crabs > dry mustard > black pepper > red pepper > Old Bay > salt

fill the pot to the top, we throw a dozen ears of shucked Eastern Shore sweet corn on top. Clamp the lid down and put on the fire. Fire should be on high, keep on the fire for 20 minutes after you can visibly see the steam coming out of the lid. Normally takes about 20 minutes to start seeing the steam so 40minutes total. At that point they are ready to eat! To me growing up eating crawfish, it's about the same amount of picking - a lot of picking for a small amount of meat. But it's worth it 100%.

[brandotexan]

Some more pics

[Boots]

Great lookin mess. Always forget how pretty blues look when fresh caught. This is the way I remember seeing them on my uncles place in Gambrills. I think it backed up to the Severn, will have to ask him next time I go up to St Michaels to see him.

[brandotexan]

Ok, Gambrills ain't far from me, I work at Fort Meade. St Michaels has some great places to fill your pots.

[Boots]

My uncle "Naaaaahhhhmmmannnn" always feeds me up at his old haunt the Crab Claw or a new place just south of St Michaels. Hungry just thinking about it

[DATsBBQ]

Brandotexan - how do you open them up after steaming? Are they easy to pull apart or is somekind of hardware involved?

[brandotexan]

The easiest thing is the grab a butter knife. Put them on the table belly up, take the butter knife and pull back their apron, then slide it in up to their head. While holding the knife flat on the table, pull their body up which will separate the top shell from their body. Once you have the body exposed, it's open season! Once you pick a few, you will see how their anatomy is laid out. Don't eat the lunges (small off-white fingers on the sides). The body is full of many crevices that the meat will be in separated by paper thin shell. Dig in each one to get all the meat out of that section. The best part (and most rewarding) is going to be the where the back fins connect to the body. This is what is considered the 'lump' or sometimes 'back fin'.

A lot of people use crab hammers to bash them up and pick what's left but to me it's a lot of damage and mostly picking bits of shell out of your mouth with each bite. Most of the professionals use butter knives to pry everything apart which leaves the shells intact. We usually don't go out till Memorial Day or so for our first catch, but when we do I will take plenty of pictures of how I crack them open and pick out the yummy goodness.

I might have to try and smoke them up somehow, I've got ideas running through my head now...