Maryland-Style Crab Cakes with Lemon Brown Butter
Maryland-style crab cakes, mostly crab with almost no filler, seared golden and finished with lemon brown butter. Plus the wines that pair best.
Ingredients
For the Crab Cakes
- 1 lb lump crabmeat picked over for shell
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
- 3 strips thick-cut bacon for its rendered fat (about 2 tablespoons)
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter for searing
For the Lemon Brown Butter
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter cubed
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon or dill
- 1 teaspoon chopped chives
- Flaky salt to finish
- Lemon wedges for serving
Instructions
- Render the bacon. Cook the bacon in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 3 minutes per side. Lift it out (save it for another use) and leave the fat in the pan. Turn off the heat.
- Mix gently. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, mayonnaise, Old Bay, Dijon, and lemon zest. Add the crab and chives and fold with a spatula just until combined, keeping as many whole lumps as you can.
- Form and chill. Scoop the mixture with a 1/3-cup measure into 6 or 7 cakes, pressing each lightly into shape. Set them on a plate and refrigerate for 30 minutes so they hold together in the pan.
- Sear. Add the tablespoon of butter to the bacon fat and heat over medium-high until it foams. Lay in the crab cakes, in batches if needed, and do not touch them for 2 minutes. Flip carefully and cook 2 to 3 minutes more, until both sides are deep golden. Drain briefly on paper towels.
- Brown the butter. Wipe the skillet, or use a small saucepan. Melt the butter over medium heat. Let it foam, then swirl the pan until the milk solids turn golden brown and smell nutty, 2 to 4 minutes.
- Add lemon. Take the pan off the heat and add the lemon juice (it will sputter), then the tarragon and chives.
- Serve. Spoon the lemon brown butter around and over the crab cakes. Finish with flaky salt and serve right away with lemon wedges.
Notes
Notes
- Keep the lumps. Fold, do not stir. The less you work the mixture, the more it tastes of crab.
- Crab. Fresh or pasteurized lump crabmeat from the seafood counter both work. Pick through it gently for bits of shell.
- Hot pan, no crowding. Cook in two batches if needed, so the pan stays hot.
- Watch the butter. It moves from golden to burnt quickly. Remove it from the heat the moment it smells toasty and the flecks are hazelnut brown.
- Chill before searing. With no breadcrumbs, the cakes are fragile. Thirty minutes in the refrigerator firms them so they turn cleanly.
- Credit. Adapted from Mike’s Signature Crab Cakes in New Keto Cooking: Fresh Ideas for Delicious Low-Carb Meals at Home by Michael Silverstein. Changes: less Old Bay, lemon zest and chives in the mix, bacon fat with a little butter in the pan, a 30-minute chill, and lemon brown butter in place of the original rémoulade.
- Sides. Buttered sweet corn or a shaved fennel and lemon salad keep the focus on the crab.
- Low-carb as written. The original is a keto recipe, and these changes keep it that way.
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