A Marylander’s Authentic Crab Cakes Recipe Is High-Protein Deliciousness (6 Ingredients) by Terri Kendrick

Like Kansans know barbecue and Vermonters maple syrup, Marylanders know blue crabs – from how to pick them to the best ways to eat them. And my mom, a born and bred Marylander, had a crab cake recipe that she swore was the best around! We all agreed!! With big hunks of crabmeat and very little filler, these crab cakes are as delicious served all by themselves as they are on a bun.

Mom's emailed recipe – creased, dog-eared and food-stained from my many attempts and signed “Love and kisses, Mom" – has always been a treasure to me but especially now that she’s gone. To keep her memory alive, I wanted to share it with the world. While I’ve tweaked the amounts of mayo and mustard a little (based on her suggestions) and changed the mustard to Dijon, the rest is all hers!

To make these high-protein Maryland crab cakes you will need fresh crabmeat, an egg, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, saltine crackers and Old Bay seasoning. Serve these moist crab cakes for dinner with your favorite side dishes. These low-filler crab cakes would also make delicious appetizers served with remoulade or tartar sauce. This is one of my favorite high-protein dinners.

Lump or backfin is the best crabmeat for crab cakes. I picked my own for this recipe (so you may see bits of claw meat in the photos), but I discovered that buying pre-picked crab is a far better deal when you factor in the cost of crabs and the time and effort it takes to pick them!

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 pound (16 ounces) crabmeat
• 1 medium egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 8 saltine crackers, finely crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

Here's how to make it: 

1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the egg, mayonnaise, mustard and Old Bay seasoning.
   
2. Add the crushed saltines. (Some people use panko breadcrumbs instead of saltines. Other common additions are Worcestershire sauce and parsley.)
   
3. Gently fold in the crab, trying not to break up the lumps. Form the mixture into patties and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. (I only had enough crabmeat to make four crab cakes because I picked the crabs (and that's all I got! Be sure to pick out the shell from the crab meat as best you can.) but Mom's recipe made about six. If the crab isn’t holding together well, Mom suggests adding a little more mustard and mayo.)
   
4. After the crab cakes have set up, fry them in butter on the stovetop or broil until they start to brown, about 10 minutes.
   
   

Update: Martha, my mom’s partner of 30-plus years, shared this recipe on Facebook and a friend from her college days saw it while at the beach with a group of her girlfriends. “I thought it was beautiful that her daughters shared it for the world,” she emailed Martha. “I knew we had to make the recipe.” Here are the results!

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