Devilled crab cakes recipe
"These are our dad’s favourite so we had to include them. There are two key elements to a good crab cake: one, not to be too stingy with the crabmeat – it is too easy to end up with a potato cake – and two, to balance the seasoning carefully. Crab benefits from a bit of spice but not so much that you drown its own flavour. We source our crab from the Dorset coast but there are many good suppliers around the British Isles and, indeed many other parts of the world."
Ingredients
- 250 g cooked brown and white crab meat
- 250 g mashed potato
- 3 spring onions, finely chopped
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp English mustard
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 2 pinches cayenne pepper
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- 50 g unsalted butter
- 1 small bowl plain flour, to coat
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 100 g fresh white breadcrumbs
- 50 ml rapeseed oil
- 1 portion green salad per person
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Main
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 10 mins
- Cooking Time: 10 mins
- Serves: 6
Step-by-step
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the crab meat, mashed potato, spring onions, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, ginger, cayenne, lemon zest and juice and a couple of pinches of salt.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat and pour over the crab mixture. Gently mix everything together with a wooden spoon and taste to check the seasoning.
- Mould the crab mixture by hand into even-sized cakes (you can choose the size from 6 large cakes, 12 medium-sized or about 20 little ones to serve as a mouthful).
- Place the flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs in separate bowls ready for coating the crab cakes. First dip the cakes into the flour, then into the egg and finally into the breadcrumbs, making sure they are evenly coated on both sides.
- Transfer the cakes to a plate, cover with clingfilm and set aside in the fridge to firm up until you are ready to cook.
- Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan over a moderate heat. Fry the cakes evenly on both sides for about 5 minutes for the small ones and a bit longer (say 8 minutes) for the large ones, until golden brown. Serve with a crisp green salad.
The Shed: The Cookbook is published by Kyle Books and has an RRP of £19.99. Photography by Simon Wheeler.
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