What's the best way to get crab cakes to hold together?
Asked by
tedibear (
19304
)
April 21st, 2013
I made crab cakes for dinner. In terms of flavor, they were fine. However, they kept trying to break into chunks whilst frying.
When I was mixing them, they seemed too wet, so I threw in some more cracker crumbs. I didn’t want to, but it seemed the only way to get them to bind a bit more. I also put them in the refrigerator for 20 minutes prior to frying. The wet ingredients were mayo, egg and a touch of lemon juice. The crab was canned; I drained it well prior to mixing.
So what am I doing wrong here? The flavor was good, it was just the cakes were trying to chunk apart!
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8 Answers
Possibly too much of the cracker crumbs? Were they at all bready? Also the canned doesn’t hold together that well usually.
Here’s a thought. Try greasing and flouring a muffin tin very well (or maybe just Pam) and bake them in there? Hopefully they’ll dump right out after baking.
They’re supposed to seem wet while frying. I make salmon croquettes sometimes, and they look wet until they’re almost done. Don’t add the extra cracker next time. :)
Eggs or mayonnaise as a binder. Cracker alone will not hold the cakes together by itself.
No mayo or lemon, don’t used canned crab and use as few bread crumbs as possible. An egg or two, depending on the amount of crab you are using should be enough to bind them. Crab cakes should, always, be about the crab. If you can’t afford blue crab, try making them with king crab legs, no Dungeness, in my opinion, I hate dungeoness crabs, but maybe that’s just me. Don’t use canned crab. They add water and you won’t be able to get it to bind. The canned crab may have been too moist; that’s probably what happened.
I happened to chance upon this the other day, hope it helps (:
My recipe calls for egg, a little mayo, a little lemon juice. Then rolling them in cracker crumbs, but not too many.
So far what I’ve read today, it’s better to use fresh crab, and after you’ve dredged the cakes in the bread crumbs, be careful not to handle the cakes any more than is necessary. Then, when you fry them, only turn each of them one time, until they are browned on one side, then flip them, carefully, only one time. Multiple flipping seems to make them fall apart. Also, don’t crowd the pan, or the cakes will steam in the middle sections where they are touching other cakes, making them more soft, rather than being fried.
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