Crab Cakes, the real deal

These sweet yet salty crab cakes are every crab lovers dream.  How many times have we gone to a shi-shi restaurant and hopefully ordered crab cakes which should be crunchy and buttery on the  outside, pearly white, sweet but briny on the inside only to be served a couple of heavily doctored, gluey, deep-fried, fish-like patties?  Gosh, I hate it when that happens.  So many restaurants trash seafood, from overcooked tiles of fish or rubbery, heavily breaded fried shrimp to our loved crab.  It was different when we were growing up here in Lauderdale.  As a child, there wasn’t the selection of dining spots we now have available.  Our grandfather, Grandpa, had moved here from Cleveland when our grandmother passed away.  He, too, lived on the water and loved to throw out a dozen or so crab cages.  Every two or three days he’d let me walk down to the canal with him and pull up the cages.  Each cage had small, round floater tied with a piece of monofilament making it easy to haul up the cages and check our catch.  Every crab cage had been baited with either pieces of mullet, their heads, bodies and tails, or raw chicken necks.  I loved everything about it!

After strolling down to the water’s edge I would lie on my stomach on the dock while Grandpa pulled up  the heavy metal cages.  My job was to tell him if we had caught anything.  If we had he’d continue pulling, if not he’d drop the heavy box back down to the muddy depths of the canal.  Most of the time, though, there were sweet, luscious blue crabs.  We’d throw our haul into waiting plastic buckets, always being careful not to get pinched, then walk back to his apartment where Grandpa would spend the rest of the morning picking the crabs.  I wasn’t allowed because I guess my parents thought I’d cut myself with a knife…and I probably would have.  The waters were clear back then and the meat that came out of those crabs was the sweetest I’ve ever had.  Grandpa made a gorgeous crab salad and his bisque was magnificent.

I’m sharing with you my recipe for crab cakes.  I think they’re fabulous and they taste of crab…nothing else.  No crackers, mashed potatoes or breadcrumbs mixed in.  No fillers here.  The Panko crumbs and butter make a light and crispy coating allowing the crab meat to positively shine.  Serve with a homemade remoulade sauce or simply with freshly cut lime wedges but either way I hope you enjoy them!