Dungeness Crab Cakes

Serve these as an appetizer or alongside scalloped potatoes or potato puree and a mound of fresh watercress for a main course.

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh Dungeness crab meat (see Note below)
1 egg, beaten
2 T mayonnaise
1 T minced fresh Italian parsley
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon pimenton dulce or piment d’esplette, optional
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup toasted bread crumbs

clarified butter, for frying

lemon wedges

Preparing the crab cakes:
Put the crab meat into a medium bowl. Add the egg, mayonnaise, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, ginger, pimenton dulce or piment d’esplette, if using, salt and several generous turns of black pepper and toss gently with two forks.

Add the bread crumbs and toss again, until the bread crumbs are moist. It is essential that you not over mix; there should be plenty of chunks of crab. Taste and correct for salt, if necessary.

To cook the crab cakes, melt a generous 2 tablespoons of clarified butter in a heavy saute pan. Divide the crab mixture into 8 portions. When the oil is hot, press 1 portion into a ball and set it in the butter. Use a metal spatula to gently press it into a flat cake about ½ inch thick.

Add as many portions as the pan can comfortably hold.

Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, turn and cook 3 to 4 minutes more, until golden brown. Transfer the cooked crab cakes to absorbent paper and continue until all crab cakes have been cooked, adding more clarified butter as needed.

Set onto individual plates, garnish with lemon wedges and serve immediately.

Serves 4

Note: Two medium or 1 large crab should yield about a pound of meat. It is best to make the cakes using body meat; reserve the claw meat for another use, such as crab salad.