When making crab cakes, don’t underestimate the power of mustard
For Marylanders, digging up a batch of freshly caught blue crabs coated in Old Bay seasoning is nothing short of a spiritual experience. There’s never a shortage of crab meat from the Chesapeake Bay, so it’s only natural that Maryland crab cakes have become a popular delicacy. According to Mashed recipe developer Erin Johnson, who grew up in the area and is familiar with the legendary recipe, making crab cakes at home is a deliciously simple task. The only tricky part may be finding reasonably priced lump crab meat, but the other ingredients are easily accessible. As with all simple recipes, each ingredient is important and one of the most essential might surprise you. Make sure you don’t omit the mustard, as it gives the crab cakes a nice spicy kick that complements the other sweet and briny flavors nicely.
In his crab cake recipe, Johnson combines the sweetness of mayonnaise with the savory Worcestershire sauce and enhances those flavors with the tang of mustard. While some recipes call for yellow mustard, Dijon has a distinct flavor intensity that brings more complexity to every bite. Yellow mustard is vinegar-based and has a mild taste compared to Dijon mustard, which is made with a mixture of white wine and vinegar. This adds depth to the crab cakes and its tangy, tangy taste pairs well with the creamy mayonnaise. The mustard in these homemade crab cakes also comes in handy when it’s time to season the mixture with Old Bay.
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Mustard acts as a binder to hold spices together
When it comes to cooking things like pork shoulder, brisket or ham, rubbing the meat crust with mustard is a great way to bind the spices to the surface; the mustard sticks to the meat, keeping it tender and flavorful while cooking. Mustard works the same way in crab cake recipes. When you mix it with the mayonnaise and egg, which are also great binders, you create an emulsion that the Old Bay seasoning will combine easily with when mixed with the crab meat. “The simplest mistake,” says Erin Johnson, “is overmixing or roughly mixing the crab meat in order to break up the meat pieces.” It’s important to get the mustard and other ingredients into every nook and cranny, as long as you’re gentle enough with it to preserve the texture.
Once all the ingredients are combined, the crab cake mixture is made into patties and fried in butter until golden brown. From the first bite, you’ll understand why Dijon mustard is such an important element in the recipe. Classic Maryland crab cakes combine several different mouth-watering tastes, each balancing to form the perfect result. If you choose to make a large batch, Johnson says it’s perfectly OK to freeze them as uncooked patties to quickly fry whenever hunger strikes.
Read the original article on Mashed.
