Mill Creek Crab Cakes

Author Notes

Like a lot of kids who grew up around the Chesapeake Bay, my siblings and I used to catch crabs in the creek near our house, scooping them up with a net as they fed on barnacle-encrusted pilings. For me, there’s no better treat than blue crabs -- steamed, soft-shell, or in the crab cakes my mom makes. Like her, I’m a minimalist when it comes to these babies (and pretty much everything else..), using as few ingredients as possible to let the crabmeat shine. This is what I cook for friends when I can get my hands on Maryland crab, which sadly isn’t often enough, or just for me and my husband when we’re homesick for the bay. Ideally, you'd serve these with sliced homegrown tomatoes, Silver Queen corn-on-the-cob, and ice-cold Natty Bo. - Midge —Midge

Test Kitchen Notes

Midge describes her approach to these crisp beauties as "minimalist." In terms of ingredients, she's absolutely right. Their richness lies in their link to growing up near the spectacular Chesapeake Bay, and summer days spent catching crabs which her mother would turn into these cakes. Being geographically closer to the Left Coast, I used Dungeness Crab. Sweet crab, crisp crust, tart lemon, perfection! I ate a few of them just as is, right out of the pan, with a generous squeeze of lemon, and just for fun, stuffed a few more into a good bun along with some curls of red onion, then slathered on my sister's famous tartar sauce. It was right up there among the best dinners ever. These cakes are as perfect as a sweet, sunny, summer afternoon. - boulangere —boulangere