My dad has a certain number of stories that he tells quite often, but they never get old--at least not to me. There are stories from his youth when he thought he was invincible, stories from his crazy teenage years, stories about people he's met along the way, and funny memories that he shares with us on occasion. One of the stories I have heard over and over again is how he discovered that Mom loved crab legs.
During a trip to Williamsburg, VA for a convention for fire fighters (Dad was a volunteer) they, along with another couple, went to a seafood restaurant that had an all-you-can-eat seafood feast. Dad could definitely get his money's worth at this type of event, but Mom...she eats like a mouse. I guess Dad thought he'd eat enough for the two of them...until Mom found the steamed crab legs, and that was all she wrote.
Trip after trip, mom returned to the table with piles of crab legs, and she slowly devoured them...not leaving a piece of meat attached to the tiniest shell. They had been married for well-over a decade at this point, and Dad had never seen Mom eat so much and for such a long period of time. Mom still swears that she could have eaten more that night, but she stopped herself because everyone had stopped eating much earlier. They were all marveling at how much she had eaten.
To this day, if we go to a restaurant and crab is on the menu, Mom orders it. She's still trying to find a crab cake that rivals Sweetwater Tavern's (basically, lumps of crab meat on a plate). Some of the best crab cakes I recall are Uncle Jim's. Mom's extended family is from Maryland, and Uncle Jim always brings fresh crab meat when he comes to town and makes softball-size crab balls.
And whenever there's a reason (well, really, there need not be a reason), Mom will come home with 5 - 6 pounds of crab legs...half for her, and we get to fight over the rest. Actually, I have a sneaking suspicion that whenever Dad is not in town or working late, she gets crab legs and eats them in peace without having to hoard them from us...and then she hides the evidence so we never know. Just a guess, but it's probably an accurate one.
I tried to make these crab cakes using some pointers from Uncle Jim's last tutorial. Corn was added, because I thought it would be a nice summer-y addition (okay, yes, I used frozen, but it was a last-minute addition). Added bonus, these are gluten free!
1 lb crab meat (I think it was roughly a pound maybe a bit more...Mom picked for a while)
1/4 cup corn, cooked (fresh or frozen)
2 T corn meal, plus more for dredging (I don't like much filler)
3 T mayonnaise
1 T Dijon mustard (this variety also had horseradish in it)
Old Bay or other seafood seasoning, to taste
cayenne pepper, to taste
2 T fresh herbs, chopped (parsley and chives used but not photographed)
1 egg, beaten (also camera shy)
Lightly toss crab, corn, cornmeal, mayonnaise, mustard, seasonings, and herbs. Be very careful when you toss the meat with the other ingredients, because you want to leave as many lumps of meat as possible. Finally, toss in the beaten egg.
Now, make patties of the crab mixture and dredge both sides in a shallow bowl of corn meal. This helps bind it a little more, and adds a little crispiness when you sear it.
Heat some oil over medium-high heat. Add crab cakes in batches; you don't want to overcrowd.
Once the bottom has browned a bit, flip and brown the top.
Top with the spicy aioli (a dash (or two--depending on your tolerance for heat) of sriracha per two tablespoons of mayonnaise). The heat from the cayenne and sriracha is countered perfectly with the freshness from the herbs and sweet corn.
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