I was lucky to live in a crab mecca during college: Annapolis, Md. Fresh blue crab was – and still is – everywhere. You could go to an unpretentious restaurant, sit at a simple table covered with paper, and whack the steamed crabs with a wooden mallet to free up the meaty morsels inside.  Crab cakes were – and still are – another great dish.

Fortunately, we’ve hooked up with a company that specializes in crab: Baltimore-based Phillips Foods. They shared a recipe for chili lime crab cakes with chipotle avocado mayonnaise.

These crab cakes are made with chili garlic paste, among other ingredients. And the avocado mayonnaise gets a dose of dried chipotle chili.

We recently prepared these crab cakes and did a bit of improvising with what we had on hand. For example, we substituted Japanese-style panko bread crumbs for crushed crackers.

We also tweaked the cooking method. Phillips suggests sautéing the cakes in extra virgin olive oil until golden brown on both sides.  We sautéed the cakes until golden brown on one side; we then carefully flipped them and placed our ovenproof nonstick skillet in a hot oven ( around 400 degrees F) to finish the cooking. Either technique should work fine.

Phillips also offers helpful tips for making crab cakes. A key piece of advice: It requires a delicate hand, both when combining the ingredients and when forming the cakes.

“When shaping the crab mixture . . .  be gentle and use your hands to gently press and shape the cakes,” the company notes on its Web site. “One trick is to add the largest lumps of meat last so you don’t break the lumps.”

Bon appétit,

Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch

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