Crab cakes come out spectacular despite my dad’s advice

Calling my father with a cooking question has become a frequent occurrence, and slowly but surely I'm learning when to do exactly as he says and when to trust my own instincts as a cook.

Don’t you just love those days when you’re trying to get all of the little this-and-thats out of your refrigerator and into a meal before it all goes south? Really, you hate that, you say? While I’ll admit that it can be annoying trying to be creative all of the time, most often I welcome the challenge to make a meal out of seemingly unrelated leftovers.

This week, I had some crab meat left over from making Brian Boitano’s crab and avocado crostini this weekend (in a nutshell, disappointing even after I doctored the heck out of it …. I wanted more flavor) and some broccoli florets that needed to be cooked up, pronto. I thought about a pasta, but I have actually never made crab cakes before and I just felt like trying. I didn’t have to share my foibles with you if I bombed, right?

Good news — I didn’t bomb, and there was only one call to my dad for advice on how moist they should be. He told me that the less a crab cake stays together, the higher quality it is. Strange advice, but I interpreted that to mean not too much breading and enough moistness so it’s not dry. The advice I did ignore was to add mayonnaise and that no matter what I did it would taste like shit because I used hoisin sauce and gave it an Asian flair. The dadster, he’s fond of traditional crab cakes. And yes, he really did use the word “shit.”

Everyone who actually tasted them loved them, so Steve Degon’s not always right.

Hoisin Crab Cakes

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Ingredients:

8 ounces crab meat
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
1/4 cup bread crumbs + more to coat
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 egg, beaten

Gently mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Unlike with meatloaf, it’s not unpleasant using your hands for this. Form into 4 crab cakes and refrigerate for a short time until they firm up slightly. Saute over medium heat, about 3-4 minutes on each side or until they are browned and firm.

Variation: coat the crab cakes in breadcrumbs before refrigerating. I did half and half, because my dad said it wasn’t necessary but I couldn’t help thinking it would be crunchy goodness. The verdict? We liked the breading on the outside and that’s how we’d make them all the next time.

I served these with some stir-fried veggies: broccoli, red pepper, onion and a can of baby corn that the five-year-old convinced me to buy this week at the super market. Sometimes, he just knows….

After browning the vegetables, I deglazed the wok with white wine (maybe a 1/2 cup or so) and added hoisin sauce and tamari, one turn of the pan each, to the mix. After heating through, they made the perfect accompaniment to the crab cakes, and I got to use up my leftover broccoli.

The moral of the story is to listen to your dad’s advice … and your gut instinct. The combination of the two will make the perfect dish for your tastes.