Emily Meggett’s Crab Cakes

Name: Emily Meggett’s Crab Cakes
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: About 12 large crab cakes
Ingredients: 10 slices soft white or whole-wheat bread; 1/2 cup/115 grams unsalted butter; 1 large onion, grated; 1/4 cup/30 grams self-rising flour (see Tip); 1 1/2 cups/355 milliliters whole or 2-percent milk; 2 large eggs, beaten; 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice; 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar; 1/4 teaspoon ground mace; 2 pounds/907 grams lump crab meat, drained if needed; 1/2 cup/120 milliliters vegetable oil, plus more as needed

Recipe from Emily Meggett

Adapted by Kim Severson

Updated Oct. 16, 2023

Emily Meggett’s Crab Cakes — Chris Simpson for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Frances Boswell.

Total Time: 1½ hours
Rating: 4(869)
Comments: Read comments

Mace, nutmeg’s peppery sister, is what makes the difference in these crab cakes. The recipe, adapted from “Gullah Geechee Home Cooking: Recipes From the Matriarch of Edisto Island,” comes from Emily Meggett, one of the most well-respected cooks in the Gullah Geechee community, whose food traditions are built largely on the crabs, shrimp and fish they pull from the water near their homes along the southeastern shoreline. She has made thousands of these using freshly cooked blue crabs, but meat that has already been picked and processed works as well. Be sparing with the bread crumbs, which should just hold the mixture together, then add more if the cakes are falling apart. Make sure the pan is very hot, then reduce the heat the minute they hit the oil. Keep a close eye while they brown. These are lovely bites to start a meal, or can star as supper, alongside rice and fresh vegetables. Ms. Meggett serves them with what she calls pink sauce, which is similar to this sauce, with the addition of grated onion and lemon. —Kim Severson

Featured in: A Cook Who Never Used a Cookbook Now Has Her Own

or to save this recipe.
Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
Subscribe
Share
Print Options
Include recipe photo

Ingredients

Yield:About 12 large crab cakes

10slices soft white or whole-wheat bread
½cup/115 grams unsalted butter
1large onion, grated
¼cup/30 grams self-rising flour (see Tip)
1½cups/355 milliliters whole or 2-percent milk
2large eggs, beaten
1teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1teaspoon distilled white vinegar
¼teaspoon ground mace
2pounds/907 grams lump crab meat, drained if needed
½cup/120 milliliters vegetable oil, plus more as needed

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Preparation

Step 1
Heat the broiler to 500 degrees (or its highest setting). On your oven’s highest rack, broil all the bread slices on a baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden and crisp but not burned. Flip all the slices over and broil for another 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the broiler off and allow the bread to crisp in the oven until totally dry, 15 to 20 minutes.
Step 2
Remove the bread from the oven and let cool. Using a box grater or rolling pin, coarsely grate and crush the bread slices into bread crumbs (or, pulse them in a food processor). The crumbs should look and feel like sand; you should get about 4 cups. Set the bread crumbs aside.
Step 3
In a large cast-iron skillet, melt the butter over high heat. Once the butter is melted, add the onion and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes.
Step 4
Pour the butter and onion into a large bowl. Whisk the flour into the melted butter and onion, then slowly whisk in the milk to make a creamy sauce. Once the sauce is smooth, whisk in the eggs, lemon juice, vinegar and mace.
Step 5
Add the crab meat to the cream sauce and mix lightly with a fork; don’t break up the pieces of crab meat. Gently fold in just enough of the bread crumbs so that the mixture holds together (about 2½ cups). Divide the crab mixture into 12 equal portions, setting them on a baking sheet as you go. They should be thick rounds — about the size of the palm of your hand, and roughly 1½ inches thick.
Step 6
Using your hand, take a scoop of the toasted bread crumbs and coat each crab cake.
Step 7
Wipe out the skillet and heat the oil over high. Once the oil is hot, place a few of the crab cakes in the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, or until browned and cooked through. Place the cooked crab cakes on a paper towel to drain. Working in batches, cook the remaining crab cakes, adding more oil as needed.
Step 8
Serve crab cakes immediately, or set aside in a warm oven (see Tip) while you cook the remaining crab cakes.

Tips

If you don’t have self-rising flour, substitute ¼ cup all-purpose flour mixed with ¼ teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of salt.
To keep the crab cakes warm after cooking, heat the oven to 175 degrees (the warm setting). Place the crab cakes on a large baking sheet lined with a piece of foil and place them in the oven. At this temperature, the oven will keep them warm without drying them out.

Ratings

4 out of 5

869 user ratings

Have you cooked this?

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Comments

Jacqueline3 years ago

In Maryland, FAMOUS for crabcakes, we gently mix 1 lb jumbo lump crab meat, 1 egg, 1/3 cup mayo, 1 tea each worcesteshire sauce & dried mustard, 5 crushed saltines. Form into patties and either broil or pan fry. The best!!! Will try Emily's.

Harriet3 years ago

I LOVE crab cakes. I really want to cook these, but with every crab cake recipe I've tried (and I've tried many) the cake falls apart when you try to flip it. I've tried chilling it, cooking immediately, different levels of courseness in the bread crumbs. I don't want to keep spending money on lump crab unless I can crack this problem. Any suggestions?

Debbie3 years ago

Wait! I'm from Maryland too. How do you leave out the Old Bay?

Jonathan Lukoff6 months ago

I skipped flour and used panko. still good. I cooked in butter and oil.

Harriette1 year ago

Best crab cake recipe I've come across. I use store bought bread crumbs as it saves a lot of time and mess.

Phyllis Hunter2 years ago

A restaurant trick taught to me by my son, the chef, is to chill the crabcakes uncovered for 90 minutes to all day, to keep them from falling apart. It works great everytime.

Private comments are only visible to you.