Jake’s Famous Crawfish Crab Cake

This is your classic West Coast crab cake recipe. We've seen small variations on this from San Diego to Juneau but the Jake's recipe is as old as Portland and is representative of the dish. This crab cake is quick to prepare and a real Pacific Northwest favorite. Pair this with a crisp Pinot Blanc or a floral Viognier and you'll be quite happy.

	1 ½ Lb. Dungeness crab meat
	2 cup coarse bread crumbs or Panko breading
	2 celery stalks, finely minced (1/3 cup)
	1 small onion or less, finely minced (1/3 cup)
	1 small green pepper, finely minced (1/3 cup) [a mix of red and green pepper is nice]
	½ tsp. Tabasco
	1 large egg
	¼ cup mayonnaise
	1 Tbs. lemon juice
	½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
	1/8  tsp. White pepper
	1 Tbs. parsley, finely minced
	Unsalted butter or olive oil to fry the crab cakes in

For the crab cakes:  

1. Drain the crab meat and squeeze out the excess water.  Be sure to check for pieces of shell.

2. Break apart crab meat, combine with one cup of bread crumbs, onion/celery/green pepper mixture, mayonnaise, egg, lemon juice, Tabasco , Worcestershire, pepper and parsley.  Don't over mix. 

3. Form one at a time into 6 balls. You can do this by hand or use an ice cream scoop.  Next, pat each ball in your hand lightly to slightly flatten (about ½ inch thick). 

4. Put bread crumbs or Pakno on a small plate to catch the overflow.  Hold patty in hand and press on the bread crumbs one patty at a time. Only a light coating is needed.

5. After forming and breading we suggest you put the six preformed and breaded patties into a wax paper or parchment paper covered cookie sheet and pop that into the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes to help firm up the mix.  

6. Heat oil in pan.  Take cooled and breaded patty and lower them gently into the hot pan.  Sauté on each side until golden brown (about 3 minutes per side). We suggest you do this in batches.

7. Serve them with tartar sauce, a lemon or ginger aioli or a classic horseradish cocktail sauce on a bed of baby greens or arugula.   This recipe makes 12 patties, six servings of two patties apiece.

Tarter Sauce

Combine all ingredients.  Cover and chill before serving.  Makes about 1 ¼ cup of sauce.

Source: Adapted from Jake's Famous Crawfish recipe by Linda Lausmann

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