Rosie's Saturday - Part 3.

Good Neighbor Bobby brought us a couple dozen crabs last night, probably the last crabs of the season.

We cooked them last night and this morning Mr. Hawthorne and I set to pickin'.

And pickin'. We probably got close to 1 1/2 pounds of crab meat.

Finely chopped red and green peppers from the garden go in.

Then some Old Bay Seasoning.

Mr. Hawthorne toasted a slice of whole wheat bread and sliced it into crumbles.

Next, he beat one jumbo egg and added maybe a teaspoon of yellow mustard.

Added maybe a teaspoon of Lea & Perrins.

Then he added the bread crumbs into the egg mixture.

The egg, L&P, mustard, and bread crumb mixture goes into the crab meat.

Just a little bit of panko bread crumbs goes in.

Two scoops of mayo.

He finally mixed it all up by hand. Don't work the meat too much. You want to have nice chunks of crab meat. After mixing everything, he refrigerated it for about 30 minutes before forming the cakes.

Next, he made a ball of the crabmeat and rolled it in the panko.

And pressed into a biscuit cutter.

And there you have a perfect crab cake.

First, he sprinkled panko on the wax paper.

Then the panko-crusted mound of crab meat went in.

We ended up with 8 cakes.

They were slightly over 1-inch thick and maybe 3 1/2 inches in diameter. You can see the nice chunks of crab meat.

He individually wrapped each cake, put them into a freezer bag, and then popped them into the freezer for consumption at a later time. And only special people are invited to eat our crab cakes. The price of a pound of crab meat here at the ocean varies from what part of the crab the meat is from, plus the prices fluctuate 10-20% throughout the year depending on availability. Although crab meat is still expensive here, we on the Outer Banks probably enjoy better prices than elsewhere, since the blue crab is big industry here. The least expensive crab meat is claw, which runs about $9-$12/pound. Backfin is next, running about $15-17/pound. Lump crab meat runs about $23/pound, and jumbo lump, which comes from the last backfins, is upward of $28/pound. Now, if you go to a restaurant here for crab cakes, watch out. Our crab cakes are mostly crab. Theirs are mostly filler. As for prices, I'm looking at a menu now from a new restaurant on the beach. On the lunch menu, a "JUMBO LUMP CRAB CAKE sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and lemon herb aioli" is listed for $14.00. Now, remember, the crab cake isn't jumbo. Jumbo lump crab meat refers to where the meat comes from. One crab cake for $14.00. And I can pretty much guarantee you the crab cake isn't 1-inch thick or 3 1/2 inches in diameter. On the dinner menu, "JUMBO LUMP CRAB CAKES, seasonal ingredients, Every night something delicious" is listed for $32.00. So those 8 crab cakes would run you about $128 at a restaurant for poor imitations thereof.

But you know the best part about this crabmeat? It was FREE! Thanks, Bobby.

Ooh Boy - Crabs!

Remember my good neighbor, Bob, who brought me crabs a while back (and the same one who brought me the spaghetti sauce from the fireman's dinner)? Well, he went out to check his pots yesterday and brought me back this lovely catch.






Err ... PreviouslyAmish, if you happen to be reading this, you might want to stop just about now. I am aware of your crabaphobia and just want to protect your delicate sensibilities.

Here, Mr. Hawthorne is pulling the backs off the cooked crabs. He'll pick out the meat later.











Mr. Hawthorne has started picking the crabs - a tedious, boring, thankless procedure - but necessary. No wonder they get $20 +/pound for this stuff. I just know he's going to call me over any minute now to help and I LOATHE picking crabs.

RATS!! He just called me to help him.

My, my, my. Here we are about an hour and two glasses of wine later. He had a lovely Concannon Chardonnay. I had a Forest Ville 2005 Merlot. I won't begin to describe these wines, because most wine descriptions I read on a restaurant's wine list sound like somebody's pretentious-ass resume. I'll just say his was white and mine was red.

We had between 2 and 3 dozen crabs
and got well over a pound of meat.

Mr. H. has minced some shallots, some celery, and some green pepper
from my garden.

Now, Mr. H. dumped the crabmeat INto the bowl with the shallots, celery, and pepper, and has added 1 beaten egg, some mayonnaise, some Grey Poupon Dijon, a bit of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce, some Old Bay Seasoning, some softened butter, and some panko breadcrumbs.

Mr. Hawthorne buttered his hands first, then formed crabbie patties. He then rolled the patties in seasoned Italian breadcrumbs. Me? I would have used crushed Ritz and Saltines instead.

Coming up is Mr. Hawthorne's little trick. I know you're gonna think he's the smartest thing on the block
when you see this.

Mr. Hawthorne squishes the crabmeat mixture INto biscuit cutters for a perfect shape! Is he a keeper or what? Step back ladies, he's all mine.

Next he popped the crabcakes INto the freezer for a quick chill.







Mr. Hawthorne is sauteeing the crabcakes in a combo of butter and olive oil.
Screw that EVOO!

Oh, YUM. Here's the plated meal. I have accompanied the crabcakes with tartar sauce, ketchup/horseradish sauce, hot chili sauce, lemon slices and sliced green onions.

I just bit INto this. It is heaven.