Ruth Reichl’s amazing crab cake recipe.

I made crab cakes using this recipe a couple of weeks ago and this is, without a doubt, one of the best crab cake recipes I have ever tried.

Ingredients
1 lb lump crabmeat
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp prepared tartar sauce
2 slices firm white sandwich bread torn into small pieces
6 Tbsp fresh bread crumbs

Directions

Pick over the crabmeat to remove any bits of shell and cartilage, being careful not to break up the lumps of crab.

Cook the onion and 1/2 of the teaspoon of salt in 1 Tbsp of butter in a small skillet, over medium high heat, until the onion is softened. Let it cool.

Whisk together the eggs, Worcestershire sauce, remaining salt, paprika, pepper, tartar sauce, and onion mixture. Gently fold in the crabmeat and torn bread. Note that the mixture will be very wet. Gently form the mixture into six cakes, each about 3 1/2 inches across and 3/4 inches thick. Line a tray with a piece of wax paper just large enough to hold the cakes and sprinkle it with half of the bread crumbs. Set the crab cakes in one layer on the top of the paper and sprinkle with the remaining bread crumbs. Cover the crab cakes loosely with another sheet of wax paper and chill for one hour.

Melt the remaning 3 Tbsp of butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat until the foam subsides. Cook the crab cakes until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side.

Makes 6 crab cakes.