The Hawkins Family: Maryland Style Crabcakes

I have a family of seafood lovers. I myself love all seafood, so it's no wonder that my kids do too. We have crabcakes from all over. The east coast, the gulf coast.. We have had good crab cakes and bad cakes. Finally, after a few weeks of debate, I decided to try my hand at them. Unfortunately, I did not have fresh crab meat. That would have made these crabcakes AWESOME! The recipe was fairly easy. You of course could add onion or bell pepper.. but I stuck to the recipe. I was surprised how well these turned out. I did learn a few things in the process... next time I will use less oil and turn it down a little lower. Despite the fact that this recipe will only make 6-7 patties, that was plenty. One per person was very filling. I decided to serve these with my mom's famous hush puppies. Other side ideas would be salad, cole slaw or fries. I have included the recipe to my mom's hush puppies as well.

Maryland Crabcakes:

2- 6 oz cans of lump crab meat (or 1 lb. of FRESH would be even better)

1 egg

2.5 tablespoons mayonnaise

1.5 teaspoons dijon mustard

1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1 teaspoon Old Bay season

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 cup Panko crumbs

Canola oil

Combine all ingredients but crab and panko into bowl. Careful fold in panko and crab, being careful not to break up the crab too much. Pat out mix into 6-8 cakes. Place on a foil lined baking sheet and cover. Refrigerate cakes for at least one hour before cooking. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Fry each cake for 2-3 mins per side or until golden and crispy.

Hush Puppies:

1 cup self-rising flour

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup self-rising corn meal

1-2 eggs

chopped onions

1 Tablespoon Oil

Salt

Mix all the ingredients well. Drop by spoonfuls into deep fryer at 350 degrees. Fry 2-3 mins or until floating and golden brown.