- Hey, I'm John Kanell, and
today on "Preppy Kitchen" we're making some easy,
delicious crab cakes. So let's get started. First off, I want about two
tablespoons of fresh parsley. I'm gonna give this a nice chop. But I wanna tell you something
about these crab cakes. They're one of the easiest
recipes you're gonna make, and there are so many chances
for you to add extras into it. So, I have my base recipe and I'm gonna add some
optional ingredients throughout this day, starting with some herbs from my garden. I have some fresh chives and tarragon. Smell amazing. So, I'm gonna add in a couple
tablespoons of that too. Parsley has a wonderful vegetable taste but it's quite subtle in my opinion. So I like to amp it up with
some tarragon, some chives, and other things for a
little bit more bite. (knife chopping) Speaking of crabby patties, Lachlan saw "SpongeBob
SquarePants" for the first time and he thought it was
underwater Swiss cheese. He's like, I wanna watch
the underwater cheese show, which I thought was hilarious. Okay. (knife chopping) This is definitely more than
two tablespoons of fresh herbs, but like garlic, you should
measure herbs with your heart. Set that aside. And another optional
ingredient I'm adding today is a little bit of red onion. I'm gonna give this a mince,
just really finely chop it, and it'll add a little bit of bite which compliments all
the flavors really well. I want about a quarter cup of this. (knife chopping) That looks nice. We're gonna get all these
ingredients into a bowl now and this recipe is significantly over. That was all the prep. It's now just mixing and forming. It's so easy it should be a crime. By the way, if you haven't subscribed, hit that Subscribe button. I publish two new videos a week and there is always a delicious
recipe on the horizon. Grab a big bowl and
we're gonna get to work. (bowl clattering) I'm gonna add half a cup of mayonnaise. This is the delicious glue
that'll hold things together. A good tablespoon of a nice Dijon mustard. This is gonna add some
bite and a little acidity. It feels so wrong to use any
kind of measuring implement for Worcestershire sauce,
but here I am doing it. One and a half teaspoons, one and two. One teaspoon of a
comically large hot sauce. Oh. I like it spicy. Okay, a quarter teaspoon of salt. One lemon, we're gonna zest this up. This is a one teaspoon of zest situation, which means a lot of lemon zest. Okay, I mean that's more than
a teaspoon, but I don't care. I can't help myself. A teaspoon of lemon juice. A quarter teaspoon of black pepper. (pepper grinding) One egg. The egg and the mayo are the glue that'll hold things together. They work hand in hand. And now a fist full of
herbs, or two tablespoons. And I'm gonna use a quarter
cup of my minced red onion. Remember, this is optional,
but I just really like it. And it's my recipe and my kitchen, so I'm gonna do what I want. Grab a whisk and let's mix it up. (upbeat music) (whisk clanging) This is delicious, but they
are crab cakes after all. So one pound of lump
crab meat goes right in. If you bought crabs and cracked 'em open and got the meat out, I'm so
proud of you for doing that. I just bought the lump crab meat. (chuckling) I'm gonna break some of this up right now 'cause it's a little bit stuck together. Into this mixture, I'm also adding half a
cup of Panko breadcrumbs. This will fill it out and just
bring it together a bit more. Use a spatula and gently
fold things together. Don't go crazy, you're just
distributing the crab meat and making sure it's nicely
coated with the sauce. Okay, I'm gonna set this aside, grab a lined baking sheet,
and start shaping things up. By the way, these are chive flowers and they're beautiful and delicious. It's time to scoop, so we're gonna get about
half a cup per patty. This is a close scoop, I tell you. Use your hands to form it up. It should be about three inches per. So shape it into a beautiful
crab patty, crabby patty. And we're gonna place
this on the baking sheet. Just repeat for the remaining mixture. When you shape your patties, you're just pressing together a little bit so they won't fall apart when they bake. And you're forming the sides
too, so you could form them into a ball and then press down gently. Just like that. (upbeat music) We didn't over mix this batter. So now we have lots of big pieces of crab showing
through, which is nice. I'm gonna cover these right now. And refrigerate for at least
20 minutes up to six hours. The chill time allows
the crab cakes to set up. Those Panko crumbs are
gonna absorb moisture and they'll hold together
nicely during the browning. If you don't do this step, they can fall apart and
it's not satisfying. And if you wanted to,
you could freeze these, pop this whole thing into the freezer, and let it set up for about two hours. Then transfer to a freezer
safe bag or a container. They're gonna last for a month. Then when you're ready to use them, defrost in the refrigerator overnight and then cook 'em off just
like you normally would. Into the fridge. So I hope you see how easy it is to make this crab cake mixture. You can add in all of your favorites, not use the things that you want. For example, if you love capers, add a few tablespoons of capers in. I love them, but other people
will not come near them so I didn't use them today. I love crab cakes so much. I even have a totally
different crab cake recipe in the book. Crab Cake Latkes with a Garlic Caper Aioli in the winter chapter of my book. So if you have that, crack it
open and try those out too. (upbeat music) My crab cakes have
chilled and come together. It's time to grab a big
pan of your choosing and a tablespoon of oil and get to work. Place the pan over medium heat and get that oil nice and hot. Once your oil's dancing in the pan, we're gonna cook our crab
cakes in batches of three. So grab a spatula, plop those on. (pan sizzling) I love using a big cast iron pan 'cause it really holds
the heat and radiates it. But it could get pretty hot so feel free to go down to medium low if you think it's getting
to that smokey point. Plop those on. These crab cakes just
need like three minutes of cook time per side. You can give them a peak two
to two and a half minutes in just to see if they're nice and golden. Maybe your pan got really hot and you don't want them to burn. Then we'll flip them over carefully. The goal is to maintain the
integrity of the crab cake without having something that's
dense and pressed together. It should have a nice light
texture on the inside. It'd be a delicious vehicle
for a wonderful tartar sauce. (smooching) Tartar sauce, the best. If you're wondering, when
would I ever have crab cakes? When wouldn't you have crab cakes? I'd have these almost any time of day. Perfect for a lunch or brunch
with a wonderful salad. They're great for dinner as an appetizer, or you can make it a main
course by tossing in some sides. And let me tell you, for breakfast, I would have, I keep
calling 'em crabby patties. I would have a crab
cake with a poached egg and some Hollandaise sauce,
maybe some wilted spinach. Oh my gosh, so good. It's probably been about three minutes. Let's give it a test. (pan sizzling) Perfectly golden. (pan sizzling) Very nice. (pan sizzling) Take a little peek. That looks nice and golden. So I'm gonna remove these to a clean baking sheet
or any kind of plate and cook them in batches. Once they're all cooked, grab that tartar sauce
and you're ready to enjoy. I'll be having my crab
cake with a big dollop of tartar sauce and a nice
squeeze of fresh lemon juice. (upbeat music) Mm, that is so light and refreshing, full of that wonderful crab flavor with the herbs, the onion, the Dijon. Everything's coming
together and it's delicious. I hope you get a chance
to make this recipe. And if you like this video,
check out my seafood playlist. (upbeat music) (film reel beeping) Hey, I'm John Kanell, and
today on "Preppy Kitchen", we're making some delicious,
easy crabby patties. No. (production laughing) Sorry.
