There Are Still Mardi Gras Celebrations This Year and Here’s a Crab Cake Recipe to Get in on the Fat Tuesday Fun!
Mardi Gras has been celebrated in Louisiana longer than the state has been in the Union. My plan this year was to visit there for Mardi Gras and do a little restaurant and bar hopping, particularly Sazarac House on Magazine Street. But as we all know, travel is not the smartest idea during these times.
I love the idea of Mardi Gras and pledged that we would celebrate it on Retta Cooked It every year. This is the second year and here are some of last year’s Mardi Gras recipes you might be interested in trying.
Mardi Gras is celebrated on the last day of Carnival, the day before Ash Wednesday ushering in the season of Lent. Mardi Gras in Louisiana will be celebrated, albeit a little differently this year. There will still be lots to do and the krewes are still putting it down NOLA-style for residents and visitors alike. Folks are encouraged to deck out the outside of their homes to resemble Mardi Gras floats and celebrate “Yardi Gras” to continue to observe the health and safety measures put in place for COVID.
This year as with every Fat Tuesday for the past few centuries, the drinks and food will still flow in abundance without a break in that tradition. With the upcoming season of Lent, what better place is there to load up on rich foods but New Orleans. And, if you are not in NOLA and want to do a little something to give Fat Tuesday some love, here’s a crab cake recipe that pays homage to the annual celebration like no other.
Along with the official drink of New Orleans, the Sazerac, crab cakes are standard fare in Louisiana and are a Mardi Gras favorite. Also as with most southern dishes, there are as many varieties as there are people. As far as Mardi Gras celebrations go, many crabs gave their lives in service to the last day of Carnival!
I’ve researched many crab cake recipes and tried out a few. Each of them seemed to have been missing something. This recipe is a marriage of a few recipes I’ve tried and it might be one of the best crab cakes you’ll ever put in your mouth. These crab cakes have a little bit of everything that makes a crab happy to have sacrificed its life.
Crab Cakes
Ingredients
- 1 lb lump crab, picked for shells
- 2 tbsp Panko bread crumbs
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp spicy mustard
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp green onion
- 2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
- 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
- 4 tbsp butter
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add bread crumbs, egg, mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, parsley, dill, green onion, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper, and Old Bay seasoning ™. Fold in ingredients gently with a wooden spoon or spatula being careful not to break up the lumps of crabmeat. Form into patties; this should make about 5-6 crab cakes.
- Let formed crab cakes rest in the refrigerator for about ½ hour.
- To cook on the stovetop, heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet and fry crab cakes for about 4 minutes each side or until golden brown on both sides.
- A note of personal preference: Although it's perfectly fine to fry these crab cakes, these crab cakes can be baked as well.
- Crab cakes can be baked in a 475 degree oven for 8 – 10 minutes. Place crab cake in a shallow pan that has been sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray. Crab cakes do not need to be turned over.
- Enjoy with a roumalade or tartar sauce.
Looks good and I like the presentation, keep up the good work.
Thank you!