Next to fresh steamed lobster, you would be hard pressed to find a dish I would rather eat than crab cakes. This recipe is based on some instructions that my dad gave me over the phone once when I asked him how he makes his “perfect” crab cakes. You could take this recipe any way you like, but personally I like it just the way it is—with just a few flavors added to enhance, but not overpower the crab meat.

I realize fresh crab meat is expensive, but served with a simple mayonnaise based sauce, a side salad and maybe a few wedge fries, a single crab cake makes a fairly decadent meal for one person. NOTE: There is no substitute for fresh crab meat. I wouldn’t even bother with this if you can only get it canned.

Dad’s Perfect Crab Cakes

1 lb of fresh lump or back fin crab meat, picked free of shells

1 large egg

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

1 tablespoon roasted red pepper, minced

A few drops of Worcestershire sauce

3 saltine crackers, crushed

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

Pinch of salt

8 saltine crackers, crushed

vegetable oil for pan frying

lemon wedges for garnish

1. In a medium bowl, combine the egg, mayonnaise, dijon mustard, roasted red peppers, Worcestershire sauce, 3 crushed saltine crackers, cayenne, white pepper and salt. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary (I realize it has raw egg in it, but I taste it anyway, egg and all).

2. Put the remaining 8 crushed crackers on a large plate. Place a large biscuit ring on top of the crackers and fill it with 1/6 of the crab meat. Press down gently to form the cake. Remove the ring and sprinkle the top of the crab cake with crumbs to coat. Set each crab cake aside until six cakes have been formed and coated with bread crumbs on both sides. Alternately, if you don’t have a biscuit ring, you could form the cakes by hand (make them smaller for appetizer-size portions).

3. Heat some vegetable oil or other neutral oil in a skillet over medium heat. Unless you have a large skillet you will probably need to cook the cakes three at a time. Cook them until the cracker crumbs are golden brown and the cakes are set. You can keep the first three cakes in a warm oven while you’re cooking the second batch.

4. Serve the crab cakes with lemon wedges and your sauce of mayonnaise based sauce.