Maryland Crab Cakes

Ingredients

• 450 g jumbo lump crab meat, picked over
• 1 large egg
• 3 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 25 g saltine crackers, crushed to fine crumbs
• 20 g butter, melted
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• Salt and black pepper

Before you cook

• Pick through the crab meat with your fingers and remove any fragments of shell, keeping the lumps intact.
• Crush the crackers into fine crumbs in a bag with a rolling pin.
• Line a baking tray with parchment.

Steps

1. Whisk the egg, mayonnaise, Dijon, Worcestershire sauce, Old Bay and lemon juice together in a large bowl.
2. Stir the parsley and cracker crumbs into the dressing.
3. Add the crab meat and fold it in with a rubber spatula using no more than eight turns, so the lumps survive.
4. Season with a small pinch of salt and a grind of pepper.
5. Shape the mixture into four fat cakes about 8 cm across and set them on the lined tray.
6. Chill the cakes in the fridge for 30 minutes so they firm up.
7. Heat the grill to high.
8. Brush the tops of the cakes with the melted butter.
9. Grill the cakes 15 cm from the element for 8 minutes, until deep golden on top and hot through.
10. Rest them on the tray for 2 minutes, then lift them off with a fish slice.
11. Serve with lemon wedges.