GCC: Maryland Crabcake Sliders with Yum-Yum Sauce

One thing we love to both order out and make at home is crab cakes. Crab cakes are one of those restaurant dishes that we often judge a restaurant by. We've had some great ones and we've had some horrible versions. 

To be on the great list we need them to be full of dungeness crab, not full of filler and with good flavor and a little crunch from veggies is also helpful.

This week when Steph from Orangespoken challenged us to make Maryland Crab Cakes for  our Gutsy Cooks Club assignment we were happy to indulge yet again.

We decided to change it up just a bit. First, by omitting Old Bay seasoning. Just plain don't like it. 

Second, adding chopped red pepper and red onion and subbing cilantro for the parsley. When G makes them he always uses red pepper, red onion and cilantro and I love them like that. 

Third, we decided we would make them into sliders with some Yum-Yum sauce and Sriracha slaw.

Having crab cake sliders were a first for us. 

Overall, they were fine but to be honest the Hawaiian buns we served them on were a bit sweet and with the richness of the crab cake it was just a bit too sweet and rich together.

But we gave it a try, we'll most definitely go back to making them sans bun as we usually do.

RECIPE:

Maryland Crab Cakes (adapted from Once Upon a Chef)
Ingredients

1 large egg
2½ tablespoons mayonnaise
1½ teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Johnny's seasoning
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup finely diced celery 

1/4 cup finely diced red pepper

1/4 cup finely diced red onion

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 pound lump crab meat*
½ cup panko
Canola oil

Directions

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Combine the egg, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire, Johnny's, salt, celery, red pepper, red onion, and cilantro in a large bowl and mix well. Add the crab meat (be sure to check the meat for any hard and sharp cartilage) and panko; gently fold mixture together until just combined, being careful not to shred the crab meat. Shape into 6 crab cakes (about ½ cup each) and place on prepared baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

3. Preheat a large nonstick pan to medium heat and coat with canola oil. When oil is hot, place crab cakes in pan and cook until golden brown, about 3-5 minutes per side. 

Sriracha Slaw

2 Tblspns sriracha

2 Tblspns chopped cilantro

2 Tblspns cider vinegar

1/2 cup mayo

1/2 tspn sea sal

2 cups packaged slaw mix

Directions:

Mix together sriracha, cilantro, vinegar and mayo until well mixed. Add dressing mixture to slaw mix and add salt. Cover with saran wrap and place in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Yum-Yum Sauce

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 3/4 teaspoon paprika
• 3/8 teaspoon garlic powder

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, white sugar, rice vinegar, melted butter, paprika and garlic powder.
2. Mix well.
3. Cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.