ST and I ate delicious steamed crab everyday during our trip to Ocean City. Then, we came home and ate more crab at my parents’ home. Then, they sent us home with a half dozen, steamed to perfection with Old Bay. Unfortunately, we were tired of eating steamed crab! First world problems.

Anyway, I couldn’t bear to let the crab go to waste so we made crab cakes.

I love crab cakes, but I don’t remember ever having a good crab cake at a restaurant. They’re usually very dry, lack sufficient crab, or are bland. Not only that, they are heavily laden with carbs and very fattening. Most recipes contain butter, crushed crackers, and mayonnaise. On top of that, these artery cloggers are fried.

So, after sifting through a few recipes that pay homage to my ultimate diabetic role model, Paula Deen, I adapted this recipe.

Ingredients

• Crab meat from a half dozen steamed crab
• Three teaspoons spicy brown mustard
• One egg, mixed
• Two stalks of scallions, chopped
• ½ cup of pork rind crumbs, seasoned with garlic salt, paprika, and parsley
• Paprika, garlic salt, parsley, salt, and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 400 F.
2. Crack an egg into a mixing bowl and mix. Add Worcestershire sauce and mustard. Mix and set aside.
3. Wash and chop scallions. Add to the egg mixture.
4. Extract crab meat from crab (we included claw meat) and dump in a bowl.
5. Add crab meat to the egg mixture.
6. Add pork rind crumbs to the mixture. Reserve a small amount to coat the outside of the crab cakes.
7. Mix thoroughly with your hands and form into six lumps. They can be any size, according to your preference. Coat each cake with some pork rind crumbs. Make sure each one is roughly the same size so they all finish baking at the same time.
8. Place onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
9. Bake for 12 minutes and then turn over carefully. Pork rind crumbs are soft and take a bit longer turn golden brown.
10. Bake for about 8 more minutes. Serve and enjoy.

Detailed Instructions/Notes

Many recipes called for crushed crackers but I used pork rind crumbs instead. What are pork rind crumbs, you ask? Why, they’re magic. Basically, dump pork rinds (which are naturally carb free) into a food processor, season, and you get this:

A carb-free breadcrumb-like product that you can use in lieu of breadcrumbs. I told you it was magic. I actually prefer them over bread crumbs.

My mother is an experienced chef. She makes a delicious fried crab and egg dish that is hard to beat. She taught me how to extract crab meat.

Hello, friends.

Grasp the one side of the shell and pull. It should come off easily.

You’ve exposed the gills and visceral organs. Remove them. You can probably eat them but my mom told me not to, so I don’t.

Flip the crab over and, using a knife, lift the abdomen. This also contains the crab’s anus. Yummy.

Insert your knife into the middle of the carapace, which is the only soft spot.

Slice in half. Squeeze one half at a time to tear apart and pull out the succulent meat within.

Mmmm.

I love that ST helps me cook without even being asked. He casually took out a second cutting board and got to work crushing crab claws.

No yucky fillers in this guy. It’s all meat.

Unlike the cauliflower debacle, these turned out AWESOME! They were flavorful, moist, and I honestly felt like I was eating something full-fat and carb-loaded.

Side note:I recently discovered that the key to not getting anything stuck to your baking sheet, ever, is parchment paper! Ah, the best solutions are always the most elegant.

My husband really liked them. He ate five.

You can also add Old Bay seasoning instead of the spices that I listed. However, we didn’t have any and the crab was already cooked in copious amounts of it.

Triumph at last.