Photo: Matt Taylor-Gross • Food Styling: Jessie YuChen
These squat patties, which won gold at the 30th annual Seafood & Sips crab cake cook-off, have lots of surface area for crisping in the skillet. Dungeness crabs are about 25 percent meat by weight, so source two 2-pounders for this recipe, or substitute picked crabmeat. If your local fishmonger doesn’t have any in stock, order online from Pike Place Fish Market or Giovanni’s Fish Market. Lynn Derrick, manager of Rhody’s Garden Café at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, and Janelle Weaver, chef at The Bewildered Pig, make their own blue cheese dressing using Point Reyes Blue Cheese. In a pinch, a good bottled dressing will do. —Betsy Andrews
Featured in “Crab Cake Cook-Off” by Betsy Andrews (Fall/Winter 2024).
Yield: 14 crab cakes Cook Time: 3 hours 29 minutes Ingredients 2 celery stalks, finely chopped Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper ⅓ cup finely chopped shallots 1 serrano chile, finely chopped 1 Tbsp. finely grated lemon zest 3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice, divided 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided, plus more for frying 8 oz. oyster or button mushrooms, trimmed and coarsely chopped 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped ¾ cup mayonnaise 2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning, divided 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard ½ tsp. mustard powder
