Maryland Crab Cakes

INGREDIENTS:

• 1½ sticks butter
• 2 T. flour
• 1 T. dry mustard
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
• ⅛ tsp. cayenne pepper
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 c. half-and-half
• 2 beaten eggs
• ¼ c. chopped parsley
• 1 c. fresh bread crumbs
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 1 lb. lump crab
• 1 c. dried bread crumbs

Recipe serves 8.

Melt butter in a large skillet. Add flour and cook 2 minutes. Add mustard, Worcestershire, Old Bay, cayenne pepper, and salt. Add half-and-half. Stir until thickened.

Remove from heat and stir in beaten eggs. Add parsley, bread crumbs, and lemon juice. Mix. Carefully stir in crab. Form into 8 crab cakes; dust both sides with bread crumbs.

Refrigerate before cooking. Broil or sauté in butter until lightly browned.

Recipe note: These crab cakes are very moist.

Vicki Barrett is the innkeeper and owner of the Inn on the Ocean in Ocean City, MD. She published a cookbook a few years ago. It is titled Everything New Under the Sun and is available for purchase at the Inn, 1001 Atlantic Avenue, on the boardwalk.