I don't have a food processor when I'm at camp, Lars, but I did have a blender. It worked out great, just slice the bread into small chunks and whiz it around the blender. Made perfectly fine bread crumbs! Don't over load it, do it in batches!

Glad the eggs didn't go on the floor. I've had plenty of those kind of days!

I make bread crumbs several ways. Sometimes I put small amounts of broken bread in my blender and give it a whir. Other times I grate an unsliced loaf with a coarse grater if it is a firm bread.

It sounds delicious if not tidy!

I'll try the blender - that's easier to clean than the FP anyway. I've used a grater before also but had forgotten about that. Actually I think once I used my meat grinder!

I forgot to say that I added a couple of dashes of Scotch Bonnet pepper sauce to the crab mixture. I cooked one cake without, and it really need the pepper sauce. Today I served them with a horseradish tartar sauce; i.e., tartar sauce with horseradish added.

I'd been so good with a low cholesterol diet lately until I decided to make these. They were very delicious, but I think I may stick to getting them in restaurants.

Lars

After all that trouble I sure hope they tasted great...

There are two different ways I make bread crumbs... If the bread is dry I use the grater and if it's fresh I use the stick blender...

As for assembling them... It sounds as if the mixture was too wet to begin with... I had a similar problem with salmon patties when I used canned salmon and didn't drain it well enough...

Rita

P. S. I have wall to wall carpeting in my kitchen and when I make something messy I put down newspaper before I get the ingredients out... lol

Lars: The Blender might make the crumbs too fine.
I usually use Italian rolls, because there is less white, center bread.
Cube them into 1/2 inch cubes. Dry them in a warm oven. When cool put them into a Quart size Zip lock and beat the H- - - out of them. Gently of course,
until you have what you want.
I usually use Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs. Here is a recipe for Crab Cakes or Salmon Cakes.
If you ever try it and they are good let me know.

A few of the members have tried them and liked them.
In fact one said the Salmon Cakes tasted like Crab Cakes.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

LOUS - Baked Salmon or Crab Cakes

Chopped small , 1/3 cup of : Onion, Celery , Red Bell Pepper and
Micro wave for 2 minutes. Let it cool .

In a Bowl , put 1 - 14 ¾ oz. can of Pink Salmon or Crab Meat and
break up larger pieces. ( You can substitute Imitation Crab meat )
Sprinkle with : Black pepper and add:
½ teasp. of Garlic Powder , Onion Powder and ¼ level teasp.of Old Bay Seasoning.
2 level teasp. of Parsley flakes
3 heaping tablespoons of Mayonnaise
Fold and Blend this together and add: 1 cup each of Italian Bread Crumbs.

Beat 1 egg and add 1 teaspoon of Baking Powder, beat well.
Add this to the Salmon mix and blend with a fork ( Just enough to mix it through.)
If the mix is too wet add a little more Bread Crumbs

Make 6 Balls ( work easy ) and flatten slightly to 4 inches round and ¾ inches thick
.I baked them on a cookie tin , lined with Aluminum Foil, sprayed with Pam

Bake 20 to 25 minutes at 320 Degrees. Then brush with melted butter and
Broil on Low for 5 minutes or until a Golden Tan.
Serve Hot or freeze separated w Plastic wrap , in a Zip Lock or container.

Bon Appetite

Another way to make bread crumbs is to freeze the bread, and then grate.
Eggs will last for weeks past their use-by date. They just aren't super fresh any more, but they're fine for baking and coating, where the egg taste isn't the main thing.
Sorry your crab cakes didn't work as well as you'd hoped, Lars!

I dunno about that recipe, Lars. I always have great luck with a recipe that's mostly crab - the rest of the ingredients are just there to lightly bind the crabmeat together. As I type this, I am smelling like crab because we went over to Annapolis today and on the way home, pigged out on hardshell crabs at this place: Cantler's Riverside Inn

Here's the recipe I use, from an Annapolis native:

Delicious Crab Cakes
1 lb. crab meat (picked through)
1 t. Worcestershire saucde
1 t. mustard (regular)
1/2 t. Old Bay
2 T. mayonnaise
2 eggs (slightly beaten)
1 t. parsley
2 pieces white bread - no crusts (I pulse it in the food processor, but a blender would probably work, too)

Mix all this together - toss in crab meat last - refrigerate mixture for 1/2 hour prior to frying. Mold into individual patties. Fry in approximately 1/4 inch oil about 4 minutes each side (or until nicely browned).

Any suggestions for how to make bread crumbs without a food processor?

I've never used my FP to make bread crumbs. I just break up bread or rolls into small pieces by hand. Dump the bread pieces on a cookie sheet and put it in the oven at about 250 degrees for a few hours. When the bread dries out and if the pieces are too big it is easy to just crush them by putting them in a zip lock bag and crushing with your hand. I keep a large tupperware canister full of dried bread crumbs. I prefer to use rolls and usually buy day-old rolls at the bakery, sour dough, WW, rye, white, with/without seeds or whatever. I've even used bagels which make excellent bread crumbs and have a nice texture too.

Michelle

Lars: I forgot to post a Photo.
note: They are baked not fried !!!
LOU

{{gwi:1477616}}

Michelle: We said the same thing.

Lars: Saltine Crackers make good bread crumbs too,
for Crabcakes and Salmon Cakes.

LOU

I've heard people rave about crab cakes and I've tried so many at restaurants, etc and have always been disappointed. Why is that? I love crab everything else I've had. I'm trying the above recipes, Lou's pic just enticed me. Crab cakes sound handy to snack on or take for lunch. None of my friends are known for their crab cakes, just being crabby! Just kidding.

Lars, I hate when that happens. I haven't read all of the responses but here is my solution that I use to keep the cakes together. I refrigerate the ingredients, for 1 hour, before trying to put the cakes together. The cakes seems to hold together better for breading when it's cold.

Lars, here's the recipe I use, it says to refrigerate for an hour and like Karen said, if you refrigerate, it should hold together.

Crab Cakes

Recipe By Manhattan New School Cookbook
Serving Size : 4

1 egg
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
pinch cayenne pepper
dash Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound fresh or canned lump crabmeat
2 tablespoons minced cilantro
12 unsalted white soda crackers -- crumbled
1/2 stick butter
4 tablespoons peanut oil
2 lemon wedges
plain bread crumbs
fresh ground pepper

SPICED MAYONAISSE:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon cilantro -- finely chopped
2 tablespoons hot sauce

Mix the egg in a large bowl. Add mayo, mustard, cayenne, Tabasco, salt, and pepper. Continue mixing until creamy. Add crab meat, cilantro, and crumbled soda crackers. Toss lightly but mix thoroughly. Divide mixture into 8 portions: shape into small patties and pat with bread crumbs. Refrigerate for one hour. For Spiced Mayo: blend together the mayonnaise, cilantro, and hot sauce until creamy.

Fry crab cakes in butter and oil, turning once. Brown on each side. Serve with lemon wedges and Spiced Mayo on the side.

Hi Lars,

I think your breadcrumbs were too "good". Whole grain bread doesn't absorb the way good ol Pepperidge Farm glue does so that could be it. Or the recipe could have an error.

Glad to hear you have a new kitchen floor. That's very exciting.

I love crab cakes. Never made them though.

Michelle: We said the same thing.

Gee thanks Lou.

I thought I had something to offer but I guess not.

Michelle

Lars recipe calls for fresh bread crumbs, not dried. I agree that the whole grain bread will not yield the same result as fluffier bread.

Michelle: I didn't say that to Knock your's !!!!!
I just meant we were thinking the same way.
It didn't come out right, I guess ?
Lou

Lou, I have a similar recipe that I use for deviled crab, and I have also substituted canned tuna for the crab with good results as well. It is also baked and then broiled. I'll have to try the salmon recipe, although I really like Marilyn's fresh salmon cakes, and I had no problem with hers falling apart. I'll have to look at her recipe again.

I have a feeling now that it was the type of bread I used, as rococogurl suggested. And the recipe does call for fresh bread crumbs as opposed to dried ones. The end result was still very good, even though it was difficult to get them to stick together. I'm considering adding a bit of potato starch to the insides to see if that will make them "stickier".

Carol, I had saved your recipe before (it was one of only two that I had saved), but I neglected to look at it before I started. I'll try yours next time, as it looks really more like what I wanted, which is why I saved it in the first place.

As for the recipe from the Anapolis native (I saved that one also) - what is regular mustard? My first thought is that it is dried, but it might mean prepared mustard. Crab meat is so cheap right now that I will be making more variations.

The first batch of cakes I did not refrigerate, but the second batch had been refrigerated over night, and it had the same problem. I'm pretty sure it is the type of bread, which gave an excellent flavor, BTW.

Thanks for all the help!

Lars

So sorry Lou, I read it a bit differently. Thanks for the explanation.

Michelle

Lars - that's a good question; I'll email her and ask. I usually have Grey Poupon on hand, so that's what I use. Dried mustard might help the consistency, though. I'll let you know what she says.

How much is your crab meat right now, Lars?

King Crab legs are $7.50 a pound, and that's what I bought for the crab cakes. Since we're on the West Coast, we get seafood from Alaska at good prices, I guess, although I would imagine that it is flown everywhere else as well. I can buy fresh lump crab meat at the Santa Monica Seafood Market, but their prices are never cheap.

Lars

Lars: I've used powdered eggs in a lot of things, stuffing, Fish cakes, etc. with good results.
I mix it into the bread crumbs, with the other spices.

I've even made Crab Cakes, using Immitation Crab Meat.
I think that is made from fish , don't remember what kind,
maybe Whiting.

Personally I like to be a minimalist with crab cakes, and bake them just long enough to heat through then broil them for a minute to get a nice crust. At least that's what I do when I use the astronomically expensive jumbo lump crab meat. If I've got a craving for fried food, then I'll use cheaper crab and stretch it more with fillers, binders, etc.

It's a "binder" problem. The starchy bread and the eggs usually combine to hold stuff together -- the way they do for a pudding.

But fresh bread crumbs from white bread and fresh bread crumbs from whole grain bread will act very differently. The whole grains don't bind because the gluten in the flour is so much lower/nil (which is why it's better for you).

Even dried white breadcrumbs would work better with the eggs.

Same deal with meat loaf. I keep Italian bread crumbs (prepared) for that and they work very well but give a denser texture (slightly) than fresh white bread, which is in the original recipe.