MARYLAND PAVILION CRAB CAKES, ADAPTED

This recipe came from the Maryland Pavilion at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair. I was at that fair, not once, but at least 4 times. I ran bus trips, and my brother-in-law got passes from General Motors (where he worked t the time) that put all of us at the head of the line for the GM pavilion. That was the fair that introduced Belgian Waffles (actually the hit of the fair); and I remember eating them with delight and marveling with each scrumptious bite at the huge strawberries and rich, cake-like waffles smothered with whipped cream. I missed the crab cakes, but am so glad I found this recipe on crabplace.com. This ranks as my #1 crab cake recipe right now. These are really delicious, especially with the coating I used. The recipe calls for cracker crumbs, but I mixed crushed saltines with crushed crispy rice cereal and it worked really well to produce a crispy coating. The downside is you should fry these for the best texture; so just don't have them every week. I'm giving you the recipe as I adapted it and halved it; you can find the original at the crab place website. I highly recommend this recipe.

Maryland Pavilion Crab Cakes, half recipe, adapted
(Rating: 10 out of 10)
1 egg
1 Tbsp. Smart Balance Lite Mayonnaise
2 tsp. Grey Poupon spicy brown mustard
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1/8 tsp. sea salt
dash black pepper
1/2 tsp. liquid hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
1/2 lb. jumbo lump crab meat, cartilage removed
1/3 cup saltines, finely crushed
1/3 cup crispy rice cereal, finely crushed

In a medium bowl, whisk first 7 ingredients till well combined. Gently fold in crab meat. Form into 4 cakes; set aside. In a small bowl or on waxed paper combine the crackers and cereal which have been finely crushed. Pat the crumbs lightly onto the crab cakes. At this point, you can put the cakes in a dish, cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate them until ready to cook. When ready to cook, heat oil in a heavy skillet. When oil is hot, add crab cakes and cook on each side for 3-4 minutes, til golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Makes 4 cakes.