How could you not have a good time eating crab cakes?

When talking about tonight's meal, Chris quoted the above title from a movie.  It is true, if you're having crab cakes, something good is happening.

My love for fishing turned Chris' pleasure craft into a weekend fishing boat.  We compromised by crab fishing as you can drop your cages, cruise around, and come back to pick up your prize.  We nearly always caught our limit and feasted on fresh Dungeness crab after every outing.  It's been years since we've had the Carver, so now I go to Wong Tung Seafood, Inc. in the International District to pick up my live crab.  

They are a small shop located on 12th Ave. near Jackson Street.   My mom introduced me to it as her restaurant friends go there.  They have the best price in town and I find their crabs are always lively and meaty.  Sometimes crabs which have been hanging around in a tank for a long period of time begin to thin and lose their meatiness.  You want to go somewhere you know moves a lot of product. 

For the crab cakes, I steamed and shelled the crab.  With these slightly smaller crabs, 15 minutes of steaming is perfect.  Mix the crabmeat with:

1/2 cup bread crumbs

5 green onions, chopped and cooked in 4 Tbsp butter until soft

1 egg, beaten

2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream

2 tsp brandy

Pinch of kosher salt and several turns of the pepper grinder

Form into cakes of any size you like and roll in panko

Pan fry using just a bit of vegetable oil or butter until golden

Though you don't really need a sauce with this, I always like to offer one.  Tonight, it was sweet chili aioli....ish. I like to use half mayo, half sour cream, a squeeze of lemon, a squeeze of honey, the slightest bit of garlic grated on a microplane, and sriracha chili sauce to your taste.

Cake sweet cake!