Crab cakes recipe

One of my many memories as a chef in Spain is working on the ham croquettes as a team. Once a week, we got together with the entire staff, we left the dough made, rounded and breaded, then we frozen it and the restaurant’s appetizer was ready to fry right away.

The traditional croquette dough is based on bechamel, the famous French mother sauce that we must reinforce with a higher percentage of roux (a mixture of flour and butter) so that it takes on body and becomes creamy.

To this base we can add any product, Serrano ham, cheeses, vegetables, proteins and we will obtain a creamy and crispy croquette. For today’s edition taking advantage of the season, we will make crab croquettes.

For the sauce:

• 1 liter of milk
• 1 onion
• 1 bay leaf
• 8 cloves
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon black peppercorns
• 100 grams of flour
• 100 grams of butter

For the filling:

• 250 grams of crab
• 50 grams of crab fat
• 1 red onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½ green bell pepper
• Vegetable oil
• salt, pepper and cumin
• 1 cup of beer
• Chopped coriander

For the breading

• Flour
• Egg
• fresh breadcrumbs
• oil for frying

Elaboration:

1. Boil the milk with the quartered onion, bay leaf, cloves, peppercorns and nutmeg.
2. Separately melt the butter and mix with the flour, brown lightly for 2 to 3 minutes, when ready add the previously strained milk and stir with a rod, cook about 5 more minutes. Strain the sauce and reserve.
3. For the filling, chop the onion, garlic, pepper and sauté in oil, add the meat and crab fat and stir, season with salt, pepper and cumin, add the beer, bring to a boil until dry and add the chopped coriander.
4. Mix with the bechamel and refrigerate for about 4 hours until it is consistent.
5. Form cylinders with the help of a sleeve, it can also be made into balls, pass them through flour, egg and fresh breadcrumbs, fry in abundant oil at 170 degrees for 1 minute. (I)