While the East Coast may have their lobster and clam season, here in the Pacific Northwest, November brings us Dungeness crab, and it does so in abundance, at just the right time. The season around here peaks in January, but for now it is common place to see the crustaceans in markets, on wharfs and on restaurant tables all across the San Francisco Bay Area. Curtis made this crab cake one of the more popular items at his restaurant, partly due to its hockey puck size, and in part due to the lack of mayonnaise as a binding agent, but rather a lighter custard in its place.

for the Crab Cake
makes 8 large crab cakes
2 lbs of cooked, cracked, and picked Dungeness crab meat (other types can be substituted)
1/2 cup onion, small dice
1/2 cup celery, small dice
1 cup red bell pepper, small dice
palmful parsley, fine chop
palmful tarragon, fine chop
zest from 1 lemon
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 egg yolks for custard
3 egg yolks for breading
1 pint heavy cream for custard
2-3 cups Panko bread crumbs for both binding and breading
2 shakes of a vinegar based hot sauce (Tabasco)
1 cup of all purpose flour for coating
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
butter

Carefully clean crab meat of any shells or cartilage. In a large bowl, combine the crab, onion, celery, bell pepper, parsley, tarragon, lemon zest, mustard, hot sauce, and season well with salt and pepper (you will be seasoning the entire dish here, so don’t be shy). In a heavy bottom sauce pan, reduce the cream by 1/2 on medium heat. Beat the three egg yolks and set them aside. When the cream has reached the 1/2 way point, add a couple of tablespoons to the egg yolks and whisk. This is a “tempering” process where you are getting the eggs up to the temperature of the cream before you combine the two. Lower the heat of the cream to almost off, whisk in the egg mixture, and continue to whisk until thickened. Combine the cream mixture (yes, you just made a custard) with the the crab mixture and refrigerate for about 2 hours. Once the mixture has cooled, slowly stir in breadcrumbs, you may need more or less, but what you are looking for is slightly gluey texture, just enough to hold a shape.

In order to form and bread the cakes, prepare a dish of lightly seasoned flour, a dish of beaten egg yolks, and a dish of bread crumbs. Begin by forming the crab mixture into a round disk about 1 1/2″ tall and 4″ in diameter (really you can make them whatever size you like, but this is the size we made) and then in sequence, coat in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. In a saute pan on medium heat, heat half a stick of butter and tablespoon of cooking oil. Slowly fry the crab cakes on each side, about four minutes a side, until they become golden brown.

Serve with drizzled Buerre Blanc and garnish with the Fennel-Apple Slaw.

for the Buerre Blanc
2 sticks of unsalted butter (8 oz), room temperature, cut into cubes
2 shallots, rough cut
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon heavy cream
pinch of peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 fennel stalk sliced
juice of 1 Meyer lemon

Put all of the ingredients (except the butter, cream and lemon juice) into a sauce pan and reduce on low heat until almost dry. Whisk in the cream and the butter, a little at a time until melted and emulsified. Whisk in the lemon juice, season to taste, strain the mixture and set aside.

for the Fennel-Apple Slaw
1 apple, matchstick chop (we used a local Heirloom)
1 fennel bulb, matchstick chop
juice of 1 Meyer lemon
pinch of tarragon, chopped
pinch of parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon chives, chopped

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.