# Crab Cakes - Fried or Baked? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 27, 2019, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-cakes-fried-or-baked/839333 "2019-08-27T20:29:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2019, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-cakes-fried-or-baked/839333/21 "2019-08-29T18:58:52Z")
The first time, I fried. This time, I baked, and finished off under the broiler as suggested. I added melted butter before baking and this gave me a perfectly acceptable, crispy, tasty crust. Also, it allowed me to just put them in the oven on a timer, come back in 12 minutes, switch to broiler mode for a few more, and done. Not that frying takes any great effort, but you do have to monitor something frying a bit more, and there’s more clean-up. All in all, I’ll probably bake at home, but if I have an option at a restaurant, I’d ask for fried. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2019, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-cakes-fried-or-baked/839333/22 "2019-08-29T19:10:40Z")
What is this nonsense I’m seeing in here? You broil crabcakes unless you’re from someplace like Dundalk. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-cakes-fried-or-baked/839333/23 "2019-08-29T21:03:11Z")
Broiled is the correct answer! Frying is too overbearing for the delicate flavor of crab meat. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-cakes-fried-or-baked/839333/24 "2019-08-30T11:05:31Z")
Or you can devil them and enjoy them cold. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-cakes-fried-or-baked/839333/25 "2019-08-30T16:47:57Z")
Broiled is definitely the way to go. Fry them if you’re not sure of your crabcake making abilities - a little grease can hide a multitude of sins. And please tell me you used _real_ crab, blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, the crab that put the “pleasant” in The Land of Pleasant Living, and the “peak” in Chesapeake. Since I left Maryland my crabs come from Trinity and Galveston Bays, so I don’t have to buy them. They’re the same crabs - they just have a nicer accent.🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-cakes-fried-or-baked/839333/26 "2019-08-30T18:33:36Z")
> [@Bayaker](#): > > And please tell me you used _real_ crab… You insult me. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-cakes-fried-or-baked/839333/27 "2019-08-30T21:38:41Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > You insult me. 😀 Sorry, but I wasn’t taking any chances. We already had one philistine suggest dungeness crabs;) ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-cakes-fried-or-baked/839333/28 "2019-08-31T00:16:03Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > yes. > [@romansperson](#): > > Yes! I’ll have what they’re having. As much as I never want to go back to Baltimore, I miss real crab cakes. It’s hard to find even decent crab meat when you are a thousand miles or more from the Bay. **Nightshadea** , were they Phillip’s brand? Because those were the only frozen crab cakes I have ever had that were close to right. Every other box of frozen “Maryland style” crab cakes is a fraud. The poll really did need YES as a choice. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-cakes-fried-or-baked/839333/29 "2019-08-31T16:33:21Z")
I hadn’t realized that crab cakes could be baked. While on coastal Virginia earlier this summer, I was struck by the primitive nature of crabbing by hand. You tie some bait to a line and sink it in the water. When you feel tugs, pull it up and the crabs are too dumb/busy eating the bait to let go. Net the crab and avoid the claws. Very entertaining and we didn’t even keep any to eat. The daily limit of legal size is an enormous [one bushel.](https://www.mrc.virginia.gov/regulations/recfish&crabrules.shtm) which represents hundreds of individuals. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-cakes-fried-or-baked/839333/30 "2019-08-31T16:51:30Z")
> [@Bayaker](#): > > Sorry, but I wasn’t taking any chances. We already had one philistine suggest dungeness crabs;) Dungeness is the only crab worth eating, and it really isn’t worth the effort. Atlantic crab can just stay there, and the less we say about King crab and the people who go nuts over them, the better. Yeah, I’m _that guy_. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-cakes-fried-or-baked/839333/31 "2019-09-03T20:57:38Z")
Snow crab FTW! Then again I’m a Canadian flatlander so what do I know… And at least 1400km from saltwater. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-cakes-fried-or-baked/839333/32 "2019-09-04T00:55:13Z")
Crab involved, just feed me! No butter or sauce needed, but would be appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-cakes-fried-or-baked/839333/33 "2019-09-04T13:15:01Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Dungeness is the only crab worth eating, and it really isn’t worth the effort. Atlantic crab can just stay there, and the less we say about King crab and the people who go nuts over them, the better. > > Yeah, I’m _that guy_. > [@swampspruce](#): > > Snow crab FTW! Then again I’m a Canadian flatlander so what do I know… > > And at least 1400km from saltwater. I’m sorry, the answer we’re looking for is blue crab. Blue crab. Thank you for playing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crab-cakes-fried-or-baked/839333.md?page=1)