How to Make Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes

Divya Gugnani: When I am in the mood for seafood, stake and baseball, year round? I know just where to come. I am Divya Gugnani at NYY Stake at Yankee Stadium Bronx, New York. Here upscale cuisine surely hits the homerun. So, let’s go behind the burner and meet the chef. Female: Here at NYY Stake, one of the courtesies we offer our special guests are personalized stake knives which they receive each time they return to dine with us. Some of the celebrities and athletes who join us include Kate Hudson, Joe Girardi, Rudy Giuliani and Yogi Berra. This is a special courtesy which we extend to our VIP and special guests. Divya Gugnani: I am here with Executive Chef Scot Morosky. Scot, I see some beautiful crab in front of me, what are you making? Scot Morosky: Well today, we’re going to make NYY signature crab cakes and we’re starting off with jumbo lump crab meat and as you could see everything is iced down. All of my cold ingredients are iced down to keep it cold and we’ll be working on ice, cold stays cold until it goes right up fire. Divya Gugnani: Great tip, keep everything cold, keep it all nice. Scot Morosky: Absolutely. Divya Gugnani: It stays fresh that way. When you buy crab, what do you look for? Scot Morosky: We buy jumbo lump, pasteurized crab meat, looking for fresh—as you can see very large chunks, white, no odor, finest, finest crab meat that money could buy. Divya Gugnani: That’s it, you want to start with the best crab meat you can buy. Scot Morosky: Absolutely and as you can see I’m just—without breaking up, that is the beauty of the jumbo lump. This is not— Divya Gugnani: —you want to enjoy the lump. Scot Morosky: Exactly and it’s not that thin. It’s jumbo lump and that is the whole reason. The whole reason it’s called jumbo lump is because of the size of the chunks of the crab meat. Teaspoon, we got a teaspoon of yellow pepper, teaspoon of red pepper. So now, we are building our colors. The reason we don’t sauté the peppers before we— Divya Gugnani: You want that crunch. Scot Morosky: We want the crunch, exactly. So you got the—you have one consistency with the crab meat and then you have a different consistency with the peppers. Now, we are about to build our sauce. Here we go. The mayonnaise is going to be put right into the bowl over here on our little mixing bowl and then we are going to add our egg yolk and the egg yolk is basically used as a binder. Divya Gugnani: Exactly, it holds the crab meat together. Scot Morosky: Exactly and this is old bay seasoning which is— Divya Gugnani: Which is nice for any seafood really. Scot Morosky: It is beautiful, it’s great stuff— Divya Gugnani: So, you want to get those nicely incorporated with the egg yolk. Scot Morosky: Exactly. Divya Gugnani: The mayo, the old bay seasoning. Scot Morosky: I see you’ve this once or twice before. Divya Gugnani: I can whisk. Scot Morosky: You can—what we’re going to add to this mixture is also going to be some of fresh cracker crumbs that we just broke in the back. And I’m just going to take this mixture and we’re going to pour this mixture right over our jumbo lump crab meat and our peppers. To fold, you basically turn the bowl and you mix. So, you turn the bowl, turn the spatula. Turn the bowl, turn the spatula. Divya Gugnani: It’s a good technique. Scot Morosky: Here at NYY, we give two to three ounce portions of crab cakes. Divya Gugnani: Which is great, that is a good size. Scot Morosky: I am going to wait three ounce on my scale. I’ve got three ounce. Divya Gugnani: So, ready to sauté our crab cakes? Scot Morosky: Let’s sauté. Divya Gugnani: So Scot, I am ready to take a bite. Scot Morosky: Sounds good, let’s eat. Taste that fresh crab, the first bite, you get that chunk. Divya Gugnani: You do. That is really the fresh seafood from using the jumbo lump. Scot Morosky: You are biting right into the crab and you are getting that big piece and then you’re also getting the crust. So, you are getting a different texture. You are getting the softness from a crab. You are getting the crust on the outside of the crab cake and as you continue to eat it, you’ll wind up getting some of the peppers and then as you get the red garnish on top of the citrus and you got it all going on at the same. Divya Gugnani: So, I am going to enjoy my Yankee tiny now. Cheers. Scot Morosky: Cheers to you and thank you. Divya Gugnani: Thanks for having me. Scot Morosky: Thanks for coming to NYY. Divya Gugnani: Stay tune to Behind the Burner where we give you the tips, tricks and techniques that are lighting the culinary world on fire.