Baking crab cakes

I've always made crab cakes in a fry-pan. I like the crusty outside and the shiny sizzling surface. I'm a fan of looser and crab-heavy texture, rather than a firm and bread-crumby one, but that's a conversation for another thread.

The reason for my post is to ask about technique: For a dinner next week I will need to have 11 crab cakes ready simultaneously. Rather than run three pans I am thinking about baking the cakes and giving them a last-minute blast under the broiler for color/crisp. Will this work?

[Jenise]

Done it. What I do, however, is not broil for color/crispness--I go ahead and get that in the pan, reserve the browned cakes on a cookie rack, and then re-heat in a very hot oven (450-500) for just enough time to heat them through, about five minutes. They'll never be as good as just-cooked, but most likely nobody but you will know they weren't. My cakes will have been dipped in egg and panko, by the way, for the crispest possible exterior (panko being irregular in shape vs. soft or flat bread crumbs) and will have been bound with egg to ensure they will survive the multiple procedures intact.

[David M. Bueker]

I do what Jenise said, but without the egg/panko. Pretty much the only thing that holds my crab cakes together is a few shakes of Old Bay.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I'm going to mess up a pan, anyway.

How long can I hold a cooked crab cake? Make 'em an hour ahead? The night before???

Jeff, I have done this too. I served mini crab cakes at one of our wine gatherings and didn't want to be at the stove cooking. What I did was toasted some buttered breadcrumbs in a pan and coated the cakes with those before baking in the oven. They were 99% crab meat and the exterior of buttery, crispy crumbs gave them a great texture. They flew off the plate.

Carrie, that's a great idea!

Flour, egg wash and panko. Frying pan, lightly colour then into the oven. Serve with corn salsa and cajun mayo. Will hold up very wel over an hour.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I'm going to mess up a pan, anyway.

How long can I hold a cooked crab cake? Make 'em an hour ahead? The night before???

An hour is cool. Not overnight.

An hour is cool. Not overnight.

Noted.