“Mrs. McNulty didn't raise no fools. Four Faidley’s crab cakes in the bag, 24 Dutch beers in the box.”
Welcome to the inaugural post and my attempt to deliver a fun & entertaining food blog. I'm excited to see if everyone agrees with my approach. The plan is to feature recipes inspired by food & drinks appearing in my favorite movies & TV shows. If you're still reading – sit back and enjoy as we take a cinematic ride through decades of on-screen culinary consumption !
I will always be on the look out for interesting & funny movie/tv food to make, so feel free to drop me a line with your suggestions !
My first post comes from what I consider to be the best television show of all time. I still watch The Wire about 3 times a year and always remain in awe of how the performances & writing still hold up. Being such an integral part of the show I could probably spend months on the mouth watering food appearing in this Baltimore MD drama, but for starters, I'm going to tackle the one and only crab cakes from Faidley's !!
The Following recipe is a combination of several I found online claiming to know how to properly prepare these delicious crab cakes – but you can be the judge on how close they actually come. I'm sure we'll all agree nothing comes close to the original, but at the end of the day I think you'll enjoy these as much as my man Omar is seen enjoying his in the clip below . . .
INGREDIENTS
Crab Cakes
- 1lb large lump crab meat
- 1 cup crushed saltine
- 1⁄2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 dash Tabasco sauce
- vegetable oil for frying
Tartar sauce
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1⁄2 cup finely chopped dill pickle (you can get away with adding a couple more tablespoons if you're into dill pickles like me)
- 1⁄4 cup minced onion
- 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon pickle juice
DIRECTIONS
- Crab cakes: Spread the crab meat out in a flat pan and sprinkle the crushed saltines over the top.
- In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise, egg, mustard, Worcestershire and Tabasco.
- Pour the mayonnaise over the crab meat and gently toss or fold the ingredients together, taking care not to break up the lumps of crab meat.
- Let the mixture sit for 2-3 minute before forming the cakes. Form the cakes by hand or with an ice cream scoop into 8 mounds about 3" in diameter and 3/4" thick. Do NOT pack the mixture too firmly. The cakes should be as loose as possible, yet still hold their shape.
- Place the cakes on a tray or platter lined with wax paper, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before cooking.
- Tartar sauce: In a bowl, mix mayonnaise, dill pickles, onion, parsley and dill pickle juice.
- Chill for at least 1 hour.
- To fry: Pour oil into a heavy skillet to a depth of about 1 ½". Heat oil to 350 degrees and fry crab cakes, a few at a time, until golden brown, about 4 minute on each side – unless fully submerged in oil, in which case only 4-5 minutes total frying time is needed. Be sure and wait for oil to return to 350 degrees between each batch. Remove with a slotted utensil to a paper towel to drain. Serve at once with tartar sauce on the side.