SETH: Chef.

EDWARD: What's up, man?

How are you?

SETH: Good to see you.

EDWARD: Good to see you.

SETH: I am doing great and I love crab, so anytime I see that on the board, I am excited.

What are you making today?

EDWARD: We're making Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes.

SETH: As much as I love crab cakes, I'm not a traditionalist.

EDWARD: Okay.

SETH: All I care about is that it's not dry and it's full of flavor.

EDWARD: Well, we got no problem there.

SETH: What's your approach for putting a crab cake together?

EDWARD: Well, we got equal amounts of lump crab meat, and then here's the beauty of the dish, that jumbo lump.

SETH: Jumbo lump.

EDWARD: Yes sir.

SETH: As a chef, you got to taste as you go, right?

EDWARD: Got to do it.

Got to do it.

I'll get a piece myself.

SETH: Let's just get started here early.

EDWARD: Oh, yeah.

SETH: Passes the test.

EDWARD: This has already been cleaned.

I'm going to add my panko.

I like to put it with the crab because the moisture of the crab will soften the bread.

And I give that a nice gentle fold.

SETH: Right, but you got to be really careful with those jumbo lumps.

EDWARD: Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I want those.

Yeah, because people are like, "Okay, where the jumbo lumps at?"

They'll ask you.

In the chef world we say soft hands.

Okay.

Now, we'll make our dressing.

Start with mayo.

We add one egg.

We add our Old Bay.

Then, we add a little bit of chives, about a tablespoon.

Then, you want to get out a whisk.

We let that go until it's nice and well-incorporated.

Another big secret ingredient that I think sets us apart, we like to zest one whole lemon.

SETH: Because some people put lemon juice in their crab cakes, right?

EDWARD: Yeah, I prefer lemon zest because the lemon juice becomes acidic and it breaks down the crab, just makes the dish brighter to me.

SETH: And it makes it smell so good.

EDWARD: Yeah, you right, you can smell that across the room.

Okay, and now we give this another gentle toss.

Those breadcrumbs are nice and soft.

And now we'll add our dressing.

SETH: And as someone who grew up in rural Virginia, this is not a family crab cake recipe.

EDWARD: No, no, no, no.

SETH: This is something you've come to through your chef's travels.

EDWARD: All my travels.

Yes, sir.

I've seen so many different kinds and I added some of my own flavors to it.

And the good thing about this, the color of the dressing lets me know if it's all the way throughout the crab.

SETH: I just love crab cakes so much.

EDWARD: Yeah, you can look in there.

SETH: Just watching the process makes me so happy.

EDWARD: Yeah, I mean, the big thing for me is it's crab and the other stuff is just barely there.

So, we have a nice large ring mold.

I don't force it 100% in there.

SETH: You want a little air in this thing.

EDWARD: Right, exactly.

Put a little bit more in there.

We're not stingy with the crab.

SETH: Thank you, I appreciate it.

EDWARD: Okay.

I feel like that's pretty set.

And then, the trick is, slide 'em to the hand.

Now I finish it by hand.

SETH: A little science and a little art to the process?

EDWARD: That's right, exactly.

So, we'll lay these down, we'll form the rest of these out, and then we let them set in the walk-in for one to two hours until they get cold and everything stays together.

SETH: Nice, nice.

EDWARD: Okay, now I'll show you the other secret to our crab cakes.

We got a crab sauce.

SETH: Crab sauce.

EDWARD: Yes sir.

SETH: You have me a crab sauce.

EDWARD: Yeah.

We're making a beurre blanc.

We start with one and a half cups of white wine.

We add some rough chopped shallots and we add some thyme.

And we let that reduce by half.

All right, this looks good.

We're about halfway reduced.

SETH: It smells amazing.

EDWARD: Yeah, then we'll just start whisking in some butter.

SETH: Why the hot sauce with the cold butter?

EDWARD: When butter's cold, it starts to emulsify and thicken the sauce.

You can see that thickening a lot, but we still got so much more butter to go.

Can't have enough butter, right?

SETH: So, this is a little classic French influence on a Maryland classic.

EDWARD: Yes.

I'm using my classic training.

Yes.

So, I'm going to add this back to the heat just so we can get a little bit more of a reduction.

All right, Seth, so now we'll add the rest of this butter.

SETH: It looks, uh, silky smooth in there.

EDWARD: Yes, exactly.

To make the crab cake, we will sear it on the flat top, get it golden brown on one side, we flip, and then we finish it in the oven.

Then, we'll make a sauté of fingerling potatoes and bell peppers, which sits on a bed of corn puree.

We'll take this beurre blanc.

After we strain it, we'll add a little bit of Dijon mustard, jumbo lump crab, and some Old Bay, and our All Set crab cake will be ready to enjoy.

SETH: All right, I see there wasn't enough crab in the crab cake itself, so you had to add a little more on top.

EDWARD: Had to.

Had to do it.

All right, Jenny, I'm going to make you a portion.

JENNIFER: Thank you so much.

EDWARD: Here we go.

SETH: My hat is off to you on that one, chef.

EDWARD: Awesome.

SETH: It has everything I'm looking for in a crab cake and more.

EDWARD: Nice.

SETH: So much flavor, not dried out in the least with that nice little crispiness on the edges.

That's my favorite part of the crab cake, those little crispy bits.

EDWARD: Got to get that good sear.

JENNIFER: I told Ed, I requested from Ed if we were going to put a crab cake on the menu, we'd have to be legit.

It's such a luxurious dish.

The crab's already so sweet, and then with the corn puree and the beurre blanc, it's just, it's Maryland.

EDWARD: Yeah, it's heavenly.

SETH: Explosion of crab flavor.

JENNIFER: I'm in a crab coma.

EDWARD: I wanted to make it impossible for someone to say there's not enough crab.