Crab Cakes With Mustard Sauce (the original Four Season Restaurant recipe)

CRAB CAKES WITH MUSTARD SAUCE:

Tiger: My Uncle Ambrose got this rare recipe from Food Network Magazine a few years ago and he's been cooking this for daddy and their friends in California. This is a legendary recipe -- this dish is still being served (yes to this very day) in the famed The Pool Room of the Four Seasons Restaurant in NYC. People like the presidents and their first ladies, famous people like Warren Beaty and Natalie Wood were pictured having the crabmeat cakes at the restaurant in 1962! This is where the world's perfect Crab Cakes, molded into atypical quasi-quenelle shapes, and accompanied by a salad of arugula and shaved fennel, is served. My daddy and Uncle Ambrose never let me try it but I heard it is light, seemingly devoid of filler, and rife with crab flavor. It sure sounds so divine! So queers, we have to cook this for our boy! You too straight guys/girls! Enjoy!

DISH: Crabmeat Cakes with Mustard Sauce

FOR THE CRAB CAKE:
6 slices of white bread, crusts removed
1 lb lump crabmeat (no shells please)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 large egg yolk
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped dill pickles
1 tbsp unsalted butter (for frying only)
1 tbsp olive oil (for frying only)

FOR THE SAUCE:
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup milk
3 tbsp whole grain mustard
2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
Some Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Make the cake:
1)Pulse the bread in a food processor to make corse crumbs and spread out the crumbs on a sheet pan.
2) In a bowl, mix mayonnaise, crab, egg yolk, pickles, celery and form into 8 oval shape cakes. Coat each cake in the crumbs, coating them all over. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Make the sauce:
1) In a small saucepan, melt 1 tbsp butter, stir in the flour, curry powder, paprika; cook until the flour and the spices lose their raw smell, about 2 mins.
2) Add the chic broth and milk, bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 5 mins.
3) Stir in the mustard and mustard seeds, simmer to develop the flavor, for another 5 mins.
4) Whisk in the remaining 1 tbsp butter, 1/2 tsp salt, and some pepper to taste.
Keep warm until ready to serve.

FRY THE CRAB CAKE:
1) Melt the butter and olive oil in a large skillet
2) Add the crab cakes and fry until evenly browned on all sides
3) To serve, drizzle the sauce over the cakes.

Four Seasons Restaurant
99 East 52nd St.
New York, NY 10022
Telephone: 212.754.9494
Fax: 212.754.1077