Let Them Eat Crabcakes

This past week I was perusing the Whole Foods in downtown Baltimore when I found gluten-free crabcakes, something on my wish list of things I hoped someone would one day make gluten-free. By swapping out wheat bread for rice bread, the Crab Ladies of Frederick Maryland have created if not the first ever gluten-free crabcake, my first gluten-free crabcake. And it was good. 

There are three varieties (they all come frozen, but warm up wonderfully): the classic Original Maryland, Artichoke Three Cheese, or Bacon and Gruyere.  

Try them as they are, or with Cucumber Cream Sauce:

(Recipe from The Southern Living Cookbook 1999 Oxmoor Press) 

Prep: 10 min 

1 medium seedless cucumber

½ cup sour cream

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon grated onion

¼ teaspoon pepper 

Peel cucumber. Grate enough cucumber to measure ½ cup. Combine grated cucumber, sour cream and remaining ingredients, stirring well. Cover and chill. Yield: 1 cup 

A word of caution, the Crab Ladies also make conventional crabcakes, so be sure to pick up the right package. Also be sure your wallet is ready for the hit it’s going to take – these crabcakes aren’t cheap. At $17.99 for a package of two crabcakes or $2.25 per ounce (at Whole Foods), they’ll make a serious dent in your grocery budget.  But for the price, you get not only a lot of crab (these cakes are heavy on the crab), you get the confidence that they are, in fact, gluten-free. The Crab Ladies ensured their product is gluten-free by having the University of Nebraska’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources test the gliadin levels of the crabcakes to ensure they came out BLD - below detectable levels. You can see the results of the gliadin testing results on the Crab Ladies website. 

In addition to finding them at Whole Foods, you can order the crabcakes by phone (online ordering is coming). http://www.thecrabladies.com/index.html