Budget-Friendly Tuna Patties Recipe
Tuna Patties are sort of poor man’s crab cakes. I love crab cakes, but I seldom make them at home due to the price of the crab. A couple of weeks ago I featured a recipe for tuna patties in my Standard-Examiner column.
If you’ve ever watched the Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch” reality show about crab fishing, you’ll understand why it’s so costly.
I’ve tried using imitation crab, also known as “Krab” or surimi, but it has a spongy, rubbery texture when you try to make it into crab cakes. Yes, there’s something fishy about this fake crab.
To me, a humble can of tuna is a better alternative. It has lots of fish flavor and a better texture.
No, you won’t fool anyone into thinking these are really crab cakes. Nevertheless, they make an easy, budget-friendly weeknight meal. Most of the ingredients can be found on your pantry shelf.
Dry stuffing mix makes a quick shortcut, because it has bread crumbs, onions, celery, parsley and other seasonings already included.
Shredded carrot adds some color and nutrition, but you can certainly leave it out. You could experiment with other veggies, maybe zucchini.
You don’t really taste the cheese, but when melted, it helps to hold everything together.
If you want to give your faux cakes more of a Maryland blue crab flavor, add a teaspoon of Old Bay Old Bay seasoning. It’s produced in the Chesapeake Bay area by the McCormick Company. I visited the McCormick kitchens in Maryland several years ago, and found out that Old Bay seasoning was invented in 1939 at a time when crabs were so plentiful in Baltimore that bars offered free crabs. Salty/spicy seasonings like Old Bay were used on the crabs as a way to encourage patrons buy more drinks. It’s a heady blend of mustard, paprika, celery salt, bay leaf, black pepper, crushed red pepper, mace, cloves, allspice nutmeg, cardamom and ginger.
An essential part of the recipe is to let the mixture sit for 10-30 minutes in the refrigerator, to bind ingredients together. If you skip this step, your cakes may crumble during cooking.
Savory Tuna Cakes
2 7-oz. cans chunk light tuna in water, drained
1 6-ounce package chicken-flavored stuffing mix (such as Stovetop Stuffing)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Optional: 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning, or to taste
1. Mix the ingredients in a large bowl. Refrigerate for 10 to 30 minutes, to let the mixture bind together.
2. Use an ice cream scoop or hands to scoop out the mixture and form into patties.
3. Spray a skillet with nonstick spray, and heat to medium high heat.
4. Cook the patties about 3-4 minutes per side, until browned and cooked through. Depending on the size of your skillet, it will probably take two batches.
5. Serve with lemon wedges and/or tartar sauce.