Crab Cakes with Imperial Sauce

When it comes to crab cakes, we think the simpler, the better. We add just a few flavorful ingredients to ours, and the leftovers double as the spicy sauce for the cakes.

Test Kitchen Discoveries

• While some recipes use breadcrumbs to bind the crab cakes together, we found that saltines worked better—they add more flavor than breadcrumbs and don’t turn soggy or pasty the way breadcrumbs can.
• For spicier crab cakes and sauce, add a more liberal dose of both hot sauce and Old Bay seasoning.