CRAB AND CORN FRITTERS WITH FRESH CORN MAYO

Crab and Corn Fritters with Fresh Corn Mayo image

Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, adapted from Essential Emeril: Favorite Recipes and Hard-Won Wisdom From My Life in the Kitchen, Oxmoor House, 2015, courtesy Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.

Provided by Martha Stewart

Yield Makes about 3 dozen

Number Of Ingredients 15

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Ingredients

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Corn kernels cut from 3 ears
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup whole milk
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 pound fresh jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage
Vegetable oil for frying
Coarse sea salt or kosher salt, for serving (optional)
Fresh Corn Mayo, for serving

Steps:

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the corn and cook, stirring as needed, for about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.
In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cayenne together.
In a small bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, hot sauce, and Worcestershire together to combine. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet into it. Combine gently with a whisk, then, with a rubber spatula, gently fold in the corn and crabmeat, taking care to not break up the lumps of crab.
Add enough oil to come halfway up the side of a deep-sided cast iron skillet or Dutch oven or to the fill line of an electric fryer and preheat to 325 degrees F.
Working in batches of 6 to 8 and using a 2-tablespoon scoop (like a melon baller or ice cream scoop), carefully drop the fritter batter into the oil. You don't want the fritters browning too fast, so don't allow the temperature of the oil to go higher than 325 degrees F or to drop below 300 degrees F; adjust the heat under the pot as needed. Cover the pot with a splatter screen or the vented top if using an electric fryer to protect yourself, as individual corn kernels will pop and fly if they make contact with the hot oil. As the fritters float to the top, roll them over in the hot oil to brown them evenly. When they are golden on all sides, which will take 5 to 6 minutes per batch, use tongs, a slotted spoon, or a spider to transfer them to paper towels to drain. Season with salt immediately so the salt sticks to the fritters, if desired. Repeat until you use up all the batter.
Serve hot with the Fresh Corn Mayo.