Think Like Julia Child (Kimchi Crab Cakes)

There's a quote I love from Julia Child "The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude." This is what I was thinking when I realized I'd made a classic mistake with the crab cakes I was making, I forgot an ingredient! I was pan-frying them and realized that they were incredibly fragile, some of them were falling apart, and then promptly realized that I'd forgotten the egg that was supposed to go into the crab cake mix as a binding agent... I kept going, because I was committed at that point, and the egg wasn't a major flavor. I figured I'd see how they would turn out, and make peace with the fact that they wouldn't be pretty.

Before they fell apart.

I still managed to get a few to come out whole, and a few of them even looked nice. The taste was not compromised. A huge part of cooking is balancing experience (like knowing the egg was important but not critical) and willingness to roll with imperfection. I have seen people freeze in the kitchen when anything goes wrong, instead reach for your inner Julia Child. Then put messy crab cakes in sandwiches. C'est la vie.

The most photogenic of the lot.

Difficulty Level: Medium
Will It Get Made Again? I think I will make these again, if only to try it with all the ingredients this time. I may make a substitution though, the recipe calls for half backfin crab meat (which is expensive) and half jumbo lump crab meat (which is extremely expensive); I cannot tell the difference once they're in the crab cake. So the next batch will probably be all backfin meat.