Dipping sauces can use fruit, tomatoes, ginger and other fresh ingredients to add tangy flavor.
Crab cakes are fried or saut ed crabmeat patties usually made with eggs, milk, bread crumbs and seasonings. This American dish that started in the 1930s often uses jumbo lump, domestic blue crab from the Atlantic coast and Dungeness crab from the Pacific coast. Condiments to complement these seafood appetizers, sandwiches or main entrees can include dipping sauces of blended fruit, herbs or aioli. International flavors with hints of chipotle or soy sauce can add an exotic taste to the crab's sweet meat.
Cocktail Sauce
The popular cocktail sauce that teams well with shrimp also adds zest to crab cakes. Tomato juice seasoned with Worcestershire sauce, pepper sauce, grated horseradish, lemon juice and finely chopped celery offers a bright red sauce for golden saut ed patties.
Herb Sauce
A spicy dill sauce made with ½ cup of sour cream with chopped fresh dill, a tablespoon of lemon juice and ½ teaspoon of pepper sauce makes a creamy dipping sauce.
Fruit Sauce
A plum sauce blends a sweet and salty taste from fruit and soy sauce. In a saucepan, bring plums, honey, grated ginger, garlic, chilli paste and soy sauce to a boil.
Egg-Based Sauces
Chipotle aioli consists of whisked egg and oil with a dried and smoked jalapeno pepper for a Mexican-inspired dipping sauce. Handling a chipotle may require gloves to avoid skin irritation and possible eye irritation. Other ingredients include shallots, Dijon mustard, white anchovy, salt and white pepper. Constantly whisking the egg mixture while gradually adding oil will emulsify and thicken the sauce,
Tartar sauce is a light-colored tangy sauce with tiny pieces of dill pickle. An egg yolk, strained lemon juice and Dijon mustard are whisked together. Canola oil added gradually, along with dill pickle, Worcestershire sauce, anchovy and hot sauce will thicken the sauce.
Asian-inspired Sauces
Ponzu sauce is a Japanese sauce that offers tartness from lemon juice and rice vinegar. Ingredients include lemon juice, rice vinegar, dark soy sauce, tamari sauce, mirin, bonito flakes and kelp or konbu. Asian food sections in supermarkets or a Japanese grocery store would likely supply mirin, a straw-colored sweet cooking liquid, kelp and dried bonito flakes. Mix the ingredients, let stand and then strain. Homemade ponzu matures after three months.
Ginger dipping sauce has a tangy taste from minced fresh ginger root. Other ingredients for blending include garlic cloves, chopped onion, lemon juice, soy sauce, sugar and white vinegar.
Tags: lemon juice, dipping sauce, bonito flakes, crab from, Dijon mustard, dill pickle
