I’ve tried my fair share of crab cakes throughout my life and I have an eye (or a palate) for quality. When I say the crab cakes from Mother Nature’s Sun are quite possibly the best I’ve ever tasted, I mean it wholeheartedly.
So, you can imagine my excitement to announce that Mother Nature’s Sun is the newest brand addition to the Just Jill Shop. Getting to share these crab cakes with you is such a treat!
While it might be the handpicked and farm-to-table ingredients that make them so good, it’s the story behind the cakes that truly makes the difference.
Michael’s Story
Chef Michael Meyers’s journey with food and the restaurant business started as a young kid. “It’s kind of in my blood,” he says — reflecting on his father’s career history and his involvement with the family business.
Michael worked for his dad’s restaurant, The Lobster Pot, in Wawa Delaware Country, Pennsylvania and dipped his toes nearly every facet of the restaurant. “I was cheap labor,” he laughs, saying he did a variety of tasks from shucking clams to mopping floors to scrubbing toilets.
“My father was a tough man. You work and outwork everybody.” While Michael applied this testimony to his work as a busboy for years, he yearned to go back into the kitchen to get his hands on the food.
Around the year 1975, Michael made his way to the kitchen as a short-order cook at The Lobster Pot. And by the time he graduated — the same time his father’s restaurant was breaching bankruptcy — he secured the title of head chef.
At this point, he had yet to make even the most basic of soups. But when his dad handed him the keys, he took the reins “like a madman” and found himself making necessary changes to ensure the best experience for every customer.
“I was very passionate about the look, the food, and the quality right from the beginning,” Michael notes. “And I surrounded myself with phenomenal young chefs.” He explains how they were a great crew and worked 80+ hours a week to keep the place up and running.
“I guess I became a little mini ‘my father.'”
Chef Michael left the family restaurant in 1989 and started his own business. It was a “seafood concept” which he described as “gourmet takeout.” While it was exceptionally popular and he was well-known around the area, he sold it three years later and landed a job at Marriott.
“Marriott really helped me out,” says Michael, explaining that the company sent him to Dale Carnegie and the Culinary Institute of America for executive chef training. There, he moved up the culinary ladder to the position of District Executive Chef.
Following his time at Marriott, Michael worked on the sales side of the food business as a broker in Chester County. He excelled, earning “Account Executive of the Year” titles multiple years in a row.
But his craving for being back in the kitchen eventually took over and at nearly 60 years old, he began a new job as a sous chef at a white tablecloth restaurant. With two people on the line, he was able to experiment with new recipes, techniques, and more. “At this point, my passion was back like it had never been before,” says Michael.
Fast forward a few years, Michael landed a job at a country club as an executive chef. “I hadn’t been running a kitchen for years,” he recalls. “But I realized I’m pretty good at this!”
And “good at this” soon turned into a desire to start his own business selling crab cakes — ones he had been perfecting for four decades. And the same crab cakes we sell in the Just Jill Shop!
What Makes Mike’s Crab Cakes so Special?
Michael is committed to using the freshest ingredients and local farm-to-table products in everything he makes. That’s no different when making his crab cakes.
When I asked him why his crab cakes stand out, he told me it’s the attention to detail. “You don’t want to mess up the protein,” he explains. “Crab is already cooked, so it’s about the spices and keeping things fairly simple.”
Most crab cakes you buy at the store are filled with bread to hold them together. But with more bread means less protein — and with a splurge-worthy food like crab, you want purity to be a priority.
That’s why Chef Michael’s crab cakes are held together with a gourmet shrimp mousse that emphasizes flavor. They’re also gluten-free and made one cake at a time with handpicked ingredients sourced from sustainably responsible purveyors.
Cooking and Serving Mother Nature’s Sun Crab Cakes
When the crab cakes arrive at your home, they come frozen and seared/browned on one side to keep them intact. Before cooking, they should be left in the fridge to thaw for 24 hours.
You’ll want to preheat your oven to 375°F and grease a sheet pan with butter or oil. The thawed crab cakes go on the pan with the browned side down, and you can bake them for 10-15 minutes with an additional 2 minutes of broiling on high. (make sure the internal temperature reaches 145°F)
“Serve it upside down with the browned side on top,” he says. “It naturally carmelizes with the fat and the cream and the shrimp.” It’s really that simple and in just a few steps, you’ll be ready to indulge in quite possibly the best crab cake you’ve ever tried.
Michael also says that you don’t have to serve them right after they come out of the oven. “They’re resilient little buggers.” He explains that because they don’t include bread, they retain their heat for a while after baking.
Mother Nature’s Sun and Just Jill
We’re so excited to share Mother Nature’s Sun with you and hope you enjoy these crab cakes as much as we do.
With each order, you’ll receive eight crab cakes and each one is approximately 5 ounces. That’s a lot of crab! We’re also including two bonus crab cakes for a limited time so you can savor the flavors even more.
“I believe in myself and my product,” says Michael. “So let’s do this and see what happens!”
Michael left me with this. “What’s more personal than serving food? There is nothing more personal than that.” And he uses this as a core value at Mother Nature’s Sun to bring all of you the absolute best product.
I hope you enjoyed Chef Michael Meyers’ story and I sure hope you give his crab cakes a try.
From my kitchen to yours,
Jill
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