Salmon cakes are a waste saving sibling of the more famous crab cakes, while also being very delicious. These fried appetizers are served with a punchy horseradish sauce which perfectly complements the fish. Make these little treats at your next dinner party or family gathering!
I find it strange that I am uploading a Salmon cakes recipe before a crab cakes recipe, since the latter are far more popular. However, I’m a big believer in the ‘no waste’ food movement so this is the result of scrap from two other recipes. I made a Salmon With Beurre Blanc which needed pretty fillets with the skin removed, and then I later used the skin and scraps to make salmon stock for the sauce of a Sorrel Salmon. This meant I ended up with a handful of boiled salmon scraps, perfect for tasty salmon cakes.
Now, you don’t need to be using scraps for this recipe. In fact you could just buy a salmon fillet and use that. However, if you are looking for a way to make use of leftover fish bits, then this recipe is perfect! This recipe starts of similar to my Quail Salad or Tuna Salad in that you just take the boiled meat and mash/break it up with a couple forks.
After breaking up the fish it’s a simple matter of the rest of the ingredients. Salmon is a rich fish so I want the cakes to be flavorful and rich as well. My trick: I use two egg yolks plus a whole egg. This, along with the herbs, spices, and bread crumbs make this cake quite decadent as far as fish cakes go.
After everything is mixed together I begin to make the cakes or patties using a ring mold. You of course can just mold them with your hand, I just find the tool a bit easier. I try to get the cakes about 2-3 cm tall since we don’t need to cook the fish, just fry the the outside and make sure the inside temp gets high enough to cook the egg (for people that care about cooking eggs).
After I make the raw salmon cakes I put some oil in a pan (enough to go up half the height of the cakes) and turn the fire all the way up. I use sunflower oil, but you can use any neutral oil you prefer. Place the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil and if it bubbles around the wood you can begin.
I fry the cakes for a minute on the first side, then flip and fry for about 30 seconds on the second.
After they are done I remove them with a spatula onto a paper towel lined plate. A quick sprinkle of salt is all that is needed and then you can plate and serve.
I serve these salmon cakes with a homemade horseradish mayonnaise. Well, the mayonnaise is homemade, the beetroot dyed horseradish is in pretty much every corner store where I live so I just picked up a jar of that. A simple 3:1 mixture of mayo to horseradish gives you a vibrant pink sauce that packs a punch. It really does balance the richness of the fish cakes quite well.
Now I know I mentioned this is a great no waste recipe, but you may be wondering, “what about the leftover egg whites?” Well, those definitely get put to good use in a couple Butterfly Sours or Summer on Corfu cocktails, which use emulsified egg white for the beautiful foamy head.
Salmon Cakes
Equipment
- Pan
Ingredients
- 200 grams Salmon can buy a fresh fillet, or use saved scraps from another recipe
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 1 Egg
- 3 tbsp Bread Crumbs
- 1 tsp Black Pepper freshly cracked
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Paprika
- 1/2 tsp Salt or to taste, plus more for sprinking on the fried cakes
- 3 tbsp Mayonnaise store bought or homemade
- 1 tbsp Horseradish minced, can be jarred. I used a beetroot dyed horseradish, but regular color is fine too.
Instructions
- Start a pot of boiling water and add the salmon. Let boil for 5 minutes or so, and then remove and put on a cutting board.
- Chop up the salmon roughly with a knife and move the contents to a mixing bowl.
- In the bowl add the egg and egg yolks, bread crumbs, and all the seasonings. Using two forks shred and mix everything together until you can a homogeneous consistency.
- Use a ring mold (optional) to form the salmon cake mixture into even sizes. I do this on a silicone mat, but you can just put them on a cutting board until time to fry.
- In a pan add the oil and turn the flame/heat on max. When it is ready carefully lower the salmon cakes into the oil. Fry 1 minute on the first side, then flip and fry for 30 more seconds on the other. Remove and put on a paper towel lined plate. Sprinkle with salt
- In a small bowl add the mayonnaise and horseradish and mix it up.
- Plate the salmon cakes with the horseradish mayo and enjoy!
