{"id":244,"date":"2008-09-26T13:00:03","date_gmt":"2008-09-26T17:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/?p=244"},"modified":"2008-09-26T13:21:59","modified_gmt":"2008-09-26T17:21:59","slug":"salmon-cakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/2008-09-26\/salmon-cakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Salmon Cakes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I love crab cakes. But at least here in Johnstown, refrigerated crab meat is expensive enough that making crab cakes on a regular basis is impractical. But there is an affordable alternative that tastes almost as good: Salmon cakes. Canned salmon is inexpensive and is a great substitute; you can find it near the canned tuna at pretty much any decent supermarket.<\/p>\n<h3>Ingredients<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>2 cans salmon (15.75oz each)\n<li>1 cup breadcrumbs\n<li>lots of pepper\n<li>Spices:\n<ul>\n<li>1 teaspoon ground mustard\n<li>1 teaspoon paprika\n<li>1\/2 teaspoon cumin\n<li>1\/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes\n<li>Or whatever else strikes your fancy\n <\/ul>\n<li>1 large onion, diced fine\n<li>2 eggs, lightly beaten\n<li>bacon fat or frying oil (peanut, canola, sunflower, or soy oil)\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Hardware<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>mixing bowl\n<li>can opener\n<li>fine strainer\n<li>griddle or large skillet (cast iron is best, but any heavy pan will do)\n<li>Metal spatula-like device: an offset spatula is best\n<li>Wire rack for draining: for best results, turn the rack upside-down in contact with newspaper.\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Preparation<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Drain the salmon into a strainer. Pick through the fish and remove any backbone or other large bones, if present\n<li>In a mixing bowl, combine the breadcrumbs and spices and toss\n<li>Add the salmon, eggs, and onion to the bowl. Combine the ingredients with your hands. The mixture should be somewhat sticky. If it is dry, add another egg.\n<li>Form the cakes with your hands:\n<ul>\n<li>The cakes can be any size from half-fist to fist sized. The cake should be a disc about twice as wide as it is thick&#8230; I can typically make 10 large-ish cakes from this recipe.\n<li>Squeeze in both hands to compact into roughly the correct shape.\n<li>While holding in the palm of one hand, cup your other hand around the outside of the cake to form it into a round.\n <\/ul>\n<li>Heat the griddle on medium heat and add the frying fat.\n<li>When water gently sizzles in the fat (3-4 minutes), add the cakes. It&#8217;s ok to place them close together.\n<li>Turn when the first side is brown&#8230; I prefer a dark mahogany (~7 minutes), but many people prefer a more golden color (~5 minutes)\n<li>When the second side is done, remove to the wire rack for draining and cover with foil. Serve immediately.\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Service Suggestions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>For a dipping sauce prepare sour cream with chives, or tartar sauce if you&#8217;re feeling very traditional.\n<li>Salmon cakes work well as a main dish, but you could also make smaller ones as hors d\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00c5\u201cuvre or in a surf-n-turf combo.\n<li>On a cold day, pair with a warm vegetable soup.\n<li>On a warm day, pair with a cucumber salad.\n<li>Serve with Sauvignon Blanc or Corona.\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Notes<\/h3>\n<p>Canned Salmon typically has a lot of added salt. You don&#8217;t need to add any salt, and I&#8217;d avoid salted seasoning blends (Old Bay) as well. Because the salmon is fully cooked, feel free to check for seasoning before frying.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve seen recipes where the cakes are breaded before frying, typically with crushed saltine crackers. I can&#8217;t for the life of me figure out why.<\/p>\n<p>If you are like me and instinctively add garlic to any dish calling for diced onions, please resist the temptation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I love crab cakes. But at least here in Johnstown, refrigerated crab meat is expensive enough that making crab cakes on a regular basis is impractical. But there is an affordable alternative that tastes almost as good: Salmon cakes. Canned salmon is inexpensive and is a great substitute; you can find it near the canned [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[154,153],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mozilla","category-untagged","tag-recipe","tag-salmon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}