Ingredients Needed:
2 cans salmon and save the juice
2 medium eggs
1 onion, chopped
¼ cup milk or water
1 cup matzo meal or crushed saltine crackers
2 cups breadcrumbs
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
Assemble Ingredients.
Open cans of salmon but do not drain the juice. Set the opened cans of salmon aside.
In a large bowl: add the matzo meal, eggs, milk or water, and the 2 cans of salmon with the juice. Add the salt and pepper. Stir until the matzo meal is moistened. Sometimes I add 1 tablespoon of dried parsley or ¼ teaspoon paprika for color. Set this mixture aside.
Chop one medium size onion as fine as possible. See photo for chopping hint. I score the onion and then slice sideways as a way to save time.
Pour enough vegetable oil in a frying pan to cover the bottom of the pan. Heat the oil gradually until medium hot.
Never walk away from oil that is heating as it has a flash point and can cause a kitchen fire. My dear friend, Rusty Warren, the comedian, was learning to cook and nearly burned the house down. She was heating oil and walked away to answer the phone. The burning oil caused lots of smoke and the smoke alarm went off. That alerted the fire department. Within minutes there were several handsome firemen who showed up at our door.
Rusty has a reputation for not being a cook. She can make two chicken recipes. That’s it! To quote her, “I know two recipes, but I know them good”. In her house dinner is ready when the smoke alarm goes off. She is a funny lady and will get a laugh when she reads this. Goodness, I hope she laughs. Now back to the recipe.
Sauté the onions on medium heat until gently brown. The browned onions impart a sweet, roasted taste to the salmon patties. Transfer the cooked onions using a slotted spoon to the salmon mixture in the bowl. Stir all ingredients together.
Save the oil in the pan. The oil is already cured and ready to fry the patties. As you fry the patties you will need to add more oil as you go along. Turn the pan off and go to the next step.
Pour 2 cups of seasoned breadcrumbs on a plate. I use a paper plate to make cleanup easy. Shape small salmon patties with your hands or use a small ice cream scoop to measure the patties so they are uniform in size. Flatten the patties and press them into the breadcrumbs, coating them evenly. Put as much breading as will stick. Set aside these uncooked patties on another paper plate.
Pour more oil in the fry pan and brown the salmon patties on medium heat.
Please wear safety glasses or regular glasses to prevent hot oil splatters to the face and eyes. A hot oil burn to the face or eyes can be very serious. There are many kitchen injuries caused from splattering hot oil. We use safety glasses at our jobs and in the yard, but most injuries actually occur inside the home kitchen.
I always make a small tester salmon pattie and fry it alone until oil bubbles form around the pattie. The bubbles tell me the oil is hot enough to fry the remainder of the patties. Fry the patties until you see the edges of them get brown. You will only be turning them over once. I peek under the patties with a spatula to see if they are brown enough.
Once the patties are browned, remove them to a paper towel to drain some oil. Transfer them to a plate and serve. You can keep the cooked salmon cakes warm in a 200 degree oven until they are all cooked.
Serve with tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, or by themselves. An elegant way to serve them is with an aioli sauce. That is a homemade garlic mayonnaise. I eat my salmon patties on a toasted sesame bun with lettuce and tomato. Rusty loves my salmon patties. We have been friends for many years and when I visit her, I always make them for her. I also make awesome potato latkes. I’ll save them for another column.
Thanks for reading my column. Please leave a comment. Share your salmon patties and spread the Aloha Spirit where ever you live.
