Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Wild Salmon Cakes – Canned Fish and Saltine Crackers?…Now that’s Gourmet!

So, we all know we need to eat a lot more salmon. And not only that, but we have to find “wild” salmon. Well, depending on where you live this may not be so easy. And, even if you do find it, maybe you don’t have the confidence to cook it properly. Today, I solve all those problems. Tomorrow I may start working on gas prices, but right now it’s all about the salmon cakes.

I’m using canned salmon for this delicious recipe. Why? Well, first of all, every grocery store carries it. Secondly, caned salmon is almost always wild salmon. And lastly, it’s cheap! I’m not going to go into the wild vs. farmed salmon debate here (you can Google it), but wild is not only more eco-friendly, but it tastes better, and is more nutritious. You could use fresh cooked salmon for this recipe if you have leftovers, but since we are mixing this up with eggs and cracker crumbs, fresh salmon just is'nt necessary, so why spend the extra cash? (you could save it and buy a t-shirt on my site! In fact, I’m thinking of a new t-shirt slogan “I like my salmon, like I like my women…wild! OK, maybe not)

The recipe ingredients you see below are VERY basic. There are lots of ways to customize these cakes; you can add fresh herbs, garlic, green onions, hot peppers, etc., so feel free to experiment. I tend to like my salmon cakes on the “bready” side, but you could add only one egg and fewer crackers if you want cakes that are more “salmony.” The tarragon aioli I served under these luscious cakes will be demo’d next, so stay tuned for that. Finally, as you hear me warn in the demo, canned salmon is NOT completely boneless, so PLEASE spend a few minutes carefully flaking the meat as you prep it to remove all the bones. Other than that small chore, this is a very simple recipe that comes out perfectly every time. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
14 oz. can of wild red salmon (or pink)
2 eggs
12 saltine crackers
1 tbl olive oil
1 tbl butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbl chopped capers

1/2 lemon

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Soooo basic and soooo yumm!

Anonymous said...

When I use canned salmon I leave in the little white things you are calling bones. I was told that they are cartalidge and I feel they would have calcium in them.

Anonymous said...

Made these again yesterday for about the 10th time. One of our favorite recipes!

Anonymous said...

the bones are actually edible cause they're really soft after being canned

sy said...

Is there anything I can sub for the capers? I had them in something else and did not care for them.

Sy said...

FANTASTIC! Thank you!
P.S. I ended up subbing green olives after a quick google

1Bigg_ER said...

I made these for dinner today. FANTASTIC! Even better with the steak mayo sauce

spay/neuteryourpets said...

It took more like 20-25 minutes to remove the bones lol. The cakes were slightly falling apart in the pan; I added 1/2 cup onion & celery- maybe it was too many ingredients, I'm going to try using a little more bread crumbs today. They came out good though, I browned them good. Anonymous