Food For Thought - Trout Cakes

This is one of the ones people ask for all the time, so I figured I would share it with you guys. Try this one.

Mort’s Trout Cake Recipe

First let’s get the quantities down for my standard batch.

I use no less than 6 fish, but 12-14 is standard, so I can get an average size thing going. Some are big, some small. So let’s do the 12-14 fish recipe and you can adjust from there.

  • 12 - 14 Trout. (To tell the truth I've been known to use even a few more.) About 6 to 8 cups of fish.
  • 3 Eggs.
  • Core of the celery, diced. All of it. The part you don’t usually use, you do here. The leafy stuff, the yellow part, etc. All good. You can also just use about 4-6 sticks off the outside, finely diced or a combination thereof. About 1 ½ cups.
  • One large onion, diced. About 1 - 1 ½ cups.
  • Other crispy diced veggies of choice (optional), about another ½ cup or so. I often use Green Bell Peppers, diced.
  • I small can of condensed cream of chicken soup.
  • One whole stick of real butter, (½ cup).
  • 1/2 cup of water and a box of any flavor stuffing mix.
  • Extra sage. Nice if you can dice up some fresh picked from the garden. Be very generous with this spice as it is the main flavor element.

I also includes:

  • sea salt, once at every stage for every new elemental step. In other words, salt all items/stages on their own merit as though you were just salting that thing. That way every element has its own salt added.
  • pepper,
  • dill weed, and
  • turmeric for color and flavor. It adds a nice yellow tint to the cakes. Don’t need much.
  • Jalepeno pepper powder
  • 1 cup Bread crumbs. Homemade if you can. Store bought if you can’t. I also have been known to use any or all of Ritz crackers, Wheaties, Rice Krispies and the store bought crumbs too in this recipe.

There’s all the ingredients and so now we create.

  1. Cook and debone all fish ahead of time as you normally would or even a slight bit under cooked, but make sure to cook it long enough to get it off the bone. I find 5 to 6 minutes/side works well. Ten minutes/side is always max anyway, even if you’re only going to cook the fish once and eat it, but remember we’re cooking this fish again, so don’t worry if it isn’t quite all the way done the first time. Trying to get this step done the day before is even nicer because it is quite a bit of work. Simply gather, bag and refrigerate the fish overnight. The next day, put the fish in a big bowl and salt and pepper to taste, prior to and independent from the rest of the recipe.
  2. Melt the butter in a medium fry pan
  3. Add diced celery and onions and any other diced veggies and all spices except the extra sage, to taste, Sauté until sweated.
  4. Add soup. Sauté till heated. Remove from heat.
  5. Pour pan onto cold fish and add;
    1. The eggs and more salt,
    2. Box of stuffing mix,
    3. The 1 cup of water,
    4. The 1 cup of (homemade), bread crumbs and the extra sage.
    5. More sea salt here if you wish.
    6. Gently fold into fish. Try not to break up the fish too much, you’ll be glad you did.
    7. Form into Three Inch Cakes, One Inch Thick. Yeild about 26-30
    8. Cool cakes at least two hours in refrigerator until firm (optional).

Prepare to dip and fry in shallow oil.

Note:

Always make sure oil stays at the right temperature, as you will constantly be challenging that parameter. When you add cakes the oil cools off. When you run low and add more oil, it cools off. As you take the cakes out, the oil heats up. It is a delicate and artful endeavor all by itself, and a never ending battle to keep the oil from getting too hot, (it will turn dark), or staying too cold, (it will absorb too much). Neither is acceptable. Good Luck!

Here’s what I do. I use about three or four beaten eggs for dipping and then roll the cakes in more of my homemade breadcrumbs and THIS is where you add the Jalapeño pepper powder, (optional, but highly recommended) into the crumbs.

Also I usually do all of the egg dipping first and place all dipped cakes on a big platter, THEN do the rolling in crumbs and place in about one inch of hot oil. Leave one space in the pan open for flipping. If you’re going to freeze some, make sure to cook them only till barely golden, so when you reheat them for a meal, you crisp and darken them up the rest of the way, AND, you don’t need to add any more oil, it’s already in there. Just defrost and heat in a toaster oven or in a pan on the stove. In addition, you can slowly pan heat them right from frozen. It just takes a little bit longer. Good Luck!

And have fun with this one! These are REAL tasty

Also here's my cakesauce recipe.

Combine, in descending order, Tartar Sauce, Horseradish, hot sauce and a little ketchup and apple cider vinegar/lemon to taste. It's GREAT!

 

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Replies

  • Is anybody even going to try them?

    • I can't promise when, but I will try it. Just need to find the time. All the ingredients are basic and can be non-GMO organic derived. Always looking for healthier alternatives!
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