I’ve got a bunch of canned salmon in the cupboard. Usually, I make salmon cakes out of canned salmon. But Mrs. L.A. sometimes objects to fried foods. I was thinking that tonight, I’d mix up salmon cakes (Zatarain’s Salmon Cake Mix, mayonnaise, eggs) and shape it into a loaf. Bake at 350ºF until it looks done. (I’m guessing about 45 minutes.) Make a lemon-dill Béchamel sauce, and pour it on the salmon loaf and let it cook a bit before taking it out of the oven. Serve with fresh broccoli.
I’d still form it into cakes. the baking should still make the outside crispy-ish. Brush with butter or mayonnaise for more crispy-ness. It’ll reduce the cooking time too.
I’d put it in a greased loaf pan. Not sure how well the mayo would work, I’d substitute sour cream, but at least should let the mix sit for a while in the pan before cooking to get either one well absorbed by the breading. As suggested above you can form cakes and bake them, a lot of crab cakes are made that way.
Give it a shot, but I think you’ll find that baked fish cakes are not nearly as good as fried fish cakes.
I use roughly equal amounts of cooked fish and mashed potatoes, add lightly sauteed onion and parsley, dijon mustard, S+P, an egg or 2, enough breadcrumbs until you can form solid cakes that are not too wet.
Form the cakes and roll them in breadcrumbs before you fry them.
This is a serious crowd pleaser. Look up a recipe for homemade tartar sauce and you’ll blow people away.
Let us know how it goes.
For the first time in many years, I was thinking a few days ago about the salmon loaf my mom used to make when we were kids and wondering if I could replicate it, and whether it would be any good. Most of what she made back then was pretty bland… Zatarain’s, you say?
Tonka knows that if ‘dad’ is in the kitchen, he stands a good chance of getting a treat. (Not always, but often enough.) Both of the cats got dishes of ‘salmon juice’. Creamsicle doesn’t seem to be into that so much, so I think she just had a taste of hers. Tonka lapped up most of his.
