I made fish cakes for dinner.

[xiphias]

Never made them before, mainly because I just don't like fish. My mother used to make fish cakes, mainly because I don't like fish, but now that I'm all growed up, they generally just eat fish if they want fish, instead of making fish cakes.

See, fish cakes, the way my family does 'em, are a way to 1. stretch your food budget by adding cheap filler to food scraps, and 2. a way to attempt to get your finicky kids to eat fish.

The "recipe" I used was something like this:

Take all the leftover (cooked) cod or scrod or other random whitefish that you'd cooked for another meal, and put it into the Kitchenaid mixer. Start the mixer going on the paddle attachment, while you think about what to do next. Throw an egg in there. Add in about a mess of instant mashed potatoes, because, hell, I LIKE instant mashed potatoes. Put in a can of tuna, because why not and that means that you can give the cat tuna juice 'cause she's been doing those big eyes at you ever since you took out the fish. Add mayonnaise, and salt and pepper. Add maybe a little milk to get the consistency right, which is a laugh, because you don't know what consistency you're going for since you've never made these before. Note that the kitchenaid mixer has not really been turned off for any of this stuff. It's just been going.

Take that incredibly stale baguette which you got about a month ago (well, it wasn't stale when we got it), and throw it in the food processor with the steel blade. Make it into breadcrumbs.

Form the fishy mixture into eight patties.

Put a mix of butter and vegetable oil into your biggest frypan. Set the pan on a medium-high heat to get up to a good frying temp.

Coat the eight fishy patties in breadcrumbs.

Fry the eight fishy patties on both sides.

Call Lis in for dinner.

Try them, and discover that, well, you STILL don't like fish, even when you add all these other things.

Watch Lis eat four of them, after saying that she was DEFINITELY going to stop after two. But maybe just one more. Or, well, you don't mind if I have a fourth one, do you?

So we still have four left for lunch tomorrow.

Comments

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

My mom used to make mackerel patties. We loved them, except when she burnt them. (This happened approximately half the time.) They were particularly good with ketchup. The cats loved them too--they got the bits of skin and bone, and the mackerel juice. We made them like a meatloaf except you then squished them into patties and fried them in a skillet just touched with oil. So, salt and pepper, egg and breadcrumbs. These days, I would add a bunch of herbs, but my mom has never really grasped that whole "seasoning" concept.

I've never been a big whitefish fan, but have you ever made salmon cakes? Half of it is finding a fish that tastes good (salmon, mackerel).

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I can't stand salmon. Many of my friends find this incomprehensible, as they cannot understand not liking salmon, but, in general, there aren't many fish I DO like. I mean, I can taste WHY gravlax and lox taste good; I can taste WHY people like herring, I get why trout and almonds taste good together.

But I don't like any of those, myself.

There are specific cases for which I make exceptions -- I like sushi, even things like octopus and mackerel (which I can't stand otherwise). I like gefilte fish, most of the time. Fish and chips, I like, mostly. And I like tuna fish, as steaks, as sushi, and as it comes out of the can.

And there was that bluefish that we got at the Cragie Street Bistrot that was just heavenly.

So my hatred of fish is not absolute, not by a long shot -- but, as a general rule, "ick."

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

Okay, we obviously have a different definition of what tastes good fish-wise. :)

[angelovernh.livejournal.com]

doesn't sound awful to me.. and at least Liz liked them so they didn't go to waste. :)

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Next time you make those, invite me. ;)

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

Sounds wonderful.
My dad used to make codfish cakes, using the Gorton's mix. He's not made them since I was in Jr high, and I haven't found the mix.

Methinks I need to set up a kitchen mixer.