Jamie's Salmon Fishcakes recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why do my homemade fish cakes fall apart? ›

You need to work the mixture more. Kneading or mixing the mixture changes the protein and makes it sticky. That help the cakes stay together.

Remove all packaging. OVEN: Place on a baking tray on the middle shelf of a preheated oven for the time specified. FROM CHILLED: Fan 180°C/Electric 200°C/Gas 6 for 20 mins. FROM FROZEN: Fan 180°C/Electric 200°C/Gas 6 for 35 mins.

Cooking instructions

Cooking from frozen: Brush liberally with cooking oil and place on an oven proof tray, put into an oven preheated 200°C / 180°C Fan / Gas Mark 6 and cook for approx 35-40 mins.

Eggs and cracker crumbs will help bind everything together below a drift of spice. Make sure to leave some time to chill the resulting patties in the refrigerator – the cold will help them set up so they don't fall apart in the sauté pan.

If you have a lot of salmon patties to make, you can even forgo the pan altogether and bake them on a sheet tray in the oven. This way, even if your patties are a little too wet or dry you can still get a decent shape; less flipping means less chance of the patties falling apart.

Fry, adjusting the heat as needed, until one side of the cakes is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Turn and brown the other side. Peek into one of the cakes to be sure it's cooked through and then keep the batch warm in the oven while you fry the rest. Right before serving, squeeze lime juice over the fishcakes.

Cornflakes are classic breading material, but any grain-based, not-too-sweet cereal works great as a stand-in for traditional breadcrumbs. Corn or rice Chex, Wheaties, and even savory granola and oat-based cereals would make a great crust for your chicken breast or fish filets.

Defrost frozen fish cakes overnight in fridge and cook as above. Alternatively, to cook straight from frozen, heat grill to medium, oil fish cakes as per recipe then grill 12-15 mins one side to brown, before flipping and grilling the other side for 5 mins more.

Balance the binders with the moisture

Every salmon patty or cake recipe calls for some combination of binding ingredients. These usually include eggs, flour, breadcrumbs, cracker crumbs, ground flaxseed, and so on. Without these binders, the salmon has nothing to stick to, so you can't form patties.

Why are my fishcakes mushy? ›

Typically, if the fishcakes turn out mushy, there's too much moisture in the patties. You can remove excess moisture by pressing the patties with a paper towel. Avoid overdrying them out, or they'll fall apart while cooking.

A classic choice is breadcrumbs, but you could integrate crushed up crackers, almond flour, or even mashed (or smashed) potatoes into your fish cake mix. Not only will these ingredients help to hold your fish cake together; they'll help to keep your cakes from becoming dense pucks of protein.

The proteins in the egg will help bind together your fish cake mix as it cooks. Think of it as your glue: Without it, your fish cakes are going to fall apart. At minimum, you'll want to use one egg for every pound or so of fish so that you have enough “glue.” More is fine, though.

Fish steaks rarely break up. You need to first of all insure the fish isn't sticking to the pan. A combo of no stick and some olive oil with the pan preheated will help. A thin fillet of fish will cook quickly, but having said that you need to let it do its thing.