Is it “salmon patties” or “salmon cakes” – anyone know the difference?
Kent and I have never liked salmon. In the past year or so we've had it at a two different friends' houses and loved it, but couldn't pull it off ourselves. It always had such a strong fishy taste. So we weren't real hopeful about this recipe, but knowing that salmon is so nutrient-dense (high in omega-3's and antioxidants!), we wanted to give it a shot and find a way we could get the kids eating it, too.
Can't get the kids (or yourself) to take your cod liver oil like you should?
Kent is Mr. ex-Marine with so much self-discipline that he annoys me at times, and he takes his cod liver oil oil every. single. morning. He says if he doesn't, his skin dries out very noticeably. (Here's more about the kinds I recommend.) The kids and I aren't always as consistent as we should be, so if we can get more fish into our diets, even better. Plus salmon is pretty economical, too.
Check out Chris Kresser's post for more on the comparison of eating fish vs. cod liver oil: The Fish vs. Fish Oil Smackdown
Turns out that natural wins again. Real fish is better, BUT cod liver oil is a close second! However, it's good to know that Weston A. Price was right again about the power of healthy pastured fats in your meal, because Chris also says this, “On the other hand, taking fish oil capsules with a high-fat meal can greatly improve their absorption, to the point where they may be on par with whole fish. (I say “may be” because the scientific literature is mixed on this.) This is likely due to the effect described above, where the presence of other fats activates the body’s fat absorption mechanisms.”
Wonder which kind of salmon to buy?
This brand is less money, but this brand I trust more. Even better is this one that I believe comes in BPA-free cans (but couldn't verify that before posting – search “salmon” there and scroll down to find the canned). All three have the only ingredient listed as wild-caught salmon, NO preservatives like the kinds at the store!
Warning: It's not like tuna when you open the can…with just tuna in there
Kent picked through it to get the bones and skin and icky stuff out. (Yes, I'd have been a big girl and done it if he wasn't here, but he was here and he's just that awesome. He cleans up, too!) Once that's done, it's time to mix it up…
Update: See the comments from Dani below, where I'm given a challenge to eat ALL of it, yikes!
Fried Salmon Patties
Your yield will depend on how big you make the patties. This was enough to feed our family of six.
Ingredients
- 3 cans wild caught salmon (I get this kind or this kind or this kind – read more about those above – either the 6 oz. or the 7.5 oz. is fine)
- About 2 cups bread crumbs or your favorite cracker crumbs (Try this sourdough cracker recipe! Or this soaked bread recipe. Or just buy some of these organic crackers. I used 4 oz. crackers plus 2 slices of fermented bread from our local baker.)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- Herbs and seasonings to your taste – we used the following:
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 3/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 1/2 Tablespoon cilantro (I used dried cilantro but would've preferred fresh if I'd had it)
- 1 1/2-2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1-2 teaspoons onion powder
- Pastured butter or ghee for frying
- Optional – I've seen recipes calling for a spoonful of mayo (here's my homemade mayo recipe), minced, fresh or dried onion, chopped bell peppers, celery, diced jalapenos, parsley – you could try lots of things! My goal main was getting it by the kids this time.
- Optional – you might want to dip it in a sour cream sauce for more flavor (sour creammixed with sea salt, pepper, and fresh lemon juice)
- Optional – we served it with buttered pasta — you could use whatever is your favorite. A rice pasta or quinoa pasta if you're eating gluten-free, or if you eat regular pasta, then try the Einkorn pasta or spelt pasta that we love.
Instructions
Use a food processor to make your crackers or bread into crumbs. Once you get the salmon cleaned up as described above, mix it with the rest of the ingredients. Form into patties and fry in plenty of ghee 'til golden brown, but not too done or it will dry out. I used our favorite pan because I can cook so many at once.
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We were so happy when everyone ate this up. It was a bit more bland than the super flavorful meals we normally like to make around here, but Kent and I agreed that A. Adding extra herbs and seasonings could fix that; and B. Anyone who likes a classic tuna fish casserole (with cracker crumbs on top) would also like this recipe, it tasted almost exactly the same. Especially since we had it with buttered pasta. And there was no over-powering salmon-fishy taste!
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- Check out my other seafood recipes!
- Crab Rangoons are one of my favorites – you can make it with or without the crab.
- Have you seen Chris Kresser's new book yet? I posted on it recently: Paleo Proponent Chris Kresser: “Dairy and Certain Gr
ains OK for Some – Paleo is a Starting Point, Not a Destination
ains OK for Some – Paleo is a Starting Point, Not a DestinationMeal Planning Help!
Sick of planning meals and answering the question, “What am I going to feed these people?” No matter what kind of eater you are… Check out these affordable interactive easy-to-use meal plans where the work is done for you! Also read over my review to see what I thought of it.
If heating CLO makes it lose its nutrients, wouldn’t frying salmon make it lose its nutrients?
Hi Paul,
It would lose *some* of its nutrients, but not all. That’s why it’s good to eat some of our foods raw — we drink raw milk, sometimes raw egg yolks (in smoothies for example), raw veggies, etc.
Kelly
Need an easy recipe to fry salmon patties? Please help me
Angelita, I’m not sure what you’re asking here. My recipe in this post IS an easy fried salmon patty recipe…??
Kelly
I’m making this tonight. I subbed 1/2 cup of potato flour for 1 cup of the bread crumbs (the other cup was made from the dried up butt of a gluten-free loaf I forgot was wrapped in a towel in a basket on the baker’s rack – can’t believe I forgot it, hm), summer savory for the cilantro, 2 T minced fresh garlic, and 1/2 cup minced fresh onion. I’m not sure there will be any left for frying, it’s so tasty already!
I buy sweet potatoes, peel them and cut them up in chunks and cook them on the stove (you could also microwave them). I then mash the sweet potatoes and mix it with the salmon and then make the patties.
Salmon to fishy? Do not like canned salmon? There is a reason. Farmed fish is the vast majority of what is sold in supermarkets. And all too often, pink salmon is colored with food coloring, to pass it off as the much more desired sockeye/red salmon.
And canned? Here in Alaska, we tend to not eat it so much. Its generally reserved for feeding sled dogs.
It is bland and not all that fatty. When we do land a fresh one, we will beer batter it, which really ramps up the flavor considerably.
This is not to say it is not nutritious, but it can help you in realizing why salmon is just not working for you.
Just read Dani’s comment about ignoring the “stuff” in the can. One of my friends uses a hand held mixer and just mixes all the stuff together with the salmon. I am going to try Elaine’s egg dish. Another great way to use salmon is in a cream cheese dip- combine a 16 oz. can salmon drained and flaked with 8 oz. cream cheese, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp minced onion, 1 tsp horseradish (or more) 1/4 tsp salt. Chill mixture for several hours. Combine 1/2 cup toasted walnuts (almonds or pecans) and 3 tbsp parsley. When mixture is chilled shape into a log or ball. Roll in nuts/ parsley. Serve with crackers/ toasted pita chips or bagel chips. We spread leftovers on toasted bagels.
I used to hate salmon too. I then learned I was eating the wrong kind! I was buying farmed salmon and it always tasted very fishy. I have learned since that wild sockeye is really healthy and started cooking that. Now there isn’t an overly strong fishy taste. I love it! I accidentally bought farm raised two weeks ago, and still hate the taste.
Here’s another way to get some salmon in (without any bones!). Butter a couple of ramekins and shred up a couple of tablespoons (I use my fingers) of smoked salmon. Break an egg over that and cover the egg with a tablespoon or two of cream (or milk). You can add any number of other things or keep it really simple (diced tomatoes, avocado, herbs, spices, etc.). Broil till set and bubbly or bake if you like your egg a little more well set. Delish!! This is from the person who gagged over eggs until about 3 years ago and slowly trained myself to like them.
I should probably add that the smoked salmon is pretty pricey (at least in my book) but we get at least 3 breakfasts of about 4 ramekins out of one package of the salmon. I divide the remainder up after the first cooking and freeze in small containers for the other 2 meals.
Sadly, these days we don’t eat Alaskan salmon–too much concern about radiation leaking from the Japanese Nuclear Reactor and its waste water.
It’s heartbreaking—I love salmon!!
Starting to wonder about cod liver oil too……………………….
Yeah – me, too. Anyone else care to weigh in?? In one of the articles I read about it, they mentioned salmon from the cold waters of the northeast coast (Maine, Nova Scotia, etc.) and even Scotland. I have seen smoked salmon from Scotland and have used it in a recipe that we love – it was delicious.
I found another article by Chris Kresser that addresses this!
https://chriskresser.com/fukushima-seafood
Kelly
Gosh, doesn’t anybody make Salmon LOAF?? I am way too lazy to make all those patties. I buy the large cans of wild caught, use two, throw in a couple eggs, a generous handful of oats, seasonings, chopped celery and onion and a tiny can of tomato paste…and I get an awesome loaf that lasts hubby and I two meals and a small lunch. Yep…way too lazy to make patties, so much easier to do a loaf!
Hey Lisa, that’s a great idea!
Kel
I always dump out the can and use the back of a large spoon to mash it all up. The bones are so soft that they mash up easily! Much easier than trying to pick out bones and skin – and good for you too!!
I mash mine up with a fork before stirring in other ingredients and get fussed at by my kids if I mash too thoroughly – they love to find one of the little round bones and crunch it! haha – knew you’d love that, Kelly!!
Wow, you’ve got adventurous kids. If that happened with my kids, they might never go near it again! LOL.
Kelly
Oh, Lady, I gotta tell you a story. I will never forget the first time I opened a can of salmon. I, much like you, was seriously grossed out by all the random skins and bones in the can along with the tasty fish, and spent entirely too much time picking it out and wasting half of what was in the can. As I discussed it with a friend, she told me to ignore all that stuff, just close your eyes, turn your head, try not to think about it, but mix it all into whatever you’re making (I was making salmon melts with all sorts of goodies mixed in, including crunchy pumpkin seeds), and enjoy the extra calcium. You know what? I did it, and I never looked back. When she told me that she looks for those little vertebraes and takes them out and eats them for the pop, I nearly gagged, but then I got over it, and I use the entire contents of the can. No missing goodness that way!
Try it, especially in this form–you might be surprised at how when you notice it, you’ll notice a satisfying, “Ah, a little extra calcium and magnesium, YUM!” and before you know it, you’ll be a full-fledged fan!
“in this form” – as in, your cakes/patties form. Add some walnuts or pecans, something with some substance, and you might not be able to tell the difference between the nuts and the bones! I had a friend that broke her hand and I suggested she eat the whole salmon from cans (she’s not a real foodie, so I couldn’t convince her bone broths would help, but she does high protein stuff, paleo style), and her doctor was amazed at how quickly the bone healed up.
Hi Dani,
Wow… You’ve got my brain cooking. Just not sure I can do this, but I never thought I’d be able to put chicken feet in my homemade broth either and I did that! 🙂 (Check out the pictures here! https://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/07/chicken-feet-in-my-soup-sick.html)
I’m wondering, maybe if I threw it all into my food processor and grind the heck out of it and THEN add in nuts or something crunchy like you suggested, maybe…
Thanks for challenging me!
Kelly
That’s funny, I hadn’t seen that post before now! It’s from about 3 1/2 years ago, and look how far we’ve (BOTH!) come since leaving the SAD life. I’ll never forget the first time I made chicken feet broth, I’d read somewhere to remove the toenails (I still can’t decide if it’s less icky to call them claws, talons… ew), so I actually cut them all off… OH the things we learn are totally unnecessary! Whole feet now go in with whatever leftover bones remain to make broth.
Glad you’re up to The Fishbone Challenge; you’ll have to report back on the results! I haven’t had salmon in a while (moving; ugh, can’t cook ANYTHING when there might be showings, and let’s not open a smelly can of fish, either LOL), but I’m going to have to pick some up, and I swear, I’m gonna grab out one little vertebra and smack down on it, thinking about you the whole while!
Ewwwww!!!!
We LOVE salmon patties at my house…even my VERY picky 13-year old will eat them!!! Dill is another great spice with salmon. Mix up a little homemade mayonnaise or Greek yogurt, onion powder and dill to make a dipping sauce. Tzatziki sauce is also great with salmon patties.
We’ll do this, or we will make salmon salad instead of tuna salad. 🙂
We love Salmon Patties – had them for dinner last night. They are one of my “pull a rabbit out of the hat dinners” when it’s 5:30 and I still don’t know what’s for dinner 🙂 Being a southern gal I do things just a tad differently … just 3 ingredients: salmon, egg and enough cornmeal to make it hold its shape, coat the patties in more cornmeal and fry it in bacon grease … mmmmm. I always serve with mashed potatoes and a green veggie. We like to dip ours in ketchup and hopefully this won’t make you gag but cold, leftover patties are delicious, too!
We eat salmon patties about once / week! I use dried rosemary and lemon juice – it’s a very economical dinner option! I’ve also heard canned salmon is good because they actually process the bones when they can it, so there’s more available calcium. Off to try it with fresh cilantro – yum!
Any ideas if the brands linked to above are BPA-free?
Hi Steve,
Look up in the post under “Wonder which kind to buy” and there’s a blurb on that.
Kelly
I have been making salmon patties for years and my kids always ate them up. I make them early in the day and stick them in the freezer. The patties seem to hold up better when I fry them. We like them with spicy mustard.