Best Salmon Cakes Ever

I grew up in a large single-parent family. My mother cooked a lot of mackerels but never salmon because mackerels were cheaper and could be stretched further in a stew to feed ten children. Therefore, I never had salmon cakes when I was growing up. After the children grew up and left that southern country town, my siblings learned to make salmon cakes, but I never gave it a thought until recently. I heard them talking about how good salmon cakes are.

So, I gave it a try just a few days ago. I asked seven of my sisters for their recipes. They were very accommodating, but I got seven different versions. I mixed and match theirs to come up with my own recipe.

SPOILER ALERT: My first batch of salmon cakes turned out to be the best salmon cakes I had ever made considering they were the first ones I had ever made.

Brand of Salmon

I first asked my sisters which brand of salmon I should buy. Their answer varied from "I don't know" to "I just buy what's on sale." One sister said she buys pink salmon. I told her pink salmon was the name of the salmon because of the color of its flesh and not the brand name. We debated that issue for a while until I turned to another sister and she said, "Let me check to my cabinet to see because I just pick up any kind off the shelf at the grocery store." Another sister said even though she cooks salmon very often, she just picks up the one in the red can and has never noticed the brand name. The last sister I asked said she didn't care about the brand. She just buys what's on sale.

Without getting much help with the brand name from my sisters, I went online and saw many different brands such as Bumble Bee, StarKist and Chicken of the Sea. I recognized those names as being a type of tuna. So, those are the ones I put on my shopping list.

I couldn't find either of those three brands at my local grocery store. I picked up a can of Double "Q" and was reading the label when a customer came by and said she was looking for Double "Q" salmon. There was only one can left on the shelf, and she was delighted. I asked her why she was so excited about getting the only can of Double "Q" that was left. She said, "It is the best. After trying those other brands, that is the only one I now use." I felt like I was holding a jackpot in my hand. I had accidentally picked up my first can of salmon and was pleased to pay the sale price of $3.39 for it.

Recipe for Salmon Cakes

With the many recipes and tips I had gathered for making salmon cakes, below is the one I chose with ingredients that I like. While I don't like adding a lot of ingredients to recipes, I did the opposite of what one sister said. She shared with me that she adds only salt and pepper to her salmon and nothing else.

Some people use flour, bread crumbs, mayonnaise, crackers, or corn flakes. I chose to crumble up crackers in my recipe. One sister told me I could purchase a salmon cake mix that calls for only mayonnaise. I saw on some YouTube channels that you can add parsley, chopped onions, chopped red bell pepper, and diced green bell pepper to your recipe to enhance the taste. I love bell peppers and onions. So, I included them.

My Ingredients

• 1 can of Double "Q" salmon (drained and deboned)
• 1-2 eggs
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley (optional)
• 1 medium onion finely diced
• 1 cup finely diced red bell pepper
• 1 cup finely diced green bell pepper
• 1 cup bread crumbs, flour, mayonnaise, or crushed crackers
• black pepper
• 1 tablespoon oil or butter added to the skillet for frying

Helpful Tips

1. Drain the salmon.
2. Discard the black skin because it could contain toxins.
3. Pull out the big bone in the middle of the salmon. There is no need to throw away the small soft bones because they are edible and healthy. I prefer to throw all the bones away because I do not want to knowingly eat bones.
4. You don't need to add salt because salmon is naturally salty.
5. Make sure pan is hot enough to brown the salmon patties.
6. Turn cakes over only once after one side has turned brown.

More Salmon Debates

After I made my first salmon cakes, I told my sisters about my culinary skills. One sister asked how many did I make. I told her my recipe yielded eight salmon cakes. Her first reaction was that she usually gets only four from a can. She said I must have made my cakes too small in order to get that many. I told her she must have made hers too big.

I tried to explain to her that I had used peppers, onions, and crackers that stretched mine to be more than hers after she had used only salt and pepper. I also pointed out that I used an ice cream scooper to make my patties because I don't like to have a wet mixture in my bare hands.

Actually, the smaller ones could be called croquettes while the bigger ones are called cakes or patties. I didn't express that to my sister because that would have been another debate.

However, there was another debate about the sauce to use on the salmon cakes. One sister says she uses no sauce at all. She eats the cakes just like they come from the pan. Another sister said she uses hot sauce. One sister said she uses catsup. Another sister insisted that tartar sauce is the best to top salmon cakes. I like spicy foods. Therefore, I topped my salmon cakes with the spicy cocktail sauce that I use on the other fish I eat.

Last Debate

I asked my sister one final question about salmon cakes: "Do you eat them for breakfast, lunch, or dinner?" Some gave a smart answer and said, "I eat them whenever I want to." Some said they eat theirs for breakfast with eggs. Others said they eat them as a dinner meal.

I ate three of my patties for lunch the day I cooked them. I ate three for dinner with a salad. I ate the final two with scrambled eggs the next day for breakfast. Therefore, salmon cakes can be eaten at all three meals of the day.

Conclusion of the Matter

I learned enough from my maiden voyage of preparing salmon cakes that I will make them confidently on my own the next time. I know the brand name to purchase, the ingredients to use, the size and shape to yield the number I want as well as my favorite topping.

To my salmon making sisters: "Bon appétit!"