It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of crab cakes. I am—I could eat them everyday. My issue right now is that I can’t figure out where the crab meat in the store is actually coming from, and I’m trying to avoid Pacific sourced seafood at the moment due to the Fukushima radiation issues plus the fact that I’m pregnant (so I feel like being extra cautious about that is important). For the past year, I have lived in Santa Monica, CA, and I will admit that the restaurants along Ocean Ave have have served me some of the most amazing crab cakes I’ve ever eaten. The problem (at least for me) is that they generally serve one tiny crab cake on a tiny bed of frisee or greens for $15. I’m not opposed to paying top dollar for seafood, but I could eat 5 of those tiny things! On more than one occasion, the cousin and I would head out for half-price-wine night on Sunday evening, and we’d split a crab cake, caesar salad, and steak (and wine, duh)… for the bargain price of $125. Do you know how many salmon cakes you could make at home for that much money?! Me neither, but it’s a lot.
Although I am trying to avoid the Pacific, I am also trying to ingest more oily seafood and shellfish (haven’t reconciled that part yet). Salmon is a great solution, and I’m feeling confident about not worrying about mercury content as much as I might have if I hadn’t read Chris Kresser’s article about it.
I’m currently eating salmon twice a week, so I buy a big piece (or two) of it one day to cook, and then save the leftovers for salmon patties. My mom told me what types of ingredients usually go in salmon patties, and then I experimented…
I was cheering by myself in my apartment when I cooked a trial patty, with only unborn baby E to hear me. Hopefully E likes salmon because we’ll be eating a lot of these over the next several months!
World’s Best Salmon Patties
1 large piece of cooked salmon (mine was .75 lb this time)
¼ cup mayo
2-3 T Dijon mustard (depending on how zingy you want these!)
2 tsp old bay
2 tsp capers
½ breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 T Worcestershire
1-1.5 cups diced celery, carrots, onion, mushrooms, leftover veg in your fridge (my mom used yellow squash when she was here cooking for me) etc.
For the dip: extra mayo, old bay, lemon juice for sauce (add sweet relish instead of old bay if you like)
Note: I use leftover salmon for this, so it also has whatever topping/glaze on it that I made it with in the first place. Today’s version had a glaze made from orange marmalade, red onion, and Dijon (holy cow was that good! I’ll get pics of it next time and then share). The point here is that this is not an exact science—it will work with a variety of ingredients in variable amounts!
Directions: chop your veggies very finely (I used celery, carrot, and onion this time). On medium heat, sauté your veggies in butter until cooked thoroughly.
While the veggies are cooking, mix together all of the other ingredients in a bowl. Add more breadcrumbs if you need to, but wait until you’ve added the veggies to decide. You can start with less mayo if you think your salmon is really moist, or add a little extra at the end if your salmon is on the dry side.
Before you experiment too much with the mayo/breadcrumb amounts, add the cooked veggies and mix well. This should stick together pretty well and it should be pretty wet.
In your skillet on medium, cook your salmon patties in butter (I use a LOT—like a couple tablespoons and add more if I need to). Cook until both sides are golden brown and serve with dipping sauce. There’s no recipe to the dipping sauce—just keep tasting until it’s yummy!
Keep in mind that this is a basic recipe, and you’ll probably have to adjust some of the amounts. The best part is that if you use pastured farm eggs, you can keep tasting the mixture until you love it! I would eat this plain without cooking, but the crispy cooked outside is so good that I try to keep it to just taste testing as I’m mixing.
Are you a seafood fan? I love it!
By the way, the giveaway winner for the $1000 Amazon gift card has been randomly chosen and notified! Congrats Sarah Albertson!