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Fish cakes rank right up there with meatballs in my book: Comforting. Easy. Tasty without pretension.
Don’t get me wrong, I love to cook fancy food, too. But you can’t do that every day. Some days are for trout cakes. Specifically, those days after you catch lots of trout. Or kokanee. Or salmon, or whatever.
I use trout or kokanee because I like the play of mild, slightly oily trout with all the herbs. Salmon is just as good, especially a pink or chum salmon. But bluefish, mackerel, or another oily fish would work, too. And I won’t get mad at you if make this with bass, catfish, crappie, etc.
While it’s not specifically necessary, I find that the best fish cakes are made with “spoon meat,” which is meat scraped off the carcass of fish before they are cooked. You can get quite a lot of meat off carcasses this way — more than a pound on a big chinook salmon. The fish will cook perfectly well in the pan. Of course, you can also use leftover fish, too.
What separates this trout cake recipe from my salmon patties or my other fish cake recipe is herbs. Lots of herbs. They are a great counterpoint to the fish, and brighten things up quite a lot. A squeeze of lemon is all you need on them.
I like eating these as-is, or with a green salad. Any leftover cakes can be reheated gently in a pan or a 300°F oven and used as a great sandwich filling with some lettuce, tomato and mayo.
These trout cakes freeze well, too. Cook them first, then freeze, tightly wrapped, for up to 6 months.
Trout Cakes
Ingredients
- 1 pound trout meat, skinless and boneless
- 1 cup minced onion
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 1/4 cup chopped chives
- 1/4 cup chopped tarragon or dill
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil, for frying
Instructions
- Cook the minced onion with the butter in a small pan over medium heat until translucent, but not browned. Remove from the pan and let cool.
- Chop the trout meat with a knife into bits. You can chop very roughly and then pulse a couple times in a food processor, but you want the trout in little pieces, not as a paste.
- Mix all the remaining ingredients (except the frying oil) together in a large bowl. Form cakes with your hands. I like them about the width of my palm. You will need to wash your hands a couple times to remove debris; this helps you make cleaner, nicer cakes.
- Let the cakes sit in the fridge for 20 minutes or so -- this lets the breadcrumbs absorb moisture, which helps your cakes hold together.
- Heat the frying oil in a large, wide pan over medium-high heat. Fry as many cakes as will fit in one layer without touching. Cook them until each side is golden brown, about 4 to 6 minutes per side. Serve hot.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was delicious and so easy to make! I had leftover trout (with Cajun seasoning), did panko instead of breadcrumbs and soy sauce instead of Worcestershire sauce. Will absolutely make this again and have recommended to friends.
My husband and I went fishing and camping last week and caught lots of trout. After a good catching day I made this with linguine and a lemon butter cream sauce and it was one of the best meals we have ever had. My guy was not excited to have fish cakes on the menu but after one bite he wants these on regular rotation. They hold together amazing and the ingredients combine well and are flavorful without being too strong. Absolutely perfect.
I fixed these the other night, they were delicious. My husband loved them. I had 4 left over and I froze those. They will be a delicious treat down the road.
these were so freaking good. I used dill & left over brown trout. perfect moisturizer to dry ratio, had no problem with them falling apart.? appetizer!
Wow, these were the best! Caught some trout yesterday, smoked it today and came across this recipe – definite do-over and saving this to make again and again! I added the zest of 1/2 lemon and chopped up some capers to add my own twist to it and served with a garlic lemon aoli – super yummy!
Excellent recipe! Thank you. I’ll definitely cook these again!
Hank another phenomenal recipe!! I don’t know how you do it but I’m glad you do! Thank you
Can I use Steel Head Trout for this recipe
Gloria: Absolutely.
is it possible to make the fish cakes with panko? or even panko and mashed potatoes in the same recipe?
Danielle: yes, but I personally don’t like panko.
Excellent! I should have weighed my fish better as I used too much but that didn’t take away from the awesome fish cakes flavor. Printed this one off to use again and again. Anxious to try the cakes using the mashed potatoes next.
These turned out so good! I used leftover trout that I already had cooked. I used a little less fresh herbs than the recipe called for and still it had so much flavour. I was a bit worried that the cakes wouldn’t hold together because they seemed very wet when I formed them. but they surprisingly held together pretty well Everyone liked them and my husband said they were restaurant quality.
Tasty, but herb content left them a little overwhelming.
Excellent and easy. Used gluten free bread crumbs. Perfect. Thank you.
These are great! I use leftover lake trout that was baked. My son likes more than crab cakes!