Wild and Smoked Haddock Fish Cakes
Fish on Friday and Edwardian Fish Cakes with Wild and Smoked Haddock
Edwardian Breakfast
Another week has galloped by and it’s Friday already, and the first Friday in February too. As you may remember from my previous posts, I recently won the photo competition on the Fish is the Dish website……….and my wonderful prize was a hamper of mixed fish courtesy of John from Delish Fish. My hamper was packed full of the most amazing Scottish fish and seafood and I have been quietly beavering away and developing new fishy recipes over the last week; subsequently we have all been enjoying the rewards of my piscine experimentation in the kitchen. I will be showcasing some lovely new recipes over the next few weeks, all made from my fish and seafood booty, but today I am sharing a rather humble recipe for fish cakes……..but, NOT SO humble actually, as these fish cakes are made with swimmingly fresh wild Scottish haddock as well as smoked haddock. Why on earth would I make fish cakes with such wonderful luxury ingredients you may be thinking, well, the fish that I used was all leftovers from other meals that I have made, hence the mashed potatoes too.
Edwardian Fish Cakes
I have been reading about Edwardian food, recipes and diet recently; the Edwardians were gargantuan eaters, well those in the middle to upper classes of course, poverty is always reserved for the poor whatever the century. Huge breakfasts of devilled kidneys, kedgeree, bacon, eggs, sausages, cold ham, kippers, jams, honey, bread buns, muffins, crumpets, pancakes, hot chocolate, coffee, tea, marmalade and toast would have graced the sideboards of most Edwardian country houses and wealthy town houses. We all have images of white gloved butlers gliding along with huge silver salvers to place on the breakfast serving table. The Edwardians were great lovers of fish, especially smoked fish of which smoked haddock was highly regarded. Kedgeree was a popular dish as well as kippers, and fish cakes were often served at breakfast time, as well as an in between course for the main evening meal. The Edwardians would not have considered fish cakes as a “stand alone” meal as we would today. This recipe has beautiful fresh herbs in it, as well as that very Edwardian of flavourings, Anchovy essence and capers. The fish cakes are rich and yet the herbs lighten them up, and they are just superb when served with watercress or bitter salad leaves.
Edwardian Fish Cakes
I am not suggesting that you make these fish cakes as part of a blow out breakfast, but they would be fabulous for a light supper or luncheon dish. I made my fish cakes from pre-cooked fish, however, I have listed the method of cooking the fish in my recipe below. Do try to source the anchovy essence, it adds a saltiness and extra layer to the taste of these fish cakes and brings the Edwardian flavours to the fore. The capers are also pretty important not only for the taste but also for the texture. These fish cakes can me made well in advance and will sit quite happily (covered) in the fridge for up to 6 hours before cooking and serving them. You can also freeze them at the pre-fried stage too. I hope that you will enjoy these as much as we did last night, and I’ll see you later with news of my two new weekend challenges of Herbs on Saturday and Slow Sunday, bye for now, Karen.
Edwardian Fish Cakes
Print recipe
| Serves | 4 |
| Prep time | 30 minutes |
| Cook time | 30 minutes |
| Total time | 1 hour |
| Region | British |
| By author | Karen S Burns-Booth |
Ingredients
- 250g wild haddock fillets
- 200g smoked haddock
- 450g mashed potatoes, leftovers
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon chives
- 2 tablespoons Anchovy essence
- 1 heaped tablespoon capers, drained and chopped
- 1 free-range egg, beaten
- 4 to 6 tablespoons fresh breadcrumbs (for coating)
Note
Wonderful old fashioned style fish cakes with smoked haddock, fresh wild haddock and fresh herbs. If you can source Panko crumbs, they make a better coating than normal breadcrumbs. These can be made well in advance and are all the better for being chilled for several hours, which helps the fish cakes keep their shape during cooking.
Directions
| Step 1 | Heat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. |
| Step 2 | Put the fish in a roasting tin and cook in the oven for about 10-15 minutes until opaque and starting to flake. When cool enough to handle, take off the skin, remove any bones and flake the fish into large chunks. |
| Step 3 | Mix the fish, mashed potato, parsley, chives, capers and anchovy essence together until well combined. (Mix together carefully so as not to break up the fish too much.) Season, to taste, with some freshly ground black pepper. (No salt is needed as the anchovy essence and smoked haddock is already salty) |
| Step 4 | Shape the mixture into 8 fish cakes, dip each one into the beaten egg and then coat with the breadcrumbs. Then set aside to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. |
| Step 5 | Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan and heat the fish cakes until golden brown on each side and heated right through, about 15 to 20 minutes. |
| Step 6 | Serve with tartare sauce, salad leaves and bread for a light supper or lunch. |
Edwardian Fish Cakes
Charlotte @gofreecakes says
Karen, your fish cakes look delicious. It is interesting the difference between ours, as I omitted the breadcrumbs to make them gluten free, but I really feel breadcrumbs do finish them off nicely. I’ll have to work on some gluten free breadcrumbs to keep Tony happy!
Very interesting too to read your comments about the Edwardian diet. I’m not sure I would have managed very well with all that food, as greedy as I am!
Charlotte
@gofreecakes
Karen says
Thanks Charlotte! Yes, you would have to use gluten-free bread crumbs for these as the crumbs do add an extra crunch to the exterior. The fish that came from Delish Fish is just amazing, I am enjoying it tremendously. Karen
Misk Cooks says
Gorgeous colour that you were able to get on your cakes. Very pretty. 🙂
Karen says
Thanks! The colour comes from the crumbs and long slow cooking, not too high a heat! Karen
Dominic says
I could happily eat those for breakfast… they look divine, I love the darkly crisp coating, that really works for me… well done on your won too, lovely to get a hamper full of fish.. nice!
Karen says
I was THRILLED with my win Dom, as the hamper was filled with langoustines, scallops, salmon and haddock, all sustainably caught and bursting with the freshness of the sea. Karen
A Trifle Rushed says
Karen, another great post. I must tell you at my daughter’s school (which is Roman Catholic) the girls now call Fridays “Fishy Fridays” since fish is the option for the day! I’m always thrilled to get inspiration and new ideas for cooking fish on Fridays, (although we’re going veggie tonight.)
And unlike Charlotte, I think I must be an Edwardian, certainly I seem to eat like one! (I’m just 100 years too late!)
Now I’m going to make some of your lovely lemon curd, yum!
Karen says
Thanks Jude! I was rather pleased with these fish cakes, the capers and anchovy essence are the key elements along with the amazing fish of course.
Brilliant, let me know how the lemon curd comes out!
Karen
Dave at eRecipeCards says
Karen, now that is indeed a terrific prize! Great showcase for the product and as always, love the dinner with a story theme for your blog posts.
Dave
Karen says
Many thanks Dave!
Lauren says
Paul and I are both big fans of fishcakes and these look divine!
It’s amazing how much people (at least well-off people) used to eat. I’m always astonished at the number of courses Mrs. Beeton suggests for even “plain” family dinners. Perhaps they only ate a teeny bit of each course? Hard to believe we’re just now experiencing an obesity epidemic!
Karen says
Thank Lauren. I also adore fish cakes – humble they may be but they are always considered a treat when I make them. Mrs Beeton does indeed suggest immense meals, and I am not sure that I could manage them, even if the portions for small!
Marie says
Lovely looking fishcakes Karen. I do love fish cakes. Smoked fish is not something that I have really taken to over here. I just find the flavour too strong. I was brought up on Salt Cod and that is what we use back home to make our fishcakes with. I do make a lovely fish cake with fresh cod, which is nice and has no fillers like potato and bread. You are right about the crumbs. Most people are just in too big a hurry. Slow and stead wins the race, or in this case, gets the tastiest looking cripsy crumb coating!
Karen says
I LOVE salt cod too Marie! Some smoked fish in the UK have had bad press, as the smoked taste and colour is artificial, a real smoked fish is not yellow but is a dark creamy colour and tastes subtle and slightly smoky! Like you, I take my time to get those golden crumbs! Karen
Cakeboule says
Delicious! These look wonderfully crisp – how you managed to photograph them without eating them I will never know!
Karen says
Thanks! They were devoured as soon as the camera had been turned off! Karen
heather says
These look very yummy indeed! I can just imagine this served at Downton Abbey. Its amazing what was considered for just ONE meal. Wow. All that food you listed sounds like a day or two’s worth of food! Such decadence, although I hope now we’ve learned to not be so wasteful with our food. Oh, what their servants must have thought!
Karen says
Thanks Heather! I know, the quantities were just huge, more than I could eat in a week!
laura@howtocookgoodfood says
I could eat these fishcakes at any time of the day, such a versatile dish and I do like the idea of adding anchovy essence. I need to give these a go soon!
Karen says
I am a big fan of fish cakes too and these were lovely due to the excellent quality fish.