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Salmon Cutlets
1 cup hot mashed potatoes 1 cup flaked salmon Egg and crums Salt and pepper 1 teaspoon lemon-juice Add potato to salmon. Season with salt, pepper and lemon-juice. Shape into cutlets, egg and crum and fry in deep fat.
A two-ingredient croquette from the era when a can of salmon was pantry staple and yesterday's potatoes were never thrown out. The mixture is stiff, so success rests on getting it cold before it meets the fat.
- Chill before fryingThe recipe says nothing about it, but shaped cutlets should be refrigerated at least 30 minutes before breading and frying. Warm potato-salmon mixture slumps and bursts its coating in the fat.
- "Crums"In period frying recipes this usually meant dry breadcrumbs rather than soft fresh ones, though the recipe does not specify. Dip the shaped cutlet in beaten egg (one egg, loosened with a spoonful of water), then press into crumbs on all sides.
- SalmonA standard modern can of pink or red salmon yields well over the cup needed here, so one can covers this and a little over. The soft vertebrae are edible and were often mashed in; pick them out if you prefer, but drain the fish well either way.
- Mashed potatoesThe recipe calls for them hot. Keep the mash dry, with little or no milk or cream added, or the mixture will be too loose to shape.
- Deep fatThe recipe gives no temperature. Modern practice for deep frying of this kind is around 375F, frying in small batches for a few minutes until the crust is set and deep gold. Everything inside is already cooked, so you are only browning.
- Cutlet shapeThe name refers to form, not meat: a flattened wedge or small chop shape. Period recipes sometimes called for a short piece of macaroni set in the narrow end to mimic a bone.
- Yield and servingSix small cutlets, serving two or three. Lemon wedges, tartare sauce, or a thin white sauce with chopped parsley all suit; the seasoning as given is minimal, so taste the mixture before shaping.