Salmon Cakes

I admit, I forgot where I got this recipe. I'm pretty sure it was from Food Network magazine, but their website has 20 different recipes! These ones are pretty basic so they're good to try if you're new, like me, to salmon cakes and canned salmon. I wanted to try something new, with my new Old Bay seasoning, and I also wanted an excuse to eat tartar sauce.

First up - canned salmon is gross. Silly me, I thought it would be like tuna. Instead, it's a big hunk of salmon, complete with fatty skin and bone! No wonder it's not more popular. So it takes a minute to get the good meat out into the mixing bowl. Then I mixed in 1 cup corn, 1 egg, 3 Tbsp panko bread crumbs, 3 Tbsp tartar sauce, 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning, and 1 tsp lemon zest. I also had dill - no-brainer, I added that in too.

The recipe called for forming the mix into 8 patties, 3/4" thick - I'm a bad judge of things like that, but it definitely made more than eight patties and they were a little thicker. There was a good tip: put them on a pan in the freezer for 5 minutes before frying to keep them from falling apart. Spoiler - they still sorta fell apart. I coated them with more panko and pan-fried them for 3-4 minutes/side.

Luckily I was only making them for myself so I didn't really mind if they fell apart - they tasted damn good. I may put less corn in next time - I think it would help keep them together. But let's not kid ourselves, they were just an excuse to eat tartar sauce! I made my own with: 1/4 cup mayo, 1/4 cup sour cream, 1 Tbsp chopped pickles, 1 tsp green onions, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp capers and 1/2 tsp sriracha. Chopped up pickles make everything better - and it's almost potato salad season!