Why order fishcakes in a restaurant when you can make them so easily at home?

What better treat than to go out to dinner and be spoiled with some complex and impressive creation you wouldn’t think of making yourself? That’s not always so easy these days. Increasingly, restaurants are offering dishes you used to eat at home because your mother made them; things like shepherd’s pie, bread-and-butter pudding and fishcakes. The glitterati of London, New York and Hollywood pack into The Ivy just for the fishcakes, one of Gary Rhodes’ most popular recipes.

But we’re not talking here of those flat disks of the seventies, coated in sandy breadcrumbs the orangey colour of George Hamilton’s face, and deep-frozen in packs of 20. These are fishcakes made specially to be fishcakes – light and fluffy, stuffed with flavour. They are so easy to make, it seems pointless to eat them anywhere but at home. Restaurants should be kept for savouring dishes you haven’t the inclination or the experience to cook yourself.

• There are two schools of thought about whether you should use fresh or tinned fish. You can actually use either. The best fresh fish for fishcakes are cod, haddock or hake. The best tinned is salmon.
• Then you add mashed potato, usually in a proportion of 4 medium-sized potatoes to 500g fish. After that, it’s up to you. You can add peas, sweetcorn, parsley, spring onions, anchovy fillets, hard-boiled eggs (all well chopped), capers, lemon zest, nutmeg, paprika – the list goes on. Steer clear, though, of an ingredient that will make the potato soggy, like tomato.

• Next you form the patties. You can either do this carefully in your hands, scooping up a ball about the size of a small Seville orange, rounding it then flattening it gently into a coating of flour or crumbs. Or you can roll all the mixture into a long sausage, about 5-6cm in diameter and cut it into thick slices ready to coat. The easiest way to keep it together is to bind it with an egg. However, even if you don’t use one, fishcakes shouldn’t break up in the frying pan if you handle them with care.
• The best fishcakes should be crispy on the outside. One dsp semolina mixed in with 3 or 4 tbsp flour gives a bit of a crunch, as do cornflakes or plain cheese biscuits crushed finely with a rolling pin. But, more conventionally, you should coat them in dry white breadcrumbs. Some recipes call for the fishcakes to be dipped first into beaten egg and then in the coating. Both versions are good.
• Make sure the fat is hot when you slide the fishcakes into the non-stick pan. Fry them in a little vegetable oil with an equal quantity of butter. Allow enough space between them so that when you flip them over, after 2-3 minutes at a medium heat, to brown on the other side, you have enough room to manoeuvre without damaging the cakes. When they are done, drain them on a paper towel before serving.
• Fishcakes are scrumptious with some kind of sauce. If you’re feeling flash or thoroughly domesticated, you could whip up a chunky homemade tomato sauce or a caper-stuffed tartare sauce. However, there would be no shame in thumping on to the table a good bottle of ketchup or HP sauce, or chopping capers and parsley into bought mayonnaise.

Fishcake recipe

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