Easy Salmon Croquettes - The Recipe Critic (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep salmon croquettes from falling apart? ›

Eggs. To keep salmon patties from falling apart, you need a binder. That's the egg!

If you add too much egg, for instance, or the canned fish isn't properly drained, the mixture will be too wet and the cakes will fall apart. Too many breadcrumbs, on the other hand, will make your cakes dry and crumbly.

What can I use instead of breadcrumbs in salmon patties? Instead of panko breadcrumbs, you can use cornmeal as we are or crushed Saltine crackers.

A perfectly cooked salmon patty should be moist and tender inside with a slightly crispy exterior. If your salmon patty has a grey or mushy texture on the inside, the color may come from the skin side of the flesh, but if it's mushy, it may be undercooked.

Your Mixture is Too Warm

If the mixture isn't cold when it goes into the oil, it will heat up and start producing steam before the crumb coating has a chance to crisp up. If this happens, the steam bursts through and the croquette falls apart. So make sure the mixture is properly chilled before you begin to fry.

Canned salmon is already cooked - just drain the liquid and it's ready to eat or add to your favourite dish. You can remove the skin if you like. Don't throw out the soft, calcium-rich bones! Mash them with a fork and you won't even notice them.

You can also lessen salmon's strong flavor by soaking it in a milk bath for 20 minutes and then draining it and patting it dry before cooking. The casein in milk binds to the TMA, and when drained away, it takes the culprit that causes fishy odor with it.

Salmon that's gone bad will often feel almost like it's about to fall apart, or sometimes mushy. Other things to watch for when examining your fish by touch are slimy or sticky residues, both indicators of spoilage.

Use a potato that is floury, starchy. Breadcrumbs will also work. Up the egg content if using. Especially if you are using pre cooked fish, all the sticky stuff that is contained within fish will have gone, so you need to replace this with a starch or some sort.

Crushed-up crackers make an excellent bread crumb substitute in baked dishes like meatballs or meatloaf. The crackers work just as well as the bread crumbs to hold the meat mixture together, and using varieties like salty saltines or buttery Ritz is a great way to add an extra burst of flavor to your dish.

What can I use instead of breadcrumbs for croquettes? ›

That white slimy stuff is called albumin, and it's actually just a harmless (albeit pretty gross-looking) protein that solidifies as salmon cooks.

The white stuff on salmon is called albumin.

As the meat cooks, the coagulated albumin gets squeezed out and appears in the form of the weird, slimy, white substance that you are probably familiar with (and weirded out by).

It's called albumin. And it lives in your salmon whether it's cooked or not, no matter where it's from, how it's raised, or how much you paid for it.

HOW DO YOU MAKE SURE FISH CAKES DON'T FALL APART? The key to making sure fish cakes don't fall apart is limiting the moisture. Make sure your mashed potatoes are relatively dry and leave some lumps to provide texture.

The proteins in the egg will help bind together your fish cake mix as it cooks. Think of it as your glue: Without it, your fish cakes are going to fall apart. At minimum, you'll want to use one egg for every pound or so of fish so that you have enough “glue.” More is fine, though.