A Superior Fishcake

He said it must be Friday, the day he could not sell anything except servings of a fish known in Castile as pollock or in Andalusia as salt cod. 

-- Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, 1605-1616

Fishcakes are a seasonal treat in Bermuda, and ubiquitous on Good Friday.  Oh sure, the Food Festival highlighted them this year, and a few restaurants offer a fishcake on their menus.  But they are a nutritional and satisfying treat to make yourself in the cooler months - well, unless you are on one of the trendy diets.   

I have a long history with fishcakes.  They were a Saturday lunch staple in our family home - a byproduct of the 'Fish on Friday' supper.  This 'familiarity breeds contempt' experience once led me to shun them but I gradually returned to the fold and now consider myself a bit of a fishcake purist.

My rules:

1. They must contain salt cod - this means Canadian cod.  There are a lot of salted fish imitators out there - haddock from New England, the Malaysian 'Made for Bermuda' brand, and god knows what in the Chinese stuff.  I get my package emblazoned with the Maple Leaf at Lindo's.
2. Red-skinned potatoes in approximately equal proportion to the codfish.  Avoid baking potatoes as you need a sticky texture that only red potatoes will yield. If you must substitute a drier potato, you will need to add an egg yolk for binding.
3. Diced onion must be present. 
4. A crispy golden crust on both sides.  See instructions below.
5. Simple seasoning like thyme and parsley - no curry, turmeric, hot peppers or other spices used to mimic a Caribbean dish.

In Bermuda, fishcakes are traditionally presented on sweet 'hot cross' rolls and doused liberally with tartar sauce or mayonnaise.  Annually, I sniff that this is a device designed to mask the presence of inferior fishcakes.  And if you are watching your carbs, you can probably do without the bun or condiments. 

Here are a few tips to produce a superior fishcake like my own ;-)


Prep:

• Soak the salt fish in fresh water for at least 12 - 24 hours, changing the water at least twice and depending on how much saltiness you prefer.  (For all you Food Network fans:  A milk soak tends to soften the fish too much for fishcakes.)  Use enough of our pure Bermuda water to float the dry fish.
• Boil peeled potatoes until just fork tender and drain them well.  Then simmer your fish until it is no longer translucent and drain also.  Mash or mix together by hand just until you have identifiable lumps - don't whip to a puree in your processor.
• Sweat your diced onion.  Fresh Bermuda onions are a Spring treat and can be included raw, but common yellow onions are my norm.  Red onion might be too peppery or assertive but use it if you really like onion.  Vegetable oil and/or butter in the pan - you may want to pump up the flavour by sauteing in bacon fat if you are throwing all dietary caution out the window. 
• Add the diced onion to the fish and potato mixture.  Add seasonings of your choice like chopped fresh parsley, thyme, black pepper and (if you are an eastern Canadian who receives care packages) dried savoury.  Mix together, pat down and chill covered for at least a couple of hours and up to 2 days.

Cooking:

• Preheat a cast iron or Teflon skillet to medium.  Or use a griddle if you have one.
• Hand form patties with the chilled mixture.  Measure with a cookie/ice cream scoop or spoon for consistency.  I like mine on the small side and not too thick in order to pump up the ratio of crispy crust and moist interior.
• Dunk your cakes in seasoned flour to which you have added a little cornstarch.
• Add a mixture of butter and vegetable oil to the pan - enough to cover it well but not so much that you are now deep frying.  If you have a jar of duck fat that you've been wondering how to use - now is the time.  Add a spoonful to the pan.
• Saute the fishcakes in batches - patiently - until a golden crust forms.  Turnover the cakes and repeat. If your heat is too high, you will get nasty burnt flour on your crust.  You may need to add more oil/butter/fat for the second side or subsequent batches.  Overcrowding your pan will cause inconsistent cooking.
• Serve with a wedge of lemon. Sample and gloat.

Here's a link to the motherland of fishcakes courtesy of Newfoundland Rock Recipes.

For a deep dive into the star of the dish, I highly recommend that you download or order a copy of Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky.  This historical tale is  eloquently written and beautifully illustrated. It's where I lifted the Don Quixote quote above.

More locally, here's an elegant presentation of fishcakes from Island Thyme, a cookbook published by The Bermuda Junior Service League in 2005.  Fit for the Governor...

Credit: Island Thyme: Tastes and Traditions of Bermuda.  The Bermuda Junior Service League, 2005

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Kites & Bubbles

Throwback or Normcore?

Boastiness is building as Good Friday approaches.  The extended wait for Bermuda's first public holiday weekend of 2014 is ratcheting up the longing for kite flying, fish cakes and hot cross buns, and myriad refreshments.  And this is amongst the adults.  The kids are getting their school breaks now.

Building a Kite.  Web-trawling again, I learned that most of the instructional material on kites has a target audience of teachers and others tasked to provide non-techy entertainment for younger children.  No way is this skill level is going to pull off a Bermuda kite in my experience.  Even if one refines the search to 'Bermuda Kite Building', there are imitators who think a triangle kite would pass muster.  No vay!!


The best Bermuda Kite Building video, judging by its 78,000+ views, is Bermuda Kite Making - BermudaYP  featuring Mr. Eugene O'Connor.  His instructions are clear, the kite is the basic model that everyone needs to first master, and the editing is just right.  But it's clear that he's not sharing everything he knows.

My next fave is Bermuda Kite Making as seen on LookBermuda.TV .  Mr. Vincent 'Kite King' Tuzo is providing a lovely nostalgic story more than instruction here, and the video has the smooth presentation associated with LookBermuda.  Pause and look at the background to see if you can gain a few pointers about kite flying and design.  I'll bet that guillotine comes in handy.

If you plan to make your own Bermuda kite, start now unless you are an old hand at kite building and material sourcing.  My newly purchased kite sticks and cane presented challenges right out of the gate - the cane didn't fit the drilled holes.  Then it was back to the hardware store for sandpaper to angle my head-stick so that it would fit snugly.  And I dug out a protractor and level for good measure.  If you read my last post, Knot Me! Kite Loops & Snarls, you'll appreciate that my knot-challenged status slowed me down on the stringing.

Then there is the vexed tissue paper...measuring, cutting, dark over light, too much glue, cats who want to play with the string...well, you get my drift.   I tried another one with gift wrap - not bad but hold it up to the light to make sure anything printed on the back, like cutting grids, won't show through before you spend hours on it.  Right now, I'm working on a design with coffee filters.  I could be a masochist.

Credit: www.vacationboomer.com

I'd like to know how to string those kites that look like kaleidoscopes  - maybe someone will post a video about cool stringing techniques.  Not just showing them off at the
Horseshoe Bay Kite Festival.


Boastiness.  As you will see in next week's post, A Superior Fishcake, the whole preparation for Good Friday fishcakes eats up much precious time in a busy life.  Same with building kites.  I don't believe anyone actually admits how much time and rework goes into them - unless asked by someone with a camera.  Then, it becomes Boastiness 101.

Kite King Tuzo expands on this concept (a.k.a. Level 201 - Flying a Bermuda Kite).  Altitude, launch speed, size, pulling strength, and beauty are the common measures.  My boasty hubby took it a step further two decades ago when he twigged to the 'spinnaker cloth' kite - which is 'weather-resistant' and can 'go overboard' on top of the criteria above.  Now, I don't think it was his original idea - many sailors know about it and kites usually were made from cloth back in the day.  But it definitely ups the boasty when the weather turns iffy.  Extra points if you use a fishing rod to reel your kite in and out.

Boastiness 301 involves retrieving an errant kite.  Sometimes the line does snap and you will have to visit another parish, or two, to get it back.    Do everyone a favour and reel in your kite line promptly when this happens - if only to head off the attribution of sinister kite-line motives on the Bernews comments.  But do talk about your search and rescue mission.

I've also seen kite-fishing video on YouTube.  Looks like graduate level fun but who needs to tell a fisherman how to boast?

Bubbles.  By 18 April, it is possible that all of this March wind will subside and Good Friday will dawn clear and calm.  Other conditions for kite disasters include gusty or shifty wind, trees that just weren't so tall last year, reluctance to give up bedsheets for kite tail, and miniscule attention spans.  You need a backup plan to keep people outside while those fishcakes are cooking.

Blowing bubbles will definitely distract the smaller kids who can't quite master the kite flying.  I picked up cheap bottles of Miracle Bubbles and a couple of Fun Bubbles wands that kind of look like low-tech light sabers.  If they run out of bubble solution before losing interest, here is a link to home-made bubble solutions - using glycerin produces those really strong bubbles, by the way. 

For the adults, Dark & Stormies or Swizzle may be traditional diversions but could pack a punch if you are sleep deprived from finishing that darned kite.  We're planning on starting with mimosas.  Lindo's is my go-to for bubbles of all kinds and has a fine selection of sparkling wines in all price ranges. With a little doctoring, you can even pass it off as 'fruit punch & ginger beer' in front of your in-laws.

For those 'dry' events, I suggest quietly bringing along a pocket flask of your favourite tipple.  If you are old enough to remember kites made from Piggly Wiggly bags, then you will also recall how some relatives mysteriously became more voluble as Good Friday progressed.  Yep - spiked punch.  I suspect also that fishcakes are paired with hot cross buns in Bermuda in hope of soaking up the 'refreshments'. 

So, what if you have a gluten-free, low-carb, tee-totaling 'situation' on your hands?  Enlist them to retrieve errant kites and act as designated drivers.  After all, who needs rain on a boasty day?

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