Salmon Patties From Start To Finish

These are my guys, in our back yard, with the salmon they just caught up the road from our house.

Salmon fishing is a big deal here on the Peninsula. A very big deal indeed. Fisheries line the river and in the summer "combat fishermen" line the river, too. Subsistence fishing stocks the freezers and pantries of locals and helps insure that they have plenty to eat during the winter, and many of those locals store their salmon by canning it. Canning has the advantages of not requiring electricity for freezers during power outages, and also produces a fully-cooked product that can be eaten right out of the jar if you like. I don't (yet) have a pressure canner so the canned salmon we get is given to us by neighbors and friends. I did take a class last summer for newbies (the proper term is "cheechako") so that I can do my own canning someday. If you want to see me filet my very first salmon at that class, go visit my family blog and read the entry titled "Cheechako."

I'd never seen home-canned salmon before I helped make this batch at that class:

This is a pint jar. This is unseasoned fish, but sometimes cream cheese or jalapenos or some other spices are added before the jars go into the pressure canner. Today I'm going to use one of these pint jars of salmon to make an old standby recipe adapted from a vintage Betty Crocker cookbook.

Salmon Patties

• 2 slices bread, crusts removed, torn into small pieces
• 1 pint jar of salmon, OR a can of salmon from the grocery store, well drained
• 1 or 2 eggs*
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard
• pinch of salt
• seasoned dry bread crumbs for coating
• vegetable oil for frying

*I used somewhat stale home-baked wheat bread, and I needed the second egg in order to make a cohesive mixture. Put in one egg, let the mixture sit for a minute or two, and if you can't make a nice patty out if it because it's too dry, add the other egg.

Mix bread, salmon, egg, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and salt. Form into patties, and lightly dredge in seasoned bread crumbs. Fry in hot oil 4 or 5 minutes per side until nicely browned. Serve with a sauce if you like it that way, but we eat it without.

I picked a salad from our Aerogarden and added some avocado for a delicious healthy lunch.

Now I'm stuffed. I'm going to go relax with a good book for a while. See you again soon!

 ~  AlaskaGirl