My fishcakes are rubbish

[Highlove]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm otherwise a fairly confident and not bad cook. But fishcakes are always a bit dull and fall apart in the pan and generally end up a pretty disappointing fishy-mashy mess.

Can anyone enlighten me on what I'm doing wrong?

[JapanNextYear]

Salt and pepper, parsley? More fish. Fry till v golden crispy before turning them over. Make sure potatoes are dry before mashing them.

[whois]

Lemon, capers, parsley and a but of mustard into the fish cake. Maybe some finley diced raw red onion too for crunch if you like.

Dust with flour and fry in a hot pan with lots of oil usually works for me!

[Steben]

Panko breadcrumbs!

[Highlove]

Ok thanks. Some stuff to try. I do chill them - and then stick them straight in the pan from cold. Right?

What's your approx ratio of fish to potatoes? And do you stick an egg in to bind?

[Steben]

My signature fish cake is salmon, broccoli and potato all mashed together with plenty of seasoning and lemon juice, shape, chill then dip in egg, panko crumb then fry before either continuing frying or finishing off in oven, serve with hollandaise.

[timelytess]

Your fishcakes might be rubbish but your thread title made me smile. I'm going to use it as a statement of general malaise. You know, when you're feeling down but are not sure why. 'My fishcakes are rubbish'. That covers it.

[VeryPunny]

I find using mash makes the texture all wrong -too smooth. I just bash the spuds about a bit. If you can't get panko, bashed up cornflakes also work.

[pinkpanda101]

I use 50:50 mash:fish (a mixture of white fish, salmon and smoked fish). Add s&p, and tarragon

Coat in flour, then egg, then panko, then chill.

I use the wok to fry them as you can get a decent depth to the oil without using a ridiculous amount of oil. Chill, then freeze, and cook in oven straight from frozen for a quick supper.

[AntideluvianCat]

Salmon steaks, baked in foil for 20ish minutes.
Put in a bowl with equal amount of dry (no butter, milk, or cream) mashed potato, and some smoked salmon trimmings. Add lemon juice, fresh herbs, a squeeze of tomato ketchup ( yes, I know. It's apparently how they make them at The Ivy, believe it or not), salt and pepper.
Shape into patties, and firm up in fridge for a couple of hours.
Egg and panko crumbs.
Bake in the oven til crunchy.
Serve with hollandaise, or (my favourite lazy sauce) creme fraiche heated with a dash of white wine and chives).

[whois]

The ratio of fish to mash depends how much left over mash I have! Probably 50/50 or maybe a bit more mash.

[BeauGlacons]

I'm with you OP. I add a bit of smoked fish and some capers. Usually only make them if I've got leftover salmon.

On the whole I think homemade fishcakes are like stuffed mushrooms. Life's too short, they don't save money and Sainsburys and m&s do brilliant ones. And I've done a cordon bleu cookery course.

[SanityClause]

I never cook my salmon.

I cut it into chunks, and adding the hot mash to it cooks it.

As they are then shallow fried, and then popped in the oven to keep warm, I figure it's well and truly cooked for a fish that can be eaten raw. (I always use frozen, so any bugs will be killed by that, anyway.)

I use dry mash, as others have said. I flavour them with salt, pepper and fresh dill.

I coat with rice flour, egg replacer and fresh breadcrumbs.

For DD1 who is a vegetarian, I use feta chunks, instead of fish, although the resulting cakes aren't quite so firm.

[PhoenixReisling]

Try this:

Bake a sweet potato, when cooked take out the flesh and put into a bowl and cool.

When cool, empty a can (after emptying the liquid) of tuna (I prefer the tuna in spring water), a finely chopped spring onion, coriander, garlic, ginger (I've used pastes in the past), chilli (dried flakes or fresh) and seasoning to the potato. When mixed, I make into balls (then flatten), dip into egg and then cover in panko breadcrumbs (Rice Krispies are a good alternative) and then chill.

When chilled, I then quickly pan fry both sides and then put into the oven (10-15mins or until the centre is hot).

I usually serve this, with stir fried or steamed veg in a Chinese/Thai/Malaysian sauce.

[whois]

On the whole I think homemade fishcakes are like stuffed mushrooms. Life's too short, they don't save money and Sainsburys and m&s do brilliant ones. And I've done a cordon bleu cookery course.

Oh I only do them as a way to use left over mash. None of this fancy Panko business :-)

[BeauGlacons]

Left over mash is about 35p and freezes brilliantly for shoving with bangers or on top of cottage pie. The fish probably costs £3. Bit lit pouring oj onto champagne and calling it buck's fizz

[Highlove]

Ok this is brilliant thanks. We're blatantly having fishcakes about four nights next week so I can test all these ideas. After that, if mine are still rubbish, I'm reverting to the frozen Jamie ones from Waitrose.

I'm afraid I'm not convinced by the breakfast cereal in place of breadcrumbs. Unless dipping them in cocoa pops might convince my two-year old to eat them...