Fish cakes from coarse fish or pike

Ingredients

• 600 g fillets of bream, roach or pike, skinless, well chilled
• 1 stale bread roll
• 1 onion
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp medium-hot mustard
• 2 to 3 tbsp breadcrumbs
• 1 small bunch of parsley or dill, chopped
• Salt, pepper, a little lemon zest
• Rapeseed oil or clarified butter for frying

Method

1. Soak the bread roll in cold water, then squeeze it out well. Peel the onion and chop it roughly.
2. Cut the fillets into strips that fit into the mincer. Remove any large belly bones and bits of skin as you go.
3. Put the fish, bread roll and onion through the fine mincing plate. With bream, a second pass is worth it, then even the Y-bones become tiny.
4. Mix in the egg, mustard, herbs, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Add breadcrumbs until the mixture is easy to shape.
5. Chill the mixture for about 30 minutes. This makes it firmer, and the fish cakes do not fall apart when you turn them.
6. With wet hands, shape about eight flat fish cakes.
7. Heat the fat in a frying pan and fry the fish cakes over a medium heat for about 4 to 5 minutes on each side until golden brown.
8. Break one fish cake open as a test: inside it is no longer glassy, but firm and pale all the way through.

Tips

• No mincer? Score the fillets closely at 2 to 3 mm intervals and then chop them very finely with a large knife. This also makes the bones short.
• With pike, you can put the trimmings with the Y-bones from filleting straight through the mincer as well.
• Potato salad, remoulade or a bread roll with gherkin go well with them.

Common bream: profile Roach: profile Northern pike: profile