Easy Salmon Croquettes - The Recipe Critic (2024)

FAQs

Why do my salmon croquettes fall apart? ›

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.

1) Use the right amount of binding agent: Too few eggs or breadcrumbs can cause the patties to fall apart, while too much can make them dense and heavy. Use just enough to where the salmon will hold together once squeezed in your hands.

How to Control Salmon's Fishiness with a Milk Bath. 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.

The binding ingredients may not be in the right proportion. Overmixing can break down the structure. Allowing the salmon mixture to rest before shaping the patties is crucial. Cooking the salmon patties at too high a temperature or for too short a time can result in a mushy interior.

Balance The Binders With The Moisture

Every salmon patty or cake recipe calls for some combination of binding ingredients. These usually include eggs, flour, breadcrumbs, cracker crumbs, ground flaxseed, and so on. Without these binders, the salmon has nothing to stick to, so you can't form patties.

Let the patties cool completely before breading.

Resting and cooling down the patties prevents the korokke from exploding while deep frying. The cold patties in the hot oil will not release any steam; therefore korokke will not explode in the oil. It also helps the ingredients to meld together.

"I used crushed Ritz crackers instead of bread crumbs and some of my favorite seasonings. Definitely a recipe that I will use over and over again for salmon patties."

Croquettes may fall apart during frying if the mixture is too wet. As the croquettes get hot, moisture turns to steam, causing them to get soggy and lose their shape. Adding more of a binding agent (beaten egg and/or flour) should help the mixture stay together.

To prevent burgers from falling apart on the grill, make sure the ground beef is well-chilled before forming the patties. Additionally, avoid overhandling the meat when forming the patties, and create a slight indentation in the center of each patty to help them cook evenly.

That white gunk seeping from your salmon is called albumin. It's a protein—not fat—that pushes to the surface of the fish when you heat it. "Once this protein reaches temperatures between 140 and 150 degrees, its moisture is squeezed out, and it congeals and turns white," according to America's Test Kitchen.

What does soaking fish in milk do? ›

Before cooking, soak the fish in milk for 20 minutes

In this scenario, the protein in the milk binds with the compounds that cause that fishy odor, in essence extracting if from the fish. What's left behind is sweet-smelling, brighter flesh with clean flavor. (Just make sure you pour that milk down the drain.

I'm talking about brining! Soaking salmon in a simple, quick brine for as little as 10 minutes (up to overnight, if you like planning ahead) is all it takes. To make it happen you need two very basic ingredients: water and salt. Combine 1 tablespoon of salt for every cup of water.

Refrigerate the mix, use a sheet pan

Then you can scoop the cakes and put them on a sheet pan to cool down in the fridge once again. The cooler temperature of the mix will help everything stick together better when the patties are pan-fried, crisping them up nicely.

– Insert the thermometer into the thickest part of your burger. When the salmon burger reaches 145 degrees F, it is done. – If you don't have a thermometer, check that your burger is lightly crisp on the outside and that the meat inside is pink and flaky.

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).

Grill salmon flesh side down FIRST, then flip over once.

Place the salmon fillets on the grill flesh side down first (so the skin is facing you). Raw salmon is relatively firm, so starting it off with the flesh facing down is a great way to get some nice grill marks on the salmon without it falling apart.

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 Salmon WITH the Skin On

Keeping the skin on salmon makes it easier to flip, as the salmon is less likely to fall apart (also recommended for Instant Pot Salmon). Making pan seared salmon with skin insulates it and makes it more difficult to overcook.