Fishcakes turned leftover fish and cold potatoes into a global favourite
Mrs Beeton's 19th-century household guide asked for leftover fish and cold potatoes. Across the world, the same simple idea of minced seafood bound with starch became Japanese kamaboko, Brazilian salt cod fritters, Bengali maacher chop and Bermuda fishcakes eaten tucked between hot cross buns at Easter.
At its core a fishcake is minced or ground fish mixed with something starchy and fried golden, though many are baked. Asian styles typically combine fish with salt, water, starch and egg, sometimes using surimi paste, while European versions resemble croquettes built around potato and often coated in breadcrumbs. Cod was long the standard filling, but as cod stocks declined cooks turned to haddock, whiting or oily salmon.
Regional twists are endless. In Newfoundland and Labrador salted cod meets mashed potato and savory, fried in oil or pork back fat. Cambodians pound whitefish with yellow kroeung and serve it with Kampot pepper and lime, and Burmese cooks slam featherback flesh in a mortar to make it chewy. Southern Sumatra offers pempek with vinegar sauce, and Korean eomuk relies on lean Alaska pollock, since fatty fish do not work. American salmon patties may use matzah meal, and some believe they arose during the Great Depression. Qing dynasty cookbooks even describe square cakes of fish, fatty pork and egg.
Nutrition differs by style. A 100 g portion of kamaboko carries about 113.6 Calories and just 0.67 g of fat, while Western fish patties average around 201 Calories and 10.49 g of fat. Both provide roughly 13 g of protein per 100 g.
Industry imposes strict rules. Singapore requires fish pastes to be at least 70% fish, Canada specifies heating fishcakes to 65 °C for one minute to kill salmonella, and Japanese rules call for sterilising fish paste for 45 minutes at 80 °C at the centre. Depending on production and storage, shelf life ranges from 12 to 90 days.
Source: Fishcake
