Caribbean Codfish Cakes Recipe
by Gail Dottin
2 lbs salted dried codfish (You can also use the pollock wanna-be-codfish which is cheaper)
6 eggs beaten
3 chopped scallions
1 small/med onion diced
1/2 cup o’ flour
1 tsp o’ baking powder
1 tsp o’ pepper sauce to taste
1/2 cup o’ veg/canola oil
* For the dried cod and pepper sauce, check out the Caribbean markets in your locale. If there aren’t any a) I mourn for you thus I’m having a moment of silence for this absence and b) you can order it online or check out Target because they have everything. I’ve gotten the sauce from there in the past. You can also get the cod from Costco.
* As I stated, this recipe is not exact in any way but you will get some decent fishcakes if you follow it. Just keep making them and rejiggering until you land on something you love. This could take months or years. So worth it.
* I generally use at least 4 more eggs than codfish poundage. So, 2 lbs o’ codfish = 6 eggs and so on.
* The flour is the trickiest part so add it gradually and test in between. You want the batter to hold together when you drop it in the pan, but you don’t want it too stiff and doughy.
- Boil codfish in a large pot to soften and begin desalination. This should take no longer than 15 minutes. Make sure the pot doesn’t boil over unless you enjoy cleaning dried salt from your stovetop. In which case, let it go for hours. Pour softened cod into a colander. Grind your hand into the fish so it separates. Feel out any bones. They’re rare but it’s best to check. Rinse codfish repeatedly until it’s only a tad bit salty. Taste it in between rinses. (You can do this days before you plan to cook if you need to budget your time for all that goes into being you. )
- Begin to heat oil in a large pan over medium flame. You want it popping hot. Be careful. (To test the oil for frying readiness, wet your hand, stand back, fling it over the pan. To be clear, this is not throwing a handful of water into heating canola. This is a flick. When the oil is popping, you ready, homey. Now would be a good time to have or acquire one of those mesh screen things to prevent grease burns.)
- In a large bowl add desalinated codfish, and all the other ingredients.
- Test the constitution and pepper sauciness of the batter by dropping a couple soup-spoonfuls into the oil to fry each side, maybe 3-4 minutes. Drain on paper towel. You want the batter to hold together and you want to be able to eat the fishcake without scotch bonnets singeing your larynx. But maybe you’re into that. No judgement. Again, if it doesn’t hold, gradually add more flour until it does.
- Once you’ve adjusted the sauce and flour to your liking, you’re good to go! Depending on the heat of your oil, frying should go pretty quickly, each side taking maybe 3-4 minutes.
- You a boss now!
Gail Dottin is a N.Y. writer who doesn’t live in Brooklyn because that can happen. She’s a VONA disciple, and if you’re a writer of color, she commands you to apply to VONA. This is VONA. She was the first Fulbright Scholar to Panamá for writing. Where There Is Pride In Belonging, her work in progress, is a family memoir woven around her Bajan grandfather’s life building the Panamá Canal. The book was inspired by her father, who gifted her with dozens of stories from life on the segregated Canal Zone. Her essays have been anthologized and featured in journals including Atlas +, Alice, Pank, and Autostraddle. She was an MFA Fellow at Columbia University.