A fish cake is defined by Wikipedia as “a culinary dish consisting of filleted fish or other seafood minced or ground, mixed with a starchy ingredient, and fried until golden”. Hardly an inspired description (it’s Wikipedia, hardly known for its way with a word) but concise it is.

The starchy ingredient is most often potato, boiled or steamed and then mashed. At the very least the mashed potato will be seasoned with salt. In a more inspired version other things will be added; mustard, dill, fennel, pepper, horseradish, garlic, spring onions, chives.

We may think of fish cakes as essentially British, and they are that, but they’re Asian too, and Canadian, Indian, Danish, Israeli, Norwegian, Portuguese, even Romanian. Recipes for them have sprung up wherever there is water, salty or fresh, and wherever there is fish.

Some versions are crumbed, others battered, yet others neither of those. In Britain, the fish used is usually cod, in Canada they use cod too, but salted flakes of it. In Caribbean nations, cod is also used, and dipped in batter before frying.

Among the best known in the world are Thai fish cakes, spiced with red curry paste and bound with egg, then served with sweet chilli sauce. Fish cakes made with shrimp are also popular on Thai menus.

I made fish cakes more or less the British way, but used hake, because a simple white fish that flakes easily and from which you can easily avoid the bones makes sense. But you could use good old Cape smoked snoek to make a fish cake of another flavour altogether, or, if you’re feeling really flash, Norwegian salmon fish cakes, really strong and salty.

You can also vary the additional ingredients to your liking; swap one herb for another, add egg, or an extra egg, for a firmer outcome, or go wherever your imagination takes you.

I made my own tartar sauce to go with them, using a bit of chopped pickled ginger among the other more usual ingredients to give it a bit of flair. Here are the recipes for both…

Ingredients

500 g hake fillets

500 g potatoes, peeled and cubed

300 ml full cream milk

1 bay leaf

1 lemon leaf

1 star anise

1 Tbsp Hot English Mustard

1 Tbsp chopped garlic chives

1 Tbsp chopped parsley

1 XL egg, beaten

Salt and black pepper to taste

100 g breadcrumbs (I used Bokomo, nothing wrong with them, but use Panko if you prefer, or make your own from day-old bread)

3 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp canola oil

Method

Pour the milk into a pan and add the lemon and bay leaves and star anise. Lay the fish fillets in the milk. Bring just to the boil and immediately turn the heat down to the gentlest simmer and cook on a low heat for five minutes. Watch the milk while it’s heating to boiling point so it doesn’t boil over. Turn off the heat and let it cool.

Pour off the milk. Scoop the fillets out into a colander for the liquid to drain. Mop the fillets with kitchen paper to remove excess milk. Flake into a bowl, discarding any skin.

Steam or boil the potatoes in salted water until tender but not falling apart, about 15 minutes from the time the water starts boiling. Drain in a colander. Empty the pot in which you cooked them, then put it back on the heat and return the potatoes to the pot, shaking the pan while the excess water cooks away. Leave to cool, then mash them, adding a generous knob of butter and stirring it in.

To the mashed potatoes, add 1 Tbsp each of Hot English Mustard, parsley and chopped garlic chives, and combine well.

Season generously with salt and black pepper and add all of the flaked fish. Fold with a wooden spoon to combine, but don’t overwork it.

Beat the egg in a bowl and keep to one side. Flour a wooden board and have more flour on hand for your hands when shaping the fish cakes. Put the breadcrumbs in another bowl.

Divide the fish cake mixture into four equal parts on the board.

Flour your hands and shape each portion into a neat round, then flatten carefully by pressing down with your palm and patting around the edges. Dip each one first into the beaten egg and then the breadcrumbs. Put them on a plate and refrigerate for half an hour or more. Reshape if any bits crumble.

Melt butter with a little olive oil in a pan until it foams gently. Fry the fish cakes on a gentle heat for five minutes on each side.

Tartar sauce

Ingredients

½ cup quality mayonnaise

1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp finely chopped gherkin

1 Tbsp pickled ginger, finely chopped

1 Tbsp capers, chopped finely

1 spring onion, finely chopped

1 Tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped

Black pepper to taste

Salt to taste

Mix tartar ingredients together and refrigerate, covered with cling film, until needed.

I served the fish cakes with slim asparagus spears which I just blanched and refreshed under cold water. Simple and perfect. DM/TGIFood