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Bajan Fish Cakes fried to perfection and stacked on a square porcelain appetizer plate.

Bajan Fish Cakes (Salted Cod Fritters)

Published on June 14, 2020 | In | By
0 Comments
    • Prep Time
    • Minutes
    • Cook Time
    • Minutes
    • Yield
    • Appx. 30

When I was growing up, my parents always held my birthday parties at the house. They would rent tables, chairs, gigantic speakers, and balloon arrangements. One of my cousins or neighbors would DJ and some kind of entertainment was booked for the children. The menu varied from year to year, but there were two things that would always make the list: my mom’s elaborate birthday cakes (like seriously impressive cakes) and fish cakes.

Fish cakes are the quintessential Bajan appetizer. Made with flaked salted cod and a series of herbs and spices turned into a batter and fried to perfection, no birthday party or backyard gathering was complete without them.

Traditionally, this recipe is made with salted cod fish, but depending on where you live, that may be a challenge to locate. But don’t fret. If you can locate frozen salted pollock at your local grocery store, that will work just fine.

All right. Enough talking about it. Let’s get cooking.

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Recipe Rating

  • (4.8 /5)
  • 2 ratings

Ingredients

  • 8oz of salted cod (filleted, bones removed)
  • 1/2 cup of minced white onion
  • 1/2 cup of fresh chopped parlsey
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 4 sprigs of thyme (leaves removed from stems)
  • 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
  • 2 Tablespoons of Bajan pepper sauce (e.g. Windmill or Aunt May's)
  • 2 Tablespoons of butter
  • 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour
  • 2 Tablespoons of Baking Powder
  • 1 large egg
  • 3/4 cup of whole milk
  • 1/4 cup of water
  • Vegetable oil (for frying)

Instructions

  1. Bring two quarts of water to a boil in a medium sized pot. Add the salted cod into the water and boil the fish for about five minutes. Strain the water out of the pot, leaving the fish in the pot. Add two quarts of fresh water to the pot and bring the fish to a boil again.
  2. Strain off the water and place the fish into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Using a fork, flake the fish. You may also use your hands to flake the fish, but be sure to wait until the fish has cooled so that you do not burn your hands. Add the onion, garlic, parsley, thyme leaves and mix well.
  3. Stir in the black pepper and Bajan pepper sauce and mix well. If you do not like spicy food or have never had Bajan pepper sauce before, I recommend that you add these two ingredients 1/8 of a teaspoon at a time and taste as you go. Once you reach your desired level of heat, do not add anymore black pepper or pepper sauce.
  4. Stir in the butter. Mash the butter, if necessary, to make sure that it is evenly distributed and that there are no large chunks of butter in the batter.
  5. Add in the flour, baking powder, egg, milk and water. Stir until you have a nice, chunky batter.
  6. Bring the oil to a medium heat in a large stainless steel skillet. Pour in enough oil so that you have about one inch of depth. Using a Tablespoon, carefully spoon the batter into skillet making one fish cake at a time. You will have to make the fish cakes in batches so that you do not overcrowd the pan. You do not want the fish cakes to touch while frying, so be sure to space them out.
  7. Once the first side of the fish cake is golden brown, use a slotted spoon to carefully turn the fish cake over and fry the other side until golden brown. Repeat this step and the previous one until all of the batter has been used.
  8. Place the fish cakes onto a paper towel lined plate. The paper towel helps absorb the excess oil. If you are serving them for an event, place a toothpick into each fish cake and neatly line the fish cakes up on a platter. Then, serve and enjoy.

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