[Sca-cooks] plea for help-- Soup for the Qan

[Maggie MacDonald]

The Calafian Cooks Guild is working on a feast for Coronation in November, 
way too soon!!!

One of the recipes we've been fiddling with is from Soup for the Qan, page 
306, #59 [43B] Fish Cakes

It calls for large carp (skined, boned), sheeps tail (minced), fresh 
ginger, onions, pepper, mandarin orange peel, black pepper, and kasni 
(asafoetida).

We used pollock instead of carp, butter instead of sheeps tail (all the 
sheep/lamb stuff locally has just about NO fat on it at all) and regular 
orange instead of mandarin orange (and we were out of asafoetida at the time).


The directions say: [To the] ingredients [other than the carp] add salt. 
Add to the fish and work meat. Roll into cakes like crossbow bullets. Fry 
in vegetable oil.

Ok, that all seems pretty simple, mostly.

I grated the ginger and the orange peel, put it in a food processor, then 
added coarsely chopped onions and processed. I then cubed the fish in half 
inch cubes, and processed, adding the salt/pepper as it went.

We then formed into little cakes about the width of my thumb, and half my 
thumb in length, and fried in olive oil.

These things were HORRID, they fell apart the second they hit the pan. 
(first try)

I chilled then rolled them, and they fell apart again. (second try)

I then added a little cracker meal, and they held together better, but not 
well. (third try)

THEN i let them set with the cracker meal under refrigeration for a couple 
days, to let the flavors marry, and fried in deep oil. What a disaster, 
they dissolved into crumb size pieces the second they hit the oil.

Does asafoetida have binding properties to it? (Like cracker meal, or eggs, 
or something)

Has anybody tried this recipe before? What am i overlooking!!!  This recipe 
tastes marvellous, not fishy icky at all, and I feel that people would 
quite cheerfully eat it, provided I can get it to their plates in one piece!!

Regards, and desperately,

Maggie MacD.