Cooking does not stand still. Every day there are new, sometimes - the most unexpected recipes of dishes.
Of the latest inventions of national culinary, interest is on the fish cake “Napoleon” and other variations of cakes from a wide variety of fish and unsweetened products.
It is difficult to answer the question of who invented this dish, and to what kind it can be attributed - appetizers, salads or baked goods. All the better. There is a lot of room not only for combinatorial combinations of products, but also for ways of their culinary processing, design options for serving.
Fish Cake - Basic Technological Principles
Even if we talk about the technology of making sweet cakes, this is a very voluminous topic, which includes different types of dough, creams, impregnations and so on. There are desserts that are prepared with and without baking.
If we recall that the word “cake” means a cake or sweet bread, then, in relation to fish dishes, it is most likely due to their shape and the presence of several layers consisting of different fish fillings (minced meat, pastes), instead of creams.
The basis of unsweetened cakes can consist of dough when bread (cakes, cakes) of a special form is baked or according to a special recipe, as is done for preparing classic sweet desserts, with the subsequent formation of a multi-layered dish.
The use of various types of finished bakery products as the basis for unsweetened cake allows the preparation of dishes in cold ways. Variants of combinations of fish cake can be very different.
Having achieved the necessary taste harmony of the dish, pay attention to its consistency.
Multicomponent filling, which connects the “cakes”, should be homogeneous, easy to apply on the bread layers, moderately soak them and hold together so that a piece of fish cake does not crumble when sliced, even before it gets on the serving plate. Ideal for the connection of layers - cream cheeses, curd mass, fish or vegetable pastes. Balance the products used to prepare a fish dish so that in general you get a normal humidity, no more than 30-40%. Be sure to ensure that such juicy additions to fish, like cucumbers, apples, citrus, are perfectly balanced, say, with eggs, hard cheese, boiled potatoes - products that have less moisture. This principle will allow you to avoid soaking the bread base, dripping juice and other minor troubles that can spoil the appearance and texture of the dish.
1. Snack Fish Cake with Frozen Tuna
Ingredients:
Armenian pita bread 4 pcs.
Tuna fillet 400 g
Cream, whole 20% 280 ml
Onions, not sharp 150 g
Butter, natural 50 g
Lemon 150g (1 pc.)
Marjoram 50g
Mustard, mild 50 g
Eggs 5 pcs.
Olive oil 120 ml
Salt
Garlic - to taste
Wine Vinegar 30 ml
Greenery
Technological map:
Sprinkle the prepared slices of fish fillet with lemon juice, pepper, add marjoram. Soak the fish in the marinade for at least an hour. Heat the oil in a skillet, add the minced garlic and fry the fish. Add chopped onions, a piece of butter, pass 5-7 minutes. Pour the cream in a saucepan, cover with a lid, and turn off the stove after 5 minutes. Cool fish stew. Peel the eggs and place them in the blender bowl, along with the fish in a creamy sauce. Add two teaspoons of Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, vinegar or lemon juice. Kill the mass to a puree state.
Cut the finished pita breads in half to make 8 sheets of the same size. Grease each rectangular sheet of pita with prepared pate. Lay the missed sheets on each other. Top decorate with chopped herbs and dish components.
2. Fish cake “Napoleon” with herring oil
Ingredients Required:
Flour 0.6 kg
Eggs 2 pcs.
Milk, whole 150 ml
Salt, fine
Sugar, refined 50 g
Yeast, dry 11 g Spread or margarine 100 g
Butter (72.5%) 300 g
Herring marinated 600 g
Green onions 200g
Juice, lemon 150 ml and slices (for registration)
Dill sprigs
Red caviar 50 g (for decorating the surface)
Cooking Technology:
Dissolve the yeast in warm milk, adding 150 g sifted flour and sugar. As soon as the mass starts to foam, add salt, beaten eggs, soft butter. Sift the flour and knead the dough until ready: it should be easily behind the hands and dishes. Cover with a napkin or towel, put in heat: let rise. Preheat oven to 200 ° C. Prepare a round shape: grease it with vegetable fat. Bake 40-45 minutes.
When the bread has cooled, cut it into layers, across. Remove the zest from the lemons and squeeze out the juice. Sprinkle bread with fresh lemon juice.
Wash fillets of peeled herring. If you use regular salted fish, prepare a marinade with vinegar, sugar, allspice and cloves for it. Soak at least a couple of hours for the fish to soak in spicy spices. Then remove from the marinade and, connecting the pieces of herring with butter, smash with a blender. Spread every layer of baked bread with herring oil, sprinkle with layers of chopped green onions. Stack them on top of each other. Decorate the top of the cake with caviar, lemon wedges and dill.
3. Cake with canned fish in its own juice
Ingredients:
White loaf 1 pc.
Onions, pickled 120 g
Boiled eggs 6 pcs.
Mayonnaise (67%) 180 g
Mackerel in its own juice (canned) 400 g
Cooking:
Cut off the top of the loaf and grind it. Add mayonnaise, eggs, pieces of mackerel (along with the juice), pickled onions to the pieces of the loaf. Grind all the ingredients with a blender until smooth.
Cut the loaf in half, across. On the lower part of the loaf, apply 1/2 of the prepared mackerel paste and eggs. Cover the paste weight with the second half of the loaf. Spread the upper layer of the loaf with the remaining mixture. Decorate a large sandwich, giving it the look of a fish: for this, from the components of a fish dish or boiled vegetables (eggs, potatoes, carrots, cucumbers) lay out “fish scales”, “fins” and “tail”.
4. Fish cake from omelet
Products:
Hake (fillet) 600 g
Eggs 8 pcs.
Milk, whole 140 ml
Lemon 1/2 pc.
Oil (for frying) 50 ml
Onion, 150 g
Onions, green 300 g
Butter (72.5%) 140 g
Salt
Boiled rice 300 g
Smoked mackerel 350 g
Mayonnaise 180g
Fresh cucumbers 400 g
Canned corn 200 g
Working order:
Soak fish fillet for 30-40 minutes in water, adding half a lemon, spices, and salt to it. After drying the fillet with a napkin, cut into medium cubes; fry the fish in vegetable oil with chopped onions. Put the fish on a plate, dividing it in half.
Eggs and milk are also divided into two parts. Beat up 3 eggs until the volume increases three times, gradually, pour in a thin stream half the milk without stopping the beating. Add some salt. Melt 50 g of butter in a pan, put half the fried fish and pour in the beaten eggs. Cover the pan, fry the omelet with fish over low heat. Put it on a dish, sprinkle with chopped green onions. In the same way, fry the second part of the omelet.
Wash boiled rice in cold water, sprinkle with lemon, pepper. Connect it with corn, finely chopped smoked fish. Season with mayonnaise (1/2 piece). Put the cooked salad on a layer of omelet. Place the second omelet on top, covering the cake filling. Lubricate the surface of the semi-finished product with mayonnaise, place the cucumber circles, decorate with greens and mayonnaise. This fish cake should be served immediately; keep it for no more than two hours from the moment of preparation, in the refrigerator
5. Fish cake “Napoleon” with salmon and rice cakes
Ingredients:
450 g rice flour
Corn Starch 50g
Eggs 2 pcs.
Water 70 ml \
Salt
Vegetable fat 120 ml
Soy sauce
Ginger marinated 100 g
Boiled shrimp, royal 12 pcs.
Sweet and sour apples 350 g (net)
Red fish fillet 600 g
Whole milk curd cheese 400 g Cream (33%) 250 ml
Sesame 100 g
Cooking Technology:
Sift rice flour onto the work surface, mix with starch and fine salt, collect it in a slide and make a well in the center. Beat eggs with water, add butter. Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture. Knead the dough like dumplings. Divide into 12 parts, roll out thin round cakes (ᴓ 22-24 cm), dry them, leaving open on the table. To assemble the cake gradually, hold each of the rice cakes for 1-2 minutes per couple.
For the stuffing (minced meat):
Put the curd in the bowl of the blender, add the cream and kill the mass. Optionally, add herbs, spices. In the curd mass, add the chopped fish fillet, apples (no peel).
On the prepared dish, set a round shape without a bottom, and lay steamed rice cakes in it, covering each of them with cooked minced meat and soy sauce. Seal the cake so assembled: cover it on top with a plate or a lid, set the weight (jar of water). Soak the cake in the refrigerator for about an hour, and then cover the surface with cottage cheese, sesame, pickled ginger, put the shrimps around the circumference and pour the sauce. Before serving, fish cake is more convenient to cut into portions.
6. Cake with canned fish
Ingredients:
Bread, white (round loaf) 200 g
Sprats in oil (large) 400 g
Cucumbers, fresh 200 g
Cream Cheese 450 g
Green onions (feather) 200 g
Apples "Renet Simirenko" 300 g (net)
Lemon 1 pc. (150g)
Preparation:
Cut off the “bottom” of a round loaf: it will serve as the basis of the fish cake. Clean up the rest of the bread in the breadbox. Drain the oil from canned sprats, add a spoonful of lemon juice to it and sprinkle the bread basis of the cake. Spread the bread with cream cheese, a layer of 0.5-0.8 cm. On the cheese layer, lay the plates or slices of peeled apples and immediately sprinkle them with lemon juice. Put a sprat layer on the apple layer. Cover them with fresh and thin lemon zest. Fresh cucumbers, cut into round plates, lay on the fish layer. Repeat the laying of the ingredients, starting with the cheese layer, in the same sequence. After that, cover the entire surface and sides of the cake with cream cheese. Decorate the dish with chopped onions, cucumber slices and several sprats.
Fish Cake - Tips and Tricks of Cooking
Using large fish for pastes, it is desirable to remove the skin from it before cooking, in order to get a beautiful, pleasant-looking creamy consistency to form a fish cake, without dark inclusions.
If you use low-fat fish for cooking fish, be sure to supplement such fish with cream, fatty and soft cream cheese or butter, a sufficient amount of sauce.
To eliminate the unpleasant fishy smell that not everyone likes, add lemon slices, chopped greens, bay leaf to the fish marinade. A lemon crust can, at the end of work in the kitchen, wipe the tools, work surface, cutting boards.
