Happy Friday! Remember last month when I made the Salt Cod and Potato Puree, and I mentioned that I froze half of it for later use? Well, this week I used it! The Cook the Book Fridays recipe this week was Salt Cod Fritters with Tartar Sauce, and the base of the recipe was the leftover puree.
I’m sure I’ve said this before, but I rarely deep-fry things at home. Maybe once every couple of years. And I’m pretty sure the last time I deep-fried something was for French Fridays with Dorie. These cooking groups really help me get out of my comfort zone! So, while I was looking forward to eating these deep-fried fritters, I wasn’t all that excited about the frying part.
The process starts by mixing the salt cod and potato puree with some bread crumbs (I used panko because that’s what I had) and forming them into 1-inch balls. The balls are refrigerated to firm them up.
While the fritters were chilling, I made the tartar sauce. Because I have never successfully made homemade mayonnaise (I *have* failed at making it before…) I decided to try the recipe from My Paris Kitchen. It was successful! Except I didn’t really like the taste, but that’s my issue and not the recipe’s. However I loved the resulting tartar sauce (it included chopped cornichons, minced shallots, chopped capers, parsley, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar) and I will certainly make it again, probably with store-bought mayonnaise.
Next up, the beer batter! It seems like a pretty basic batter recipe, but it is seasoned with cayenne pepper, parsley, and cilantro.
The frying part wasn’t so bad. Because I was only making a few fritters for myself, I used a 2 quart sauce pan with only about an inch and a half of oil. I appreciate that the recipe specified what temperature to bring the oil to; deep-frying is much more successful when the oil is the right temperature.
Oh man, these were good! The batter fried up crisp and light and the filling was delicious. I’m sure the batter would be great for onion rings or fish and chips too. If you are feeling adventurous, give this recipe a try!
You can find the recipe for Salt Cod Fritter with Tartar Sauce on page 73 of David Lebovitz’s book My Paris Kitchen. If you don’t have it already, why not? It’s excellent!
Have a great weekend!
From Scratch 
These were really something… I liked them too. Quite a treat.
I did not make the tartar sauce as I had so much left from the holiday but I am going to keep that recipe in mind. The batter was fantastic and all in all the recipes was great. Yours look wonderful.
Adventurous is definitely the word for it! You and I did the same kind of frying–small pot with about half the oil he calls for. I don’t really like it either and I despise the clean up from frying (and the smell…). I agree that the tartar sauce was really good. I didn’t make his mayo as I have a recipe I like already, and I just made it à la Dorie, eyeballing the amounts of everything and tossing it all into the food processor with the mayo. 🙂 Worked a treat and was FAST. Good stuff!!
Yours look great! I would love to try deep frying them at some point!
Like you, Karen, I wouldn’t have made this if I hadn’t been cooking with this group. But also, we both must agree that we wouldn’t have made some of Dorie’s recipes if we hadn’t been under “virtual cooking” pressure. I made both in one week which was time consuming, to say the least. I liked the brandade and will certainly appreciate it even more when I order it in a restaurant. As for the fritters. Love. Love. Love. But, as I said, I love to eat hushpuppies and fried catfish also. I think it’s the beer batter that made them so tasty. Bravo to all of us for making these dishes.
Delightful fritters you have there, Karen. Love Love your plated presentation, that blue is awesome!