More fish cakes

Yesterday was a day for baked haddock, trimmed with a little onion and tomato, served with various boiled vegetables. The haddock was from Sainsbury's, was described as naturally caught and lightly smoked - I find that I like the flavour and firmer flavour that this light smoking gives - but, notwithstanding, there was enough fish and potato left for fish cakes this morning.

That is to say, mash up the skinned fish, the onion, the tomato and the baking liquor with the left over potato. Stir in an egg. Fry in a little rape seed oil. No spices or herbs or anything of that sort. Once again, as noticed at reference 1, not very neat, but tasty.

This led onto a discussion of recipes for fish cakes and most of them were rather more complicated than this one. While BH claimed that she used to bind her coley fish cakes with a little white sauce and then dust them with flour before frying them, as mentioned at the end of reference 2. 

I was rather dubious about this, but when we got through the more modern cook books to the trusty Radiation Cook Book, we found that fish croquettes could indeed involve white sauce. Not sure about the anchovy essence though.

Maybe the lesson for me is that I will make two cakes rather than one and maybe try dusting with flour, all this to facilitate turning.

PS 1: at reference 3, I mentioned the story at reference 4 and its adaptation with Rupert Davies. I have now finished reading the story again and find that the adaptation did not stray that far, just hammed things up a bit more than I like.

More interesting, I find that in the story, Maigret gets a confession out of the very proper young lady - but then walks away from what is not his case - he only got involved in it through a family connection to the perpetrator - and leaves her, as it turns out, to more or less get away with murder, to gainful employment in Paris. Although she leaves a bit of a mess behind her in Givet, with her sister dying of shame shortly before she was due to take her vows as a nun and with her brother taking to the bottle having got married to his cousin as planned, but having failed as a lawyer. The weakness of the brother having been the cause of all the trouble in the first place.

Maigret might not always get his man, might not always get the perpetrator to court, but I do not remember another story in which he choses not so to do.

PS 2: the Thames at Hampton Court, despite being pretty full today, did not photograph as impressively as the Meuse at Givet, as shown at reference 3. Although BH thought that it could if you chose your day and the time of day better.

I might add that the water was sparkling impressively with the sun behind it, overhead in the snap above. The sparkling is visible below the roof towards the left. Coming and going with the movement of the water. I can't recall when I last saw such a thing, but I associate this morning to swimming in a flat, calm sea - specifically off Hunstanton's north beach - and I haven't swum in the sea anywhere, let alone Hunstanton, for some years now.

PS 3: where have all the barges of Givet gone? The way of all those (rather smaller ones) which used to ply the Thames?

PS 4: I am reminded this (Friday) morning by the piece at reference 4 that POTUS does have a point. If a point which will hurt us here in the UK faster than it will hurt them: we do have to do something about the debt mountain. One might think that some real debate about choices would be healthy - but how is one to manage that in a world driven by the vagaries of social media? I associate to the book about social madness noticed at reference 6. All very depressing.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/03/home-cooking.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/06/cheese-day.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/03/vocabulary.html.

Reference 4: Chez les Flamands - Georges Simenon - 1932. Volume IV of the Rencontre edition. Story 3 of 4.

Reference 5: Labour’s leftward shift and the bond vigilante threat: The UK’s debt mountain would constrain a new prime minister’s choices — and could make further tax rises more likely - George Parker, Ian Smith, Jim Pickard, Financial Times - 2026.

Reference 6: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-last-outing.html.

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