salmon balls

These salmon balls are based on the idea of hushpuppies except they have salmon built right into them. 

As you most likely already know, hushpuppies are fried cornbread balls that accompany old-fashion Southern catfish fries. I didn't know that myself until the tender age of twelve when I actually landed at such an outdoor catfish fry by forces outside my control. Catfish? Those ugly things? May I politely decline? My dad, always so forceful and demanding, dragged me to a Masonic lodge out in the sticks of Louisiana where a boy can get lost and never found, a guarantee to put one on their best most compliant behavior. It is the only Masonic lodge I've ever seen made out of wood. The event is a big picnic similar to an East Coast crab boil except it involves a lot of hot oil and piles of catfish instead of crab or lobster. 

Apparently hushpuppies were invented by circumstance. The dogs would hang around and make nuisances of themselves so some of the batter was balled up and deep-fried along with the catfish then tossed to the dogs to shut them up, of course, as any dog trainer will tell you that only makes the situation worse. 

"Here. Now SHUT UP YOU MUTTS, I said ! "

I can imagine them originally being called shutupyoumutts then eventually becoming gentrified into the milder and more pleasant Southern-sounding hushpuppies. Say those two words, 'shutupyoumutts' and 'hushpuppies' in a Southern accent, and you'll see what I'm getting at. 

These are not proper hushpuppies nor even proper cornmeal. This is popcorn that was milled at home into a coarse grit. It is kept frozen for freshness. The home-milled cornmeal is heated with chicken broth and spiced so heavily and variously as to amount to a type of curry. This time, the cornmeal was heated in the microwave to avoid the bottom-sticking thing that happens to the pot stovetop. It worked beautifully.

I wish I hadn't followed impulse and flavored the cornmeal so strongly. The spices I added changed the color to an unattractive brown. I wanted the cornmeal to be completely cooked before being added to the salmon mixture so I wouldn't have to be concerned with the interiors of the balls while the outside surfaces deep-fried.

* turmeric

* garlic powder

* ground coriander seed

* cinnamon

* cayenne

* salt / pepper

Frozen corn was processed to make sure the kernels were reduced before chunks of a single salmon filet segment were added to the processor and reduced to mush. The color of the corn and the salmon together was beautiful. I wish I had kept that. But it all turned an unattractive dark yellow when the cooked and heavily seasoned cornmeal was added. 

The balls are floppy and wet. They are coated with additional cornmeal. Each ball was re-shaped into a more perfect ball immediately before being dropped into the oil. 

Cooking the cornmeal in advance of mixing it with the salmon is a great idea. The internal temperature need only rise briefly sufficiently to cook the salmon and egg, which is like 160℉ / 70℃ for a few seconds. I'm only guessing here, I did not actually measure the internal temperature. 

Conclusion:

The interiors were the softest moistest things ever. I have never eaten anything similar to this that is this wonderful and interesting. With their crispy exteriors, each ball is like a delicate little egg that cracked open to a barely cooked nearly wet interior and with a mild crunch imparted by virtually raw celery bits. If I had this at a restaurant I would think the cook a culinary genius. The color can be improved easily. I wish I had not colored the cornmeal so drastically with that turmeric. I don't even know what turmeric contributes anyway except for an ugly yellow color. The cornmeal mush was seasoned but the salmon was not. That is a mistake. It needed more salt. 

Could use more acid. 

Suggestion: Consider white bread for binder in place of cornmeal to preserve the attractive color of salmon and possibly shrimp. The same or similar, even better, cornmeal flavor can be had by including white masa harina in place of yellow cornmeal. The trick seems to be to have an exceedingly wet interior that takes as little cooking as the fish, which is to say barely any cooking at all. So wet that the balls cannot hold their shape outside the oil until the exterior is set. I think that any kind of fish or shellfish will work for this. More lemon or vinegar.