Patty Cake

We had dinner at Foodie's last night and she made Salmon Patties. I usually use regular bread crumbs when I coat stuff to pan fry or bake, but Foodie’s recipe called for panko bread crumbs, and because I like to know the “why” of things, I decided to explore and share what makes panko bread crumbs different regular bread crumbs.

Wikipedia explains that “panko (パン粉) is a variety of flaky bread crumb used in Japanese cuisine as a crunchy coating for fried foods. Panko is made from bread baked by passing an electric current through the dough, yielding bread without crusts, and it has a crisper, airier texture than most types of breading found in Western cuisine.”

But what makes panko bread crumbs different from regular bread crumbs…the answer is in the processing. Panko bread crumbs look like flakes or slivers of bread rather than their crumbly counterparts. Each panko flake or sliver covers more surface than a traditional crumb which results in a crispier, lighter coating. To me, panko kind of looks like coconut.

And these patties were light, crispy and delicious indeed! Perfect topped with the sauce.

SALMON PATTIES
1 1/2 pound fresh salmon - diced into small pieces
1/2 onion - grated
2 pieces of white bread (pepperidge farm) diced very small
2 tablespoons mayo
Lemon zest and juice from one lemon
Fresh parsley
Salt and pepper

Combine all of above, shape into patties and place in freezer on parchment lined sheet pan for 15 -30 minutes

Coating preparation
Beat 2 eggs with a little oil and water in flat dish
Put flour in another flat dish
Put panko bread crumbs in a third flat dish

Dip patties in flour, then egg, then panko. Fry in a mixture of olive oil and butter until golden and cooked through.

Sauce
Combine ½ cup of mayonnaise, ½ cup of sour cream, lime zest and juice, chopped cilantro and finely diced jalapeno to taste. Add salt and pepper or whatever else you want.

We also had a zesty green salad with almonds, pears and gorgonzola cheese served in the lovely traveling salad bowl and for dessert, fig and mango gelato with fresh berries. We were serenaded all evening by an assortment of artists while listening to a custom Pandora network channel. A lovely evening.

Foodie got a fantastic new refrigerator...a shiny white number from LG. She gave us a chilly tour of its features....very fancy.