I seldom buy canned salmon, yet when I recently flipped through a hundred-year-old cookbook, a recipe for Salmon Croquettes caught my eye, It brought back warm memories of eating various canned salmon dishes when I was a child. Long story short, I bought a can of salmon the next time I went to the store, and soon was making Salmon Coquettes. The crispy croquettes only took a few minutes to make and were a tasty comfort food.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Salmon Croquettes
1 can salmon (14.75 oz.), flaked
1 tablespoon, butter, melted
2 hard-boiled egg yolks, mashed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 slice bread, torn into small pieces to make crumbs
1/2 teaspoon anchovy sauce
dashes of salt, pepper, and nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
approximately 3/4 cup cracker crumbs (I put saltine crackers in a Ziplock bag and rolled with a rolling pin to make crumbs.)
lard, shortening, or cooking oil
Put salmon into a mixing bowl. Add melted butter, mashed hard-boiled egg yolks, lemon juice, bread crumbs, anchovy sauce, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Shape into small balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. (If the mixture is too juicy to make balls, add additional bread crumbs.)
Put the beaten egg in a bowl. In another bowl put the cracker crumbs. Roll the salmon balls in the egg and then in the cracker crumbs.
Put lard, shortening, or cooking oil in skillet and heat until hot using medium heat. (It should be about 1/2 inch deep.) Add salmon balls. When the bottom of the balls have lightly browned (about 1 1/2 – 2 minutes), gently roll to brown the other sides. Remove from skillet and drain on paper towels, then serve.