Stylized Salmon Croquettes...

My good friend Eric & I can not be so different on the surface yet so similar deep down...

Stylist to the stars, most respected magazines and media overall this fire ball & I share a passion for our children, fashion, sun, gossip, Starbucks, watches, food, cooking and eating...

After tasting his delicious Salmon Croquettes maybe 7 years ago or so... I begged him to give me the recipe & recount one of his memories about his crazy Golden Girls...

And the following is from his pen & pan...

"Picture this…..Rego Park, Queens, New York, 1970 and we live in a 2 bedroom apartment on the second floor of a 6 story building in a “fancy’ apartment building.  The reason it was fancy is because we had a doorman. Our kitchen was the center of fashion, gossip and the culinary world as I knew it.  I spent most of my childhood in the kitchen with both my mother and my grandmother. They were from Castoria, Turkey and spoke Ladino, which is a combination of Spanish, Greek and Turkish.

They would spend the entire day speaking in this crazy language about all of the women in the neighborhood, the feral children, and how certain ladies were terribly dressed. On any given day you can go in that room, it was filled with a cloud of cigarette smoke and food frying on a huge stove.  That tiny kitchen was capable of feeding an army of Sephardic Jews on any Jewish holiday.  The list of foods that they made were endless and half of them I could never figure out how to spell. There were meat stuffed peppers, salads, lemon soups, stuffed cabbage, rice dishes, okra, Greek dishes, lamb, eggplant and always a pot of squash in stewed tomatoes.  All I knew is that they were absolutely delicious. 

My mother, who was a striking beauty, had her hair done twice a week at Bonwit Tellers. She would go Saturday morning with me in tow with a picture of Marilyn McCoo’s hair from the Fifth Dimension and told her hairdresser that she wanted that flip.  He would expertly weave a white Pucci scarf into the front of her hair that matched her Pucci white mink cape and she was ready for her Saturday night out.  Each Saturday it was another scarf to match her unbelievable wardrobe. The woman was impeccably dressed at all times and I have never seen her without make up or sky high heels her entire life.  My grandmother was exactly the same, but her hair looked like a huge blonde hard boiled egg and it was about 2 feet high.

As the gay son (my mother always knew that) she would teach me how to cook all of her food and always took me wherever she went.  She was scared that my father was going to make me play football and I was going to get killed.  She called me Flaka (skinny girl in Spanish). My mother absolutely adored me.

The recipe that I have included was a staple in our home and I have been making them since I was a child.  Salmon croquettes were made for all occasions and were always on our table.  Our apartment would stink like fish and oil for days but after a while it was a smell that made it our home.  I hope you enjoy them and think of my mother, smoking, cursing, and wearing Halston. She was a gem…"

Arlene Confino Stern

So are you Eric...




{Salmon Croquettes by Eric Stern}




(yields ... who knows how many???)

4 Large Cans Of Sockeye salmon (on sale)

2 Large Spanish Onions

Progresso Italian Breadcrumbs

2 Tbs. Celery Seed

Kosher Salt

Black Pepper

4 Large Eggs

Canola Oil

Open the cans of salmon and put the contents of the can in one hand and carefully flake and remove as many of the bones as you can. I also leave any skin that might be on the salmon and also the fat if there is any and put in a large mixing bowl.  Chop the onions in a nice dice but not too small. I like when you get a bite of a piece of onion and also put that in the bowl. Add the 4 eggs and mix it with the onions and salmon (I use my hands, you don’t want to make a mousse). Add the salt to taste and slowly add bread crumbs until it can form croquettes. Add the celery seed and be very generous with the black pepper.

In a large skillet fill half way up with canola oil and start to fry nice sized croquettes on both sides until golden brown. I place them on kitchen paper to drain and always sprinkle them with kosher salt while they are still hot.

Being a proper Sephardic Jew we served these with a salad or as a side dish at most holidays and for Passover I used matza meal instead of breadcrumbs and added seasoning.  These are a staple in my family and they will totally stink up the house for days, so if you have an outdoor grill with a burner use it!