Coddies (Poor Man's Crab Cakes?) An almost forgotten Baltimore favorite

[Stinky The Clown]

The last time I had one of these was toward the end of their more widespread availability in Baltimore.

I'm posting this as a followup to a followup at the bottom of my crabcake pasta recipe. Coddies were once ubiquitous in Baltimore. Restaurants, street vendors, employee cafeterias, and every homemaker made them. Over the last decade or three, they seem to be fading from the mainstream.

Some called them Poor Man's Crab Cakes, but they're really not. They're delicious in and of themselves and merit consideration in and of themselves. I don't have the ingredients on hand tonight, but I'm going to make them this week ..... and its been years since the last time I made them. I'll post pictures if they turn out okay.

For now, here's two links. One to the local weekly that has a several-years-old article on them still posted. The other to a page with an actual - and authentic - recipe.

http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=2322
http://www.jewish-food.org/recipes/coddies.htm

It turns out they're of Jewish immigrant origins. I hadn't known that. If I had been forced to guess at their origin, I'd have said they derived from Finnan Haddie. But nope. Jewish. Which, in looking back, should have been discernible. The best ones were in Jewish delis, particularly those on the long gone "Corn Beef Row" in Baltimore.

What local/regional favorites are you aware of? These are such fun dishes.

[babylonsister]

1. Boy, that sounds great! And I love cod! Will give it a go.

My husband's mom, in MA, used to make salmon loaf or croquettes with canned salmon as a weekly meal. I'm sure it was nutritious and economical for a large family, but my husband still can't look a salmon in the eye. On Fridays, twas fish and chips. I'm thinking there were a lot of Catholics in the neighborhood because there was a take-out (cod)fish place on every corner.
I grew up on LI so we were fortunate enough to wallow in fresh clams, fish, and mussels during the summers of my youth. And Mom was a great cook!

[eleny]

2. I love cod fish cakes!

In NYC, the local fish markets always carried them. They look like white hockey pucks - ready for the frying pan. I liked it when mom would make them because the salt cod comes in those cute little wooden boxes with the sliding lids. Good for keeping my childhood treasures. Our market out here also carries the salt cod in the same kind of boxes. I hope you have fun making yours and hope you take pics no matter what. They taste great with cole slaw on the side!

[Stinky The Clown]

3. I've made these with salt cod, but that was years ago .......

and I recall they weren't very good. Salty (duh!) The real ones are made with flaked fresh cod. (And then salt is added ... go figure!) The texture of the two are different enough that its noticable.

Those little lidded boxes! Yeah, a kid's delight! A free treasure chest, indeed.

[eleny]

7. I've made them both

Salted cod and fresh. The ones made with salted cod should not have been salty. That cod should always be soaked for about three days until the cod is not too salty but flavored just right. I can imagine how unpalatable the cakes would be if not prepared correctly. Yipes!

[merci_me]

4. Jewish origins makes a lot of sense

since Kosher diets don't allow shellfish.

Mary

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Dunno if you read the article I linked ......

Turns out that coddies were not deemed Kosher, either! They don't say why, but it seems they weren't.

I know a little about Kosher laws. I can't see why they're not. They're fin fish and essentially parve ingredients ... aren't they? :shrug:

[merci_me]

6. I haven't a clue..............

I have a lot of Jewish friends but none of them are Kosher and seafood is very common, except for a few who are vegetarian.

Most of them adhere to dietary tradition during the Holy Days. Kind of like older Catholics who revert back to meatless Fridays during Lent.

Mary

[livetohike]

8. Pittsburgh and Halushki

That's wide noodles (homemade are the best) mixed with cabbage which has been sauteed in butter. It's an Eastern European dish that is usually served as a side dish. You can still find it at Mom and Pop type of stores that have a deli and during Lent many fire halls and churches have a Friday night fish fry and include halushki as a side dish.

Also, she-crab soup down in Charleston, SC may qualify for this category.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. Halushki ... the noodles or the whole dish?

Does the name "Halushki" refer to the noodles or to the whole assembled dish? Are the noodles thinck and chewy or more like fettucini?

She crab soooop. mmmmmmmMMMM!

:hi:

[livetohike]

10. Halushki is the Slovak word for

noodles. Sometimes they are mixed with dry cottage cheese and browned butter, but typically mixed with sauteed cabbage. Some folks saute onions in butter first and add cabbage to it.

If you would buy egg noodles, buy the widest ones such as for stroganoff. However, Mrs. Weiss brand makes noodles specifically for this dish. I can't find that brand out here in CA, but I bring some back with me whenever I go home, because I am lazy and usually don't make noodle dough myself :-). Oh except for when I make dough for pirohy, some call it pierogies.

[The empressof all]

12. My mom made this with Kaputska

At least I think that's how it's spelled. She would mix very well drained saurkraut with fried onions and butter. Cook until they were very soft and melty. Then she'd mix the kraut mix with the noodles and cottage cheese. The first time I made this my husband thought I'd gone crazy and needed lots of prodding to taste it. Now he's hooked and even requests that I make it.

[livetohike]

13. Hi!

:hi:

Wow I'll try that, too. I love sauerkraut. Yeah, those Slovak spellings are hard for me. I wish I had asked more questions about the language when my Grandmothers (Babas) were alive.

My husband's family is Croatian on his mom's side, but they don't make anything like this. He likes it, too. We always have buttermilk to drink with this. Oh, this was the first meal I made for my husband back when we were dating. Except we drank beer with it, lol.

[The empressof all]

14. I forgot one thing

You really need to wash the sauerkraut well and drain it. Then cook it covered with the browned onions and butter for a long time--at least a half an hour on low with a smidge of water or white wine.

I sometimes add a speck of caraway to this dish--but don't over do that as it can ruin it.

This is a great dish with a pork roast and believe it or not goes real well with gravy too.

My Mom was Ukrainian so we grew up eating all that great Eastern European belly filling food.

[livetohike]

15. Thanks

and I will add a bit of caraway too.

Where would we of Eastern European heritage be without the sacred cabbage, onions and butter? :-)

[eleny]

16. Amen!

I'm of Lithuanian heritage and recently, the best thing to happen is that I found a new Polish deli named Sawa in my neighborhood. Wall to wall sausages of all kinds in the meat department. I missed all the ethnic stores that were everywhere in Queens, NYC. Now, we're getting a large Eastern European population in the Denver area and it's heaven. Currently, I'm working my way through the different kinds of sauerkraut they sell at Sawa.

[The empressof all]

17. I'm jealous

Out here in PNW you can't even buy fresh pirogies. I have to drive 15 miles to get a decent kielbasa (you know the kind where the skin crunches when you bite into it) and forget about Babka--The gourmet store occasionally will carry what they call chocolate Babka-but it's just not right. I finally found a smoked white fish connection.

Thank god (ess) that I know how to cook!

[eleny]

19. Do you make your own babka?

I used to buy the Italian panetone. But then I started to throw a babka together in my ancient bread machine. Nothing like the grandmas used to make. But I still snitch pieces of raw dough to nibble when it's kneading (and still feel lucky when there's a raisin in it!). One thing I do now is to put some canned pumpkin in it. I don't know why I started doing that but it gives it a nice color.

I would never have thought that it was hard to find our goodies in the PNW. That's too bad. Stuff like pirogies and kielbasa are so widespread these days. But I'd drive 15 miles for the "goods", too! And btw, I know what you mean about the skin crunching. :) I used to make my own fresh kielbasa and had a hard time getting the real casing. But when Ukranians and Poles started moving west, I buy it. Colorado used to be like your area but things are changing. Eastern Europeans immigrants are discovering the west and it's about time!

Smoked white fish... You're talking my language! Looks like you've found the essentials.

[The empressof all]

20. I've never been much of a bread maker

I never can seem to get it to rise properly--I go at it with a vengence every once in a while and try my best to get it right. But I have to admit I've never been able to make a bread (out-side of using a bread machine) that I thought was more than ok.

I have a small kitchen so I rarely drag out the bread machine since I've been on decreased carbs. I prefer to save them for an occasional pasta.

I can bake anything though as long as it doesn't contain yeast---

[Lugnut]

18. Haluski

The way my grandmother used to make it was with potato dumplings which my husband calls depth charges. I made them once or twice this way and I've found it faster and easier to just use bow-tie noodles. They do taste much better with the dumplings though.

[livetohike]

21. My Great Uncle made me a utensil for making these

We call them Ishkosha(and I'm sure I didn't spell it right). Little potato dumplings and again, I mix them with cabbage sauteed in butter.

My Great-Uncle took a 7" aluminum frying pan and drilled holes all over the bottom. The holes are about 1/4" in diameter. All I have to do is pour the dumpling batter into the pan and hold it over boiling water and stir. The dumplings drop off of the bottom into the water.

My Grandmothers would stand over the pot of water and cut the dumpling dough off of a big wooden spoon. This was/is so much easier!

"depth charges" - cute!

[grasswire]

11. My Connecticut grandmother ...

...used to make codfish cakes, but never made crab cakes. My Kansas mother-in-law used to make salmon patties, but never codfish cakes. My mother, recalling her New England childhood, made what she called "clam fritters" -- made with saltines, just as mid-westerners make salmon patties.

I love regional cooking, and have quite a good collection of cookbooks and cookbooklets.

[n2mark]

22. Came across this

http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/eatingout/index.htm

go the One Bistros Cod Cakes -

[Stinky The Clown]

23. I'll try to say this in "Baltimoron" ...... (lovingly, of course) ......

Hey hon, dowse is rilly clost to what my grammy made inna Sommertime. She'd wewrk at da zink, whisslin' away. Oy liked da Sommertime 'cuz we usta go downy ayshun fer a schwim or watch dee Ayreeols play bawl.

(lemme know if that needs translation :) )