Appalachian meal. And we ate this growing up canned salmon.

[Duncanpup]

I never knew the reason behind us eating canned salmon regularly yet I just read why.
I remember this regularly and i liked eating this as i still do today salmon patties and cornbread and at times with bean soup .

Yet it stems from Great Depression as folks suffered from pellagra vitamin B3 deficiency and canned salmon cured people of this . Now in reading spring sickness was predominantly in the south during the depression.

And yet growing up in the Northern part of Appalachia my grandmother made canned salmon a lot a bonus if gram made Mac and cheese as side dish . And the government subsidized the salmon industry during the depression years.

Now a question before eating did you pick the bones out before mixing them with egg flour and breadcrumbs or did you just mash the bones up.
Reasoning from older generation who grew up in those tough times their reasoning was salmon bones added calcium.

I prefer picking bones out yet as kid i don’t remember if they picked out the bones maybe just mixed and mashed.

[SheltieLover]

1. Yup we ate salmon patties, too, Dunc.

Bones left in.

I wasn't a fan, but my dad loved them.

[BigMin28]

10. The dreaded Salmon patties

I never felt well when we had those. You didn't dare say you didn't like something.

[SheltieLover]

22. Oh no. Didn't dare say you didn't like any food!

My parents lived through the Great Depression. Need I say more?

I love salmon & eat it several times a week, but not the canned stuff. Yuck.

[cachukis]

62. You wouldn't know it if you had my pie.

Only sockeye. No chum.

[FarPoint]

2. The bones are eatable....

Can be tedious to pick out the bones...I do remove some of the larger bones but a mot concerned...

[SheltieLover]

23. The bones are a great source of calcium, so there is that benefit

[1WorldHope]

31. I was pretty easily led to cringe about any weird food as a kid.

But my favorite part was the back bones as they crumbled between my teeth.

[SheltieLover]

33. Lol

[FarPoint]

34. Good seeing ya!

No Sterling video today....he has the flu....

[SheltieLover]

36. Good to see you, too

I've never watched him. Do you like him?

[FarPoint]

41. Absolutely adore Sterling

Well organized videos .... I also love Linda G Comanche....

[SheltieLover]

44. I've only seen LindaG once

She seemed to babble a bit too much for me, but I'll give her another try.

I really like Denise Knight who does tsf's health every night for the following day. She cuts right to the chase, which I appreciate. Her videos post at 2:01am central time every morning. Here is a link:

?feature=shared

I've heard people say Sterling is too "pollyannaish." You don't find him to be that way?

[FarPoint]

52. Yes, Linda G does wonder a bit but she reminds me of ....

days when you meet up with friends for lunch and just gab...a calming feeling which is nice. Denise Knight is enjoyable too...

[FarPoint]

42. Yes

Well organized videos .... I also love Linda G Comanche....

[musette_sf]

46. I've been trying to find the DUer

who hipped me to Sterling in those dark days when I could barely make it through the day without breaking down internally, so it must have been one of you!

Thanks so much! (And remember, we’re on to the “M” phase now… courage…)

[NickB79]

3. Grew up eating salmon patties burgers in Minnesota during Lent

Catholic, no meat on Fridays, so Mom would use canned salmon, eggs, and breadcrumbs to make burgers. She mashed everything up, didn't bother to pick out any bones unless they were big ones.

[Attilatheblond]

28. Not Catholic, but my mom made salmon 'loaf' and I LOVED it.

She added finely minced celery, onion, parsley to the usual egg & breadcrumb, canned salmon. It was one of my favorite suppers.

[SheLiberal]

4. Mom made salmon patties often

It is the one recipe of hers I will never use. Ate them as a kid but never liked them, just the thought of the smell of the can being opened turns my stomach now.

[KentuckyWoman]

5. We picked the bones and skin

Yes it was nutrition lost, but my mother didn't like the taste. We considered it high eatin'.

[Diamond_Dog]

6. We were exactly the same as above poster.

My Grandma made salmon patties on Fridays occasionally because no meat allowed. I ate them but I don’t remember liking them or hating them. And I don’t remember any bones, she must have just mashed them in with the other ingredients.

Nowadays they are called Salmon Burgers and you pay $12 for one in a restaurant.

[Nittersing]

7. Growing up, never heard of salmon cakes!

I probably discovered them in my 40s and I love them!!

I grew up in the north east... MA/NJ

[marble falls]

8. Ate the bones. The canning process softened them to nice consistency that I liked just fine. Six kids - you bet ...

... my mother left those bones in!

When we had chicken, my sister or I would grab up the leg bones and gnaw the ends down to the hard bone. Picca? Or one chicken for two adults and six kids? My dad would eat the neck, backs and the wings. Always with potato salad, iceberg salad (french dressing or 1000 island) and a vegatable that one of us kids choosing from the carton of canned corn, peas, green beans in the cellar. Sunday dinner in near westside of Cleveland, the late fifties.

Now that I'm an old man, I still eat the wings and the back and the neck even after the kids left home . But I don't eat iceberg, or canned veg.

[JT45242]

9. Staple of depression era mother on Fridays...dad hated them

My mom grew up a poor Catholic in the depression. This was one of her go to recipes on Friday. I was born long after Vatican 2 and no meat was only required for lent.

The old man grew up presbyterian and would give me money to ride to the local sandwich shop and bring back double deckers in defiance.

I didn't mind the salmon patties. My mom never took the bones out.

But Dad was right...ham and roast beef double decker was much better

[Clouds Passing]

11. I've made my MIL's southern recipe for Salmon Cakes. No bones.

[Lars39]

12. I made salmon patties, mac and cheese for supper last night.

I used leftover salmon, though. I used to make that combo a lot when the kids were growing up. 🙂

[maveric]

13. Growing up in Boston we ate Salmon and peas.

With canned salmon. Oh so creamy. We all loved it.

[Mosby]

14. My mom made salmon croquettes.

They were delicious.

[iluvtennis]

17. So did my mom and grandma. They were from Mississippi, so I considered it a southern tradition. My gran

lived during the depression and often told stories of standing in the gov't food lines for cheese, rice. beans., flour.

[Texasgal]

68. Same here...

Mom always made them with the bones. She would just mash up the can and other ingredients very fine and make them into "croquette" shapes and fry them in a cast iron skillet!

Haven't had them in years!

[johnnyfins]

79. yep!

[elocs]

15. Ever see the Appalachian Word of the Day YouTube shorts? I watch them all the time.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_U8UhWveLOw

[Elessar Zappa]

57. Yes!

[Historic NY]

16. Would you like sardines better?

I'm in the north and we had sardines and crackers as kids.

[erronis]

26. Mackerel for me. Cross between sardines and tuna. Supposedly sustainable.

Although eating freshly caught Mediterranean large sardines roasted on the grill on a small Spanish island is probably as close to heaven as I want to get.

[yellowdogintexas]

51. I despise canned sardines My college roommate and one of our friends across the hall loved them

If they got them out, the other roommate and I would either evacuate or make them leave!. However, we had amazing fresh sardines in Seville, Spain. They were fried in olive oil of all things and were so delicious.
Mr YD and I are not fish eaters but we ate fish every day when we were in Spain.

[Retrograde]

67. I can occasionally find fresh sardines here

or in Monterey (used to be a big sardine canning town, but overfishing destroyed that part of the economy). A caveat: they're an oily fish, so if you cook them yourself do it outdoors, or you will be smelling sardines for weeks!

[elocs]

53. Sardines are my emergency food because the only way I would ever chose to eat them

is if it were an emergency.

[doc03]

66. I like salmon patties and a sardine sandwich with a thick slice of sweet onion and mustard yummy. nt

[rickyhall]

18. My mom figured how to barbeque them in the skillett.

[Kali]

19. Pick and eat the bones.

We use crushed saltines.

[pandr32]

20. I picked out the spine and skin.

If I were to open a can to use I still would.

[Figarosmom]

21. Still eat them

Bones out.

Only time I had them as a kid was school lunch. Mom hated fish especially the salmon. Dad always made spaghetti and tuna for me though.

[appleannie1]

24. I always just left the bones in.

I love salmon patties with white gravy with canned peas in the gravy and lots of pepper. Kind of like country fried steak and white gravy. Just butter, flour and milk and lots of salt and freshly cracked pepper. It is strange because I can't stand fresh salmon. I lived in the north and salmon patties were a regular meal, probably for the same reason.

[IronLionZion]

25. Vitamin B3 is Niacin, here are a bunch of foods that have it

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-high-in-niacin

[erronis]

27. Well, why didn't you tell them that back in the '30s?

/grin

[IronLionZion]

39. We may repeat the great depression soon so now we are armed with knowledge and experience

[wcmagumba]

29. We usually had mackerel patties. Mom took out the bones and so do I...

Love these but haven't made them in a long while, will have to make some...mmmm...

[cachukis]

30. Just made a salmon loaf with a can of sockeye salmon.

Bones and all. Have to say as we finished the last slices that will have to make one as a shepherds pie with lobster mashed potatoes with a nice cream sauce.
Saddened when we had no more loaf.

[intrepidity]

45. Recipe?

I've got some cans I need to use. TIA

[cachukis]

49. Recipe.

1 (15 1/2 ounce) can salmon

1
cup saltine crumbs
2
tablespoons minced onions
1
tablespoon lemon juice
2
tablespoons melted butter
1⁄2
teaspoon salt
1
egg (beaten)
2⁄3
cup milk
1
dash pepper
Drain salmon.
Grease loaf pan with butter.
340° for 40 minutes.
I used to make it with a butter milk sauce for gravy. Serve with half a hard boiled egg. Then pour gravy. Yum.
Have made many salmon pies.
If you ever get frozen sockeye on sale, cook two cups. Yum yum.

[woodsprite]

60. A slice of cold salmon loaf and scoop of cottage cheese

Is my idea of a great breakfast!

[Retrograde]

32. It was creamed salmon on toast chez nous

made, of course, with canned salmon. This was in an industrial city in New York - it was something that could be kept in the pantry until the times came when there was more month left than paycheck. Haven't had it in decades, but I regularly eat another Depression-era staple, sardines on toast (but with avocado - I think it's mandatory in California).

And the bones are the best part - just a little crunchy, and with sardines you can pick out the backbones and make a nice design on top of the toast. Hey - I think carnivores should remember that they're eating formerly living creatures.

[LoisB]

35. We ate salmon patties too. I pick out the bones but I don't think my mother did.

[Moosepoop]

37. Mom usually made tuna patties.

But on occasion she'd used canned salmon (bones in) instead. She worked at Kroger, so she was aware of when things went on sale and I think she got the salmon when the price was reduced. I loved both the tuna and salmon patties. There were always side dishes and vegetables to go with them, she'd vary those by season. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

[GoCubsGo]

38. I pull off the skin, but leave most or all of the bones.

Canned salmon usually becomes salmon cakes in my house, so I just mash up the bones when I break up the salmon. It's extra calcium, and at my age, when osteoporosis is common, it sure doesn't hurt. I sometimes will pull out a few of the vertebrae, but I might remove all of them if I'm making something other than salmon patties.

My parents were both born during the Depression. My grandma would occasionally make salmon patties for us, along with other dishes from that era. It's amazing the ways one can make tasty meals with so little.

[bamagal62]

40. My mom made salmon cakes

Quite often. This was Alabama. She had 6 kids to feed. So, I imagine it was a solid cheap meal! I still love them.

[misanthrope]

43. Mom called them salmon croquettes

We had them regularly because they were inexpensive. I dunked mine in ketchup to make them more palatable. Then I discovered in adulthood how delicious fresh salmon actually is.

Same with asparagus as I despised the mushy canned ones Mom served us. Once grown, I had fresh asparagus and it was like a whole different food.

[ILikePie92]

47. I remember my grandmother

Making salmon patties and corn bread ALL THE TIME!
Potato soup was her favorite too. My mother made them up until her death last year. Going to try to find their recipe when I go home.
Grandmother loved Lima beans and northern white beans with Mac and cheese too.

Southwest Virginia

[ShazzieB]

48. We ate salmon patties growing up, too!

My mom was from Chattanooga, TN, which is kind of in the southern foothills of the Appalachians, and we lived there till I was 12.

I used to love salmon patties when I was a kid. Unfortunately, when I made them for dinner for my now husband, he didn't care for them at all. So they never became part of our menu as a couple. I'm tempted to try making them again just for myself, but I'd have to figure out how to do it all over again! Maybe I should check out some reciples to jog my memory.

[Meowmee]

50. I ate salmon when I was a child in Canada and got violently ill

I don’t remember now if it was canned or fresh. But after that, I was never able to eat it my entire life because the sight and the smell would make me sick. However, I have eaten it maybe a handful of times as long as it’s fresh in the past 20 years or so. I can eat it now, but it took that long to get rid of the effect of memory of what happened.

Same for zucchini.. I have been eating that a lot lately now.

I used to buy a canned salmon for my father because he liked that.

[CountAllVotes]

76. that happened to me with pouched eggs

I 'd them up all over the place when I was a young child.

Never like eggs again after that!

Giant UGH!

[Meowmee]

82. Awful, sorry that happened

I am shocked I am eating zucchini again really 😹

[CountAllVotes]

88. zucchini

That's another one I'm not fond of.

As for the egg thing, at least it doesn't matter to me how high the price is being I never buy them!

[yellowdogintexas]

54. We had salmon patties (we called them croquettes) fairly often.

My mom's were very good. She made them with egg, minced onion and cracker crumbs, then rolled them in cornmeal before frying.
Mine were never as good as hers.

We usually had mac and cheese with them; seems to be a popular combination here.

Sometimes we had slaw or spinach.

We also had the creamed salmon with peas in it. Sometimes my mom made it with tuna. It was one of our Saturday suppers; my dad worked late on Saturday night and ate supper with my grandmother. Saturday suppers werealways things he did not like. Chipped beef on toast, lasagne, or any of a number of casseroles - he had a thing about things mixed up together. The chipped beef aversion was probably a holdover from his WWII service. For some reason he never had an aversion to Spam. Go figure.

One aversion which we found hilarious was evaporated milk. He detested it. If we were going to make something which included it, we would order it from our family store, and have my aunt pack the groceries so the milk would be well hidden. Then we could make the dessert, and he would love it because he did not know the evap was in it.

[kozar]

55. Uhmm

And when LilBit was here, I made "tuna casserole" for her, as it was one of her faves. I used canned salmon, because of the higher protein content.

Koz

[malaise]

89. Hi Koz

Nice to see you posting
Asked for you a while ago




Add link
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10182176668

[leftyladyfrommo]

56. I loved salmon patties. I think they had

onions and crushed crackers and a little oil. We may have added a raw egg to bind it.

They are good and canned salmon is good when you need good food for cheap.

[badhair77]

58. I had depression era parents so of course we had salmon cakes several times a year, from canned salmon.

She took out the skin but used a big mortar and pestle to crush the cartilage, so we never faced that. I use a really good Weight Watchers recipe using canned salmon and make salmon croquettes. I need to dig out that recipe.

[woodsprite]

59. I just made this last week for dinner

My grandmom’s Salmon loaf
2 cans canned pink or red salmon, drained
(Spine bones and skin removed, juice went
To Daisy, our grand pup)
1/2 c potato flakes or 3/4 c leftover mashed potatoes
1 egg
2 tbls horseradish
1/4 c ketchup
1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp celery flakes (optional)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Mix everything together and pat into a greased or oiled loaf pan. Top with a thin coat of additional ketchup and an additional sprinkle of dill. Bake for 30-35 min at 350 degrees.

We usually served ours with mac/cheese and asparagus.

[PufPuf23]

61. Get canned salmon nearly every month from Food For People / CalFresh.

Never have been a fan of canned salmon. Started FFP/CF November 2024 so problem of what to do with canned salmon was a new question.

Always ate salmon from childhood but fresh or smoked; did not grow up with salmon patties as salmon locally bountiful (Klamath River).

Tried to figure out ways to make something I like out of the canned salmon.

Started playing with the idea of salmon patties.

Debone the canned salmon.

Mix in some Marie Callender corn bread mix (contains dry egg).

Add blueberries or in season huckleberries (that grow in forest near my home).

Cool mix. Make thin patties using wax paper.

Cook in covered cast iron using Crisco (keep Crisco for cast iron maintenance in general but was using to make cornbread muffins and then salmon patties).

Drain on paper towel.

Top with a little mayo and lime juice.

Have made salmon patties using bread crumps and egg and sometimes minced fresh garlic or onion, once with morels.

Going to try blackberries and chopped fresh basil, cilantro or parsley from garden this Summer.

[underpants]

63. It's amazing how smartly the government has had an effect.

My stepfather was a canned sardines guy. My wife says they used to have canned salmon (Roanoke). Both of the families were in the Depression era of just coming out of it. Small package easily distributed seafood.

The New Deal created much of the archeology field we know today. Environmental surveys and it was an out of sight out of mind endeavor that supported universities and a lot of women even minorities were employed in.

Musicians were heavily employed during the Depression to travel and play shows for the public and at work camps to improve morale and distract people from there woes.

WWII C-rations using powdered eggs lead to Betty Crocker cake mix. It was perfect but focus groups at the time showed that it wasn’t selling due to guilt. Homemakers felt they were cheating by not doing the elaborate floury measures Grandma did. Drop the powdered eggs + add step 3 (or 4) “Add one egg” = printing money.

[Peacetrain]

64. We still have salmon patties made with cornmeal and egg and a ton of pepper

every week Duncan... I grew up on it also. My husband and I are pescatarian.. basically vegans who add fish to their diets.. I love canned salmon because it is wild caught salmon.. most salmon filets in the US are farm raised.. and that has issues all their own.. plus I like the taste of canned better..

PS.. I do not take out the bones.. they disappear in the patty..but my aunt always removes the bone

[JI7]

65. Was this similar to canned Tuna ?

Isn't Salmon seen as more costly food or fish today ?

[Easterncedar]

69. Salmon loaf was delicious

[madinmaryland]

73. My mom made that for us, and it was good. Better than salmon patties.

This was in the 60’s and 70’s. They still sell the cans of salmon in stores.

[MissB]

70. Interesting bit of history!!

We have fresh wild salmon on occasion, whenever we feel the urge to bbq some.

I use the leftovers to make salmon patties, and provide hollandaise sauce for topping them. Some roasted asparagus is a perfect companion.

I keep some canned salmon in the basement just in case.

I had a sibling that lived in Alaska when they had young kids, and were poor enough to be able to qualify for dip netting. The kids grew up having salmon, salmon loaf, salmon patties… it was a very cheap protein. I preferred the smoked salmon they would bring down when visiting the lower 48.

[senseandsensibility]

71. My mom's family in the Pacific Northwest

had recipes from the Great Depression, and one of them was really good. It was called Depression Bread, and was eggless, butterless, and milkless. But it did have sugar, and was more like a cake. Anyway, it was very dense and rich an my mom made it for us well into the 70's. I think they had access to fresh salmon though, even in the Depression because of their location and ability to fish in the PNW rivers .

[Noodleboy13]

72. Condiment Chef to the rescue! Aka The Ghetto Gourmet.

1 can salmon. Liquid drained. Mix with s+p tp taste. Spoon on a cut bagel. Cheese strips preferably from like peel off cheese stix on top. ( yeah I know the whole no cheese with fish thing. I'm making mini pizzas here ) Nuke or bake until cheese melts.
Whole cost? 3-4$. Invented this when i was homeless and urban camping out of my bike.

Peace,
Noodleboy.

[Bettie]

74. To this day I can't eat fish at all

it just makes me nauseated between salmon patties (with the bones) and cheap fish sticks. ETA: Oh and the horrors that were tuna noodle casserole and tuna salad sandwiches for lunch. Just not for me. At. All.

Nope. Not anything I'll be eating.

My BIL lives in Alaska and brings back fish that my DH and middle son really enjoy, but I just can't.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

75. Living in the Pacific Northwest I'm used to fresh salmon

It's usually available at a reasonable price if you know where to look.

Canned might be okay for a chowder or bisque.

[elleng]

77. I remember too!!!

[Morbius]

78. My mother made salmon patties.

She pulled out bigger bits of bone, I don't know what her recipe was; I expect it most likely involved crushed saltines and egg. In my family Fridays were always meatless, so the regular Friday rotation was macaroni & cheese, tomato soup & grilled cheese sandwiches, some kind of tuna (tuna rice casserole, creamed tuna on toast, tuna salad) and some kind of fish (fish sticks, the dreaded fried perch, or salmon patties). Later, when money wasn't quite so tight, there were some shrimp meals - my father loved shrimp. So I think we would have salmon patties maybe twice, maybe three times a year, tops.

I make real salmon, ideally baked in a pouch. Can't stomach the canned crap anymore.

[blogslug]

80. Oh yes. Mom made salmon patties at least once a month.

She and Dad grew up in the depression but I don't know if that's why she made them or if it was one of the recipes she got out of a magazine or the Betty Crocker cookbook.

Anyway, these days I like to buy salmon in pouches. They're convenient and easy to carry and store. Salmon has a very strong flavor and living alone, I don't need much. I like to use it for pasta sauces or I mix it with cream cheese and dill to spread on crackers or a nice piece of bread.

[chowmama]

81. Not salmon, but tuna

When my older sister took Home Ec, the school got a whole lot of free surplus tuna. Easily half the recipes she brought home were tuna-based.

The tuna burgers were awful, but not as bad as the tuna and peas on toast. The tuna and peas were heated with undiluted cream of mushroom soup and glopped over toast. Real SOS.

[Saoirse9]

83. My Mom made salmon loaf lots of Fridays

To this day I cannot eat salmon, she served it so often. She left the bones in and we would crunch on them too.

Catholics ate fish every Friday when I was a kid.

[Maninacan]

84. Bones

My Grandmother gave me salmon with bones in it and said to eat them. On her farm early 1960s. Had some boiled potatoes with it

[xmas74]

85. We still have them

But usually buy mackerel instead of salmon.

[wcmagumba]

86. I think we always had mackerel because it was cheaper than salmon, we weren't particularly well off in those days...

[onethatcares]

87. Family of 2 adults and 5 kids, you bet we ate

salmon cakes. and tuna noodle casserole and a Polish delicacy called "halupky" which is dough rolled into small lumps fried and covered with ketchup. Surprisingly enough there were never any left overs and dad got seconds before the kids.