From Page To Plate
Ina Yalof Salmon Croquettes
Pink Salmon Croquettes, Scallion Sour Cream Cream Cheese, Smoked Salmon, Red Lumpfish Caviar
The recently released excellent read Food and the City: New York's Professional Chefs, Restaurateurs, Line Cooks, Street Vendors, and Purveyors Talk About What Thy Do And Why They Do It, and it documents author Ina Yalof's travels and interviews throughout the five boroughs of the very people who make their life and life's passion bringing a wide variety of cuisine to grateful diners of all ilk and fancy, from 4-star hotels to decades-old mainstays to street carts to Rikers Island penitentiary.
It is an exciting and enticing read, as every chapter offers a take or history on some of the city's most popular and revered dishes. Which is why it is even more impressive that a cook/chef such as myself would find culinary inspiration not just from the kitchens of the food purveyors featured, but from the author herself.
Ina admits that she considers herself no chef, but does profess to be an avid eater, remembering fondly one of the two cooked-from-scratch she enjoyed as a child, her father's "famous" salmon croquettes.
Also a favorite dish of mine growing up, the idea of making some stuck with me through tales of Dominique Ansel cronuts, Peter Luger steaks, Papaya King hot dogs, and RedFarm's Pac-Man dumplings.
After finishing the book, the desire remained, so I used Ina's recollection of her father's recipe, and made it a bit more adult, adding minced garlic, smoked paprika, and chopped scallions to a mixing bow of canned pink salmon, egg, and breadcrumbs. The mix was separated into patties, pan-fried in rendered bacon fat, and topped with a scallion sour cream cream cheese, a slice of smoked salmon, and a touch of red lumpfish caviar.
Much like traveling with Ina in her book from the great foods of New York City, it was nice to travel back to her early culinary childhood for another great story and meal.
