Fish cakes are the great Acadian invention of making a little fish feed a lot of people. Salt cod — preserved, traded and carried to every shore — was flaked into a bowl of mashed potato, shaped into patties, and fried in a heavy pan, stretching a precious catch into a full family meal.
Done right, a fish cake has a crackling crust that gives way to a soft, savoury centre perfumed with onion. They are the taste of Lenten Fridays and big Sunday breakfasts alike, and a bottle of ketchup is the only garnish worth arguing about.

