Salt-Cod Fish Cakes

“There is no way of preparing salt fish for breakfast so nice,” writes Lydia Child, “as to roll it up in little balls, after it is mixed with mashed potatoes, dip it into an egg, and fry it brown.” Fish balls, like dough balls, stoked the furnace and got a body going. Fish balls also used up leftovers, and recipes for salt or fresh fish cooked with potatoes were a staple of the frugal housewife throughout the nineteenth century.

Unfortunately, memories of the Depression have put cod