Baked hake patties

Prepare the necessary ingredients for baking delicious saithe cutlets in the oven. The fish can be purchased frozen. When buying saithe, pay attention to its appearance and smell. When properly stored, the fish has a pleasant sweet aroma. The temperature in the freezer should not be higher than -18 degrees. The carcass should not have spots and dried areas, as well as a large amount of ice. If you want to shorten the cooking time, you can buy frozen saithe fillet or ready-made minced meat. Take out the frozen carcasses from the freezer in advance and defrost them in the refrigerator compartment. It is convenient to do this step in the evening, the fish will defrost overnight. Use white bread. Fresh or well-dried bread will do. Choose herbs to your taste. I will use dill and parsley. You can also use cilantro, celery, basil. Fresh herbs can be replaced with dried ones.

I have fresh bread. Trim the crusts. Cut the crumb into cubes. Transfer to a deep bowl. Pour milk of any fat content over it and let it soak.

Peel and rinse the onion. Pat it dry with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Cut into cubes. Heat half of the vegetable oil in a skillet. Add the chopped onion. Fry for 8-10 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring, until soft and lightly browned.

Rinse the saithe well with running water. Trim all the fins and tail with kitchen scissors. Using a well-sharpened knife, first separate one fillet portion, and then the second one.

Remove the skin from the fillet and remove the bones.

Cut the prepared fillet into small pieces.

Pass the sliced whiting fillet through a meat grinder with a fine grille. The weight of the cleaned fillet is 900 g.

Grind the softened bread slices in a meat grinder. Add to the fish mixture. Mix well.

Add sautéed onions and beat in a small egg. Mix well.

Rinse and dry the herbs. Finely chop them and add to the mince. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with ground paprika. You can experiment with spices.

Add breadcrumbs. Adjust the amount depending on the consistency of the mince. If it's too runny, add a bit more breadcrumbs.

Mix well and beat 8-10 times, lifting the mince with your hand and throwing it back into the bowl with force. This will make the mince more compact. Mine turned out quite dense and easy to shape.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Grease with vegetable oil. Shape the mince into desired shapes and sizes. I got 18 patties weighing 65g each. At this step, you can freeze the patties and store them in the freezer for up to 2 months at -18 degrees Celsius. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place the tray with the mint fish patties in the hot oven for 45-50 minutes. The baking time may vary slightly as different ovens have different heat levels.

Remove the patties from the oven. Serve hot.

The baked whiting cutlets are ready. Enjoy your meal!