Hickling Broad Pike Cakes
Hickling Broad dawn: pike, reed-herbs and swede mash
Hickling Broad sits wide and flat under low Norfolk light, and pike from the reed edges turn up the heat after an October dawn session. The dish that follows is simple, built from what Broads anglers bring home and what grows on the bank: flaked pike folded into swede-and-potato mash with water mint and ramsons.
Method
Poach the pike gently until just opaque, cool and flake. Mix the fish with 2 cups of warm mash, 1 egg, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, finely chopped reed-herbs, salt and pepper. Shape into 6–8 patties, each about 1 cm thick and 8–10 cm across.
Heat butter and oil in a non-stick frying pan and fry the cakes over medium heat for 3–4 minutes a side until golden and crisp. Serve on a bed of swede mash, a squeeze of lemon and a scattering of chopped wild chives from the marsh.
Pike on the Broads fish best from October to March near shallow margins of 1–3 metres. A sensible tackle setup: a 12 to 13 ft rod, a 4000–6000 reel, 15–20 lb line and a 9–18 inch wire trace. Lures of choice are 5–7 inch shads, spoons or jerkbaits used along reedbeds of Horsey Mere, Martham Broad and the River Thurne.
The cakes stay soft inside, crisp outside; they suit a pint and the low sun on Hickling, reeds trembling and a mallard slipping the channel.
Recommended: durable frying pan