
by Sharon Wylie
If you grew up in Baltimore City, your remember visits to the corner grocery store or soda fountains where you could buy a “coddie” for a nickel…and that included saltines and mustard!
Known as the poor man’s crab cake, Baltimore coddies, not to be confused with codfish cakes, are hand-formed, slightly flattened potato cakes flavored with salt cod and other seasonings and then deep-fried. They are traditionally served at room temperature, sandwiched between two saltine crackers with a dollop of yellow mustard.
Although a popular dish with Baltimoreans of all faiths and enjoyed throughout the year, coddies are a traditional meal during the Lenten season. The coddies’ origins are vague, but it is believed that Fannie Jacobson Cohen created the coddie as a way to attract new customers to their family’s stall in the old Belair Market.
Ingredients:
¼ lb salted cod
1 to 1 ¼ lbs potatoes
2T milk
1/4 crushed crackers
2 eggs
1/2t black pepper
saltines
yellow mustard
Directions:
- Soak and rinse cod for 24 hours
- Cover and simmer for 10- 15 minutes. Drain & flake.
- Peel, dice, and cook potatoes.
- Drain and mash potatoes with milk.
- Combine cod, potatoes, crackers, eggs & pepper.
- Make into thin palm size balls and flatten slightly.
- Brown on each side in shallow oil and then drain.
- Serve hot or room temperature with saltines and
mustard.