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johnny dollar's vault

retro pop culture and various local observations and ramblings.

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Location: Baltimore, Maryland, United States
johnny dollar's vault resides in the basement of stately dollar maisonTM, amongst the wine cellar, tiki bar, and finicky electrical panel. from time to time i will unearth various artifacts from either there or from the random crevices of my mind.

please visit the new and improved pig cookin' post!

NOTE: this blog will NOT deal with any recent pop culture (i.e. since about 1990) or topical issues, so if you're looking for discussion about britney baracko jacko flacco, look elsewhere, lol

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

coddie shack


in the neverending quest to throw more and more diverse foodstuffs down my gullet, when my mom-in-law offered me some frozen "coddies," i said ohyeah.


i had never had this concoction, but hearing that it was an indigenous baltimore yummie made me all about the coddies.


so anyways in the hazy shade of winter, we defrosted them and i gave them a try. yum! these ain't your mrs. paul's of gloucester fish sticks, junior. of course i delved into the intarwebs and found out the following:


coddies are pretty much russian jewish soul food! they made of cod flakes, mashed potatoes, and onions. (umm... fishy latkes almost). they were pretty much the poor person's crab cake since the 1900's, but you're most likely to hear someone who was knocking around in the 1950's or 1960's waxing nostalgic about them.


if you don't want to make them yourself, you can get some at lexington market at faidley's seafood. a couple bucks, some crackers, and some mustard, and you're rockin' your coddie piece.


9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Being the great-grandson of russian jews, I started life with coddies by my side. Unfortunately, I haven't tasted any as great as my grandmother's since she died in 1983. Talk about a lost boyhood love. I might have to check out Faidley's just to make sure they're not as good as gramma's.

(Haven't found anyone who makes anything that tastes close to her famous dry kosher spaghetti sauce either.)

12:31 PM  
Blogger johnny dollar said...

ah, grandma's cooking. i have no idea who made my coddies, but they are the only ones so far, i think i'll have to check out faidley's as well.

how can spaghetti sauce be dry btw? intriguing.

12:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

J$, the coddies you r enjoying were made by little ole church ladies. Perhaps SC should check out the old Catholic churches on the east and south side of the city for their coddie sales once Lent begins. He might find coddies like his grandma made.

2:03 PM  
Blogger johnny dollar said...

coddies, the ecumenical food :P

2:07 PM  
Blogger Double Dogged said...

I know I am coming in a little late on this post, but here is what I grew up on in East Baltimore. Cohen Coddies. I found this recipe on how to make them.

From: KATIE
To: phaedrus
Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 8:16 AM
Subject: Could you please help me find 2 recipes?

> Could you please help me find the following 2 recipes? I've
> tried everywhere.
> The first is Cohens' coddies. It is a jewish food like a fried
> patty. I know it has potato in it. My mother used to buy me one
> every week at a delli. The second recipe is a drink from our
> local Outback Steakhouse. It is called a Bondi Boomerang. It
> was a frozen drink. Thank you very much,
> katie

Hi Katie,

The coddies recipe was easy. See below. They aren't called "Cohen's Coodies" anymore. Cohen's Deli made them famous, but Cohen's is no more. They're just called "coddies" now.

The "bondi boomerang" is a different matter. Not only can't I find a recipe for it, I can't even find it listed on an Outback menu anywhere on the Internet.

Phaed


Coddies

2 med. baking potatoes
1/2 lb. cod
2 T. butter, melted
1 egg lightly beaten
1 T. chopped parsley
Flour for dusting (matzo meal would probably work fine)
oil/butter for sauteeing
options: 1 t. curry powder OR onion OR dijon mustard
and/OR Worcestershire sauce

Cook the potatoes. Mash 'em chunky. Cook fish 8 min. at 350. Add melted
butter, egg, parsley and whatever of the above options (I favour curry
powder, which is traditional, or dijon mustard, a tiny bit of sauteed
chopped onion, and a dollop of worcestershire) You can mix and match
these to your own taste.) Flake the fish into the potato mix and mix
well to combine. Mold into flat, round, hamburger sized cakes. Dust
with flour (Matzo meal) and saute in a shallow layer of hot oil/butter
for about 4 minuted per side or until lightly browned.

They were cheap and I always ate more that one! Google Cohen Coddies if you want to see more about them from Baltimore.

10:18 AM  
Blogger johnny dollar said...

cool, thanks double dogged!

10:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As a kid in the fifty's my Mother would sometimes send me to a little store on the corner of Reisterstown Rd. and Oakmont Ave.
It was called Ben's. Ben sold the best tasteing coddies in the area. They were Leiberman's. I know Cohen's were very famous and good too but Lieberman's was our favorite.

6:57 PM  
Blogger Toby A. said...

Lieberman's coddies WERE the best!

9:31 PM  
Anonymous Counterman said...

Cohen's coddies were yellow. Lieberman's were grey.

8:18 PM  

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