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Glite Dictionary
codfish cake

codfish cake

3.5
A small fried or baked cake made from salt cod and potatoes
  • noun
  • /ˈkɒdfɪʃ keɪk/
  • Canadian
translation icon : torta de bacalao
  • Have you ever tried codfish cakes?

Examples

  • My grandmother taught me her secret recipe for codfish cake.

  • She served homemade codfish cakes for breakfast with baked beans.

  • The restaurant is known for its crispy codfish cakes and tangy tartar sauce.

  • I love codfish cake for lunch.

  • For dinner, we decided to try the delicious codfish cake served with a tangy tartar sauce.

  • The chef recommended the codfish cake as a tasty appetizer to start our meal.

  • She prepared a flavorful codfish cake made with mashed potatoes and herbs.

Synonyms

fish cake
vscodfish cake
2 2.0

A small fried patty made from flaked fish mixed with potatoes

is specific to salted white seafood rather than any other seafood
codfish ball
vscodfish cake
  • Canadian
8.1

A small ball of mashed potato made with salted cod and often breaded and fried

is a larger flat patty rather than a small round portion

How Filling

main course
28 1.3
sandwich
800 1.0
codfish cake
  • Canadian
3.5
snack
471 1.0
finger food
7 1.8

Surface Forms

codfish cake singular
codfish cakes plural

Morphology

codfish + cake

The noun is a straightforward compound where the head 'cake' (patty) is modified by 'codfish' to indicate the ingredient, so its meaning—a patty made from cod—is directly derived from the constituents. This compositional pattern (fish + cake/patty) is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words can reliably infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Codfish cake comes from a simple kitchen picture: cooks mixed flaked, often salted, codfish with mashed potato and shaped it into a flat cake to fry. One popular idea is that this small fried 'patty' is the reason we call the dish a 'cake' even though it is made of fish.