The basic recipe requires:
1 can of salmon
1 egg
1/4 cup of breadcrumps (approx)
butter
vegetable oil
(Also pictured below is a variation on spaghetti with fried eggs that I've been making a lot lately too, for similar reasons.)
Beat the egg. Mix it up with the salmon and the breadcrumbs in a small bowl. You really just need enough breadcrumbs to get it to hold together into a cake when you shape it with your hands. I've discovered that if it's still fairly round when I put it into the pan and I try to press it flat it often cracks and comes apart a bit but it's still perfectly edible.Fry the cake(s, since there's no reason you can't make more than one at the same time, if you have a big enough pan) in a mixture of half butter, half vegetable oil for a few minutes, until it starts to brown, then flip it and brown the other side. And you're done.
I usually also add:
dash of dried dill
1/4 onion, chopped and sauteed
The first time I made it I didn't have dill so I used ground clove instead, which was interesting. Tasty, but I use clove enough in other things that I don't feel the need to repeat the experiment.
This recipe is fairly eye-balled because I got it from my mom, who got it from her grandmother, who adapted it from something called "salmon loaf" that I've never personally been exposed to. I brought it with me to college because it's so fast, it's tasty, a cheap way to eat salmon, and I can make it out of things I pretty much always have around anyway. Along with frozen peas, it's my go-to "I don't feel like going to the grocery store today after all" dinner.
