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Ham, Kromeskies Of
Put half a pound of ox kidney through the mincing machine, and mix with it three ounces of bacon that has been cut in dice and fried, a chopped onion, a carrot, a bunch of savoury herbs, and pepper and salt. Put these into a stewpan with a quarter of a pint of stock, and boil slowly for ten minutes, stirring constantly; then rub the whole through a sieve. Cut some raw ham into very thin slices about two and a half inches square; put a dessert-spoonful of the mixture on each of these, and wrap it up in the ham; close the ends firmly with a small skewer, or tie round with a piece of firm string or thread; dip in batter, and fry. Drain, and garnish with crisp parsley.
A Victorian croquette in disguise: a stiff kidney puree wrapped in ham, battered and deep-fried. The whole thing hinges on the filling being dry and thick enough to hold its shape, so treat the sieving stage as the real work.
- The filling must be paste, not gravyA quarter of a pint is 5 fl oz, a scant two-thirds cup, and the ten minutes of slow boiling will reduce some of it. If the sieved mixture will not sit in a spoon without slumping, dry it over low heat before you try to roll it, or the batter will burst in the fat.
- Ox kidneyBeef kidney, strong-flavoured and best soaked in cold water or milk for an hour and trimmed of its white core before mincing. Lamb's kidneys are milder if the beef version is too assertive; use the same weight.
- Rubbing through a sieveThis is what a food processor is for. Pulse the cooked mixture to a coarse paste, then push it through a sieve only if you want the fine texture the original intends; the carrot and herb fibres are what you are removing.
- "Raw ham"In Victorian usage this most likely means cured ham that has not been cooked, rather than fresh pork; the term is not defined here. Prosciutto or another thin dry-cured ham works well. Slices should be genuinely thin so they wrap without cracking.
- A bunch of savoury herbsA bouquet garni: parsley stalks, thyme, a bay leaf. Tie it so you can fish it out, since bay leaf will not sieve..
- FryingDeep fry at 350-375F until the batter is set and deep gold, two to three minutes. Any thicker batter or lower temperature and the coating soaks fat before the parcel heats through; if the ham is uncooked rather than cured, check that the centre is hot.
- Skewers and stringSmall cocktail sticks are easiest, and remove them before serving. Cotton thread is safe but fiddly to cut off once battered; chilling the parcels before frying helps them hold their shape.
- YieldA dessert-spoonful per parcel; the quantities given make a considerable number of them, ample for four as a savoury or first course.
- Crisp parsleyParsley fried in the same fat for a few seconds, until it stops sputtering. Make sure it is bone dry first, as wet parsley in hot fat spits violently.
Kromeskies are the English spelling of the French cromesquis, itself generally traced to a Polish or Russian original. The filling is wrapped rather than crumbed — calf's udder in the older French kitchen, or, as here, thin ham — then dipped in batter and fried. They appeared on late Victorian and Edwardian menus as a savoury or an entree. Cassell's gives several entries under different wrappings and fillings.