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Strawberry Croquettes
1 pint hot cooked rice, yolks of 3 eggs, 1 tablespoonful fine sugar, 1 teaspoonful each butter and berry extract; whip to a paste; form into balls; place large berry in centre; cover well; dip in bread crumbs, then egg, again in crumbs; fry in deep fat. Decorate with pink frillette on each.
A rice croquette with a whole strawberry hidden inside, fried and served as a sweet. The rice has to be hot, starchy and stiff or the balls will not hold around the fruit.
- The hinge: a stiff, sticky riceUse a short-grain or pudding rice cooked soft in milk or water until it is thick enough to mound on a spoon. Long-grain rice cooked dry and fluffy will not bind, and the croquettes will burst in the fat.
- A pint of cooked riceThat is two cups by volume, measured after cooking, which is roughly 2/3 cup of raw short-grain rice. Beat the yolks in while the rice is still hot so they thicken rather than scramble in strands.
- Berry extractPeriod fruit essences were flavouring extracts sold alongside vanilla and lemon; the recipe asks only for 'berry extract'. A teaspoon of modern strawberry extract is the nearest available substitute, though strength and character will differ; if you cannot find it, vanilla with a spoonful of strawberry preserve is closer in effect than nothing.
- Chill before breadingThe recipe omits it, but paste warm from the pan will not take a coating cleanly. Form the balls, seal the berry well inside, and refrigerate them 30 minutes before the crumb-egg-crumb sequence.
- Double coating, in that orderCrumbs, then beaten whole egg, then crumbs again is deliberate: the first dusting gives the egg something to grip and the second seals it. Any gap in the shell lets the berry's juice out into the fat.
- Frying temperatureThe recipe says only 'fry in deep fat' and gives no temperature. Around 360-375F works: cooler and the rice drinks oil; hotter and the crust browns before the interior heats through. Fry a few at a time so the fat does not drop, allowing two to three minutes to a deep gold.
- FrilletteA frillette or cutlet frill is the pleated paper collar once slipped onto chops and croquettes at table. It is decoration only, and can be left off without touching the dish.
- YieldTwo cups of rice will make something like a dozen to sixteen croquettes the size of a large walnut, four to six servings as a dessert. They are best within minutes of frying, while the shell is still crisp against the soft rice.