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Rice Croquettes
1 cup hot boiled rice 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon butter 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 egg 2 tablespoons milk Beat the ingredients together to the consistency of a firm paste. Shape into oval balls and dip in bread crumbs, beaten egg, and again in bread crumbs. Fry in deep fat until browned, drain on soft paper. These are nice with a well plumped raisin or a candied cherry pushed into the center before frying. Serve with maple sauce.
A short, forgiving recipe, but two details decide whether the croquettes hold together in the fat: the rice must be starchy and the shaped balls must be chilled before breading.
- The hinge — chill before fryingThe original goes straight from mixing to frying. A paste this soft will slump or burst in hot fat; shape the ovals, then refrigerate them at least 30 minutes (an hour is better) so the starch and egg set.
- Use the right rice"Hot boiled rice" here means plain white rice cooked soft; clingy, well-cooked grains are what bind the mixture. Short- or medium-grain rice is the safest choice; converted or long-grain rice binds less readily.
- Fry temperature"Deep fat" means 365–375F. Below that the crumbs drink oil; much above and the coating colors before the interior warms. Fry in small batches, two to three minutes, turning once.
- The double breadingCrumbs, then beaten egg, then crumbs again, as written; the first dry layer plausibly gives the egg something to grip on a wet rice surface. Dried fine bread crumbs work better here than coarse fresh ones.
- Drain on soft paperThat is paper towel or a brown paper bag. A wire rack set over a sheet pan keeps the bottoms crisper if you are holding them for a few minutes.
- Maple sauceThe recipe refers to a maple sauce not given here. Warm maple syrup thinned slightly with a little water or cream, with a spoonful of butter if you like, is entirely adequate.
- YieldNo yield is given. One cup of rice will make only a few small croquettes — two or three servings at most.
Croquettes were one of the great workhorses of American cookery between about 1880 and 1930, a respectable way to turn leftovers — rice, chicken, veal, salmon, hominy — into something that arrived at the table looking composed. A sweetened, fried rice croquette with maple sauce points to a course structure that modern menus have lost: such a dish could appear midway through a meal, in the slot a savory-sweet dish or a light entremets would once have filled. The maple sauce marks the book as North American, and the raisin or candied cherry pressed into the center is a period flourish said to be found across many croquette and fritter recipes of the era.