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French Potato Croquettes
2 cups hot riced potatoes 2 tablespoons butter Yolks 3 eggs 1/2 teaspoon salt Few grains cayenne Mix ingredients in order given, and beat thoroughly. Shape in balls, then in rolls, pointed at ends. Roll in flour, mark in three places on top of each with knife-blade to represent a small French loaf. Fry in deep fat, and drain on brown paper.
A plain, egg-rich potato croquette shaped and scored to look like a miniature baguette. The whole thing hinges on the potatoes being dry.
- Choose the right potatoUse a floury variety such as russet, baked or boiled whole in the skin, then peeled and pressed through a ricer while still hot. Waterlogged or waxy potatoes give a slack mixture that will split in the fat.
- Dry the mashAfter ricing, return the potato to the dry pan over low heat for a minute or two and stir until it stops steaming. Excess moisture turns to steam in the fryer and blows the croquettes apart.
- Egg yolksThree yolks to two cups of potato is what binds and enriches this; whites are not used and would loosen the mixture. Reserve them for something else.
- Fat temperatureThe recipe says only "deep fat." For a cooked mixture like this, fat hot enough to brown quickly -- roughly 375-390F by modern thermometer -- is the usual target. Below that the croquettes soak; much above it the flour coating colors before the interior is hot.
- Chill before fryingThe recipe gives no resting time, but shaped croquettes hold together far better after 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Fry in small batches so the oil temperature does not crash.
- Flour onlyUnlike many croquette recipes, this one has no egg-and-crumb coating, so the surface stays pale gold and thin rather than crisp and craggy. Flour them just before frying; flour applied early goes damp and gluey.
- DrainingDrain on a rack set over a tray, or on paper towels. Brown paper was the standard blotter of the period and is not worth seeking out.
- YieldTwo cups of potato makes roughly twelve to sixteen croquettes about three inches long, enough as a side for four.