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Rissoles
Roll puff-paste into oblong pieces three by four inches; put a spoonful of creamed chicken, sweetbreads or mushrooms on one side; fold over and press the edges together, moistening slightly to make the edges stick. Brush with beaten egg and bake until a delicate brown.
A turnover made from puff pastry and a thick creamed filling, baked rather than fried. The recipe assumes you already have both components on hand, which is the main thing a modern cook has to supply.
- The filling must be cold and stiff"Creamed" here means bound in a thick white sauce — roughly 2 tablespoons each butter and flour to 1 cup milk, cooked until it mounds on the spoon, then the diced chicken, sweetbreads or sautéed mushrooms folded in. Chill it thoroughly before filling; a warm or loose filling will melt the pastry's butter and burst the seams.
- Oven temperatureNone is given; the original says only to bake until a delicate brown. Puff pastry is generally baked hot: around 425F for the first 15 minutes for the lift, then reduced to about 375F for another 10 to 15 minutes until the pastry is set through and evenly browned.
- SealingMoistening the edges with water is right, but press with a fork and leave a clear half-inch border free of filling. Any grease on the seam will keep it from sticking.
- Cut a ventNot in the original, and worth adding. A small slit or two on top lets steam escape instead of blowing the pastry open.
- Egg washBeaten egg alone browns fast; a teaspoon of water or milk beaten in gives a more even color. Keep it off the sealed edges, where it glues the layers shut and stops them rising.
- SweetbreadsVeal sweetbreads are a special order from a butcher now. They need soaking, blanching and peeling before they go anywhere near a cream sauce — plan on that as separate work, or use the chicken or mushroom version.
- YieldA 3-by-4-inch rectangle folded over holds about 2 tablespoons of filling, so a cup to a cup and a quarter of filling covers roughly eight to ten rissoles, which serves four as a light main course. A standard commercial sheet of puff pastry, depending on its size, will yield somewhere in that range once trimmed.
- Chill before bakingAssemble, then refrigerate 20 minutes. Cold pastry going into a hot oven is a large part of how puff paste rises.
Rissole comes from the Old French roissole, in turn from a Latin root meaning reddened — the name describes the browned crust rather than any particular filling. Classically a rissole was fried in deep fat, and nineteenth-century French kitchen manuals generally treat frying as the norm, so this baked version is a departure. Like croquettes and patties, the rissole was a way to stretch a small amount of chicken, sweetbreads or mushrooms into a course.