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Chestnut Croquettes
1 cup mashed French chestnuts 2 tablespoons thick cream ¼ teaspoon vanilla Yolks 2 eggs 1 teaspoon sugar Mix ingredients in order given. Shape in balls, dip in crumbs, egg, and crumbs again, fry in deep fat, and drain.
A short mixture that depends almost entirely on how dry the chestnut purée is. Everything else is standard croquette technique.
- Chill before shapingThe mixture as written is soft and will slump in the fat. Refrigerate it at least an hour, shape the balls, then chill again after the final crumbing so the coating sets against the surface.
- "French chestnuts"European sweet chestnuts (marrons), not water chestnuts and not horse chestnuts, which are inedible. Roast or simmer and peel them while hot, or use vacuum-packed or jarred cooked chestnuts; roughly 8 to 9 oz of shelled cooked nuts gives a cup mashed.
- Get the purée dryBoiled chestnuts hold water. Drain well and dry the mash briefly over low heat before adding cream and yolks, or the balls will burst in the fat.
- Thick creamHeavy or whipping cream, unwhipped. Two tablespoons is a starting point; if the purée is already moist, use less.
- Vanilla quantityThe vanilla measurement in this line is ambiguous as printed. A quarter teaspoon is in scale with a cup of purée; anything approaching a tablespoon would overwhelm it.
- CrumbsFine dry breadcrumbs, not fresh. Beat the egg with a teaspoon of water so it coats thinly rather than sitting in ropes.
- Deep fatThe recipe gives no temperature; around 375F works. Below that the croquettes absorb fat and soften; much above it the crumbs colour before the centre warms through. Fry until well browned and heated through -- the mixture contains raw yolk.
- Yield and servingA dozen or so walnut-sized croquettes, a garnish or small course for three or four. The light sweetening suggests an accompaniment rather than a dessert, though the recipe itself says nothing about how it was served.
Croquettes were among the most reliable inhabitants of the American entree course at the turn of the twentieth century: a bound pur ied, crumbed twice, fried, and served in a small pile with a napkin or a sauce. Farmer's book carries a long run of them, from chicken and lobster to rice and, here, chestnut. The sweet chestnut was much more familiar in the period than it is now, both from imported Italian and French marrons and from the American chestnut, whose harvest collapsed over the decades following the blight that arrived at the turn of the century. The touch of sugar and vanilla marks this as an accompaniment rather than a savoury in its own right, a dish that sits alongside the chestnut purees and stuffings of French practice.