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Rice and Tomato Croquettes
1/2 cup rice 3/4 cup stock 1/2 can tomatoes 1 slice onion 1 slice carrot 1 sprig parsley 1 sprig thyme 2 cloves ¼ teaspoon peppercorns 1 teaspoon sugar 1 egg 1/4 cup grated cheese 1 tablespoon butter 1/2 teaspoon salt Few grains cayenne Wash rice, and steam in stock until rice has absorbed stock; then add tomatoes which have been cooked twenty minutes with onion, carrot, parsley, thyme, cloves, peppercorns, and sugar, and then rubbed through a strainer. Remove from fire, add egg slightly beaten, cheese, butter, salt, and cayenne. Spread on a plate to cool. Shape in form of cylinders, dip in crumbs, egg, and crumbs again, fry in deep fat, and drain.
A vegetarian croquette from Fannie Farmer's entree chapter, built on rice cooked risotto-style in stock and bound with egg and cheese. The whole thing succeeds or fails on how dry the mixture is before shaping.
- Dry the mixture, then chill itThe rice must absorb the stock completely and the strained tomato must cook down thick, or the croquettes burst in the fat. Spread on a plate as directed, then refrigerate at least an hour until firm before shaping.
- "1/2 can tomatoes"Period cans varied in size, so this is approximate; about 1 cup of canned whole or crushed tomatoes with their juice is a fair reading. Cook them down twenty minutes with the aromatics, then rub through a sieve, pressing the tomato pulp through and discarding the aromatics, skins and seeds.
- The aromatics are a flavoring, not an ingredientOnion, carrot, parsley, thyme, cloves and peppercorns all go into the tomato and are strained out. Whole cloves and peppercorns are easiest to retrieve if tied in cheesecloth.
- Rice and stock ratioHalf a cup of raw rice to three-quarters cup stock is deliberately short; the rice finishes swelling on the tomato purée. Use a covered pan over low heat rather than an open boil.
- CheeseThe recipe does not say which cheese. A hard grating cheese such as Parmesan is the usual reading; a firm aged cheddar also works but adds more fat and softens the bind.
- FryingDeep fat at 375F, a few croquettes at a time so the temperature holds. Two to three minutes to a deep brown is enough since nothing inside is raw except the egg binder.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield; perhaps six to eight cylinders, serving three or four as an entree. A tomato or cheese sauce is a common accompaniment for croquettes of this kind.
Croquettes occupy a whole run of pages in the 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, and they were a mainstay of the era's genteel table: they stretched small quantities, used up cooked rice or meat, and arrived looking deliberate rather than thrifty. This one is meatless, which would have suited Friday and Lenten tables as well as luncheon fare. The tomato base is essentially a small sauce in the French manner, simmered with onion, carrot and herbs and then strained smooth, a habit inherited from the professional kitchen and scaled down for a household cook working with a can of tomatoes.