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Croquettes of Veal, &C
593. One pound of cooked meat without sinews, a slice of ham, tongue, or lean bacon; chop very fine, season with pepper, salt, and spices. Put into a stew-pan one ounce of butter, one spoonful of flour; let it boil five minutes, add three or four spoonfuls of good white stock, two spoonfuls of cream. Let it stand all together, till it becomes of the consistence of thick cream; add the chopped meat, and let it boil, and mix it well; then spread it on a dish to cool. When quite cold, roll it into round balls, or any other shape, and fry in boiling lard or dripping till they come to a light brown. Serve with fried parsley.
A Victorian way of using up cold roast veal, built on a very stiff white sauce (a panada) that sets firm enough to shape. Everything depends on that mixture being thick and thoroughly chilled before it meets hot fat.
- The hinge: make the panade too thick, not too thinThe hinge: get the mixture thick enough to set -- the recipe itself asks for "the consistence of thick cream" before the meat goes in. If it slumps on the plate as it cools it will burst in the fat; cook it down further before you add the meat.
- "Spoonful"Most likely a tablespoon unless a teaspoon is named, as in comparable books of the period. So roughly 1 tbsp flour, 3-4 tbsp stock, 2 tbsp cream to 1 oz (28-30 g) butter.
- Chill hard"quite cold" means cold and firm right through, not merely cooled. Spread it no more than an inch deep on a tray so it cools quickly and evenly, and give it a few hours.
- CoatingThe text goes straight from shaping to frying, but many croquette receipts of the period roll them in beaten egg and fine breadcrumbs first. Without a crust the sauce leaks; egg and crumb, then chill again before frying.
- Frying temperature"Boiling lard" means fat hot enough that a crumb sizzles briskly and colours in under a minute, which in modern terms is roughly 350-375F (175-190C). Fry a few at a time; crowding drops the temperature and the croquettes soak up fat. Two to three minutes is enough, since everything inside is already cooked.
- The meatOne pound of cooked meat free of sinew, finely chopped by hand rather than processed to paste, plus a slice of ham, tongue or lean bacon for salt and depth; the title points to veal, but cooked chicken or turkey behaves the same way. Season assertively -- "spices" here would probably have meant something like mace or nutmeg.
- Fried parsleyDry the sprigs completely and drop them into the same fat for a few seconds only, until the sizzling stops and they are bright and crisp. Wet parsley spits violently.
- YieldAbout ten to twelve croquettes; four as a light main course, six as a first course.
The name comes from French croquer, to crunch, and the technique from the professional kitchen's habit of binding chopped cooked meat in a stiff reduced sauce; croquettes reached English cookery from France, appearing in English books well before the Victorian period. In a Victorian household this was a re-service dish: the cold remains of a roast fillet or breast of veal, given a second life smart enough for a supper table. Veal appears often in books of this period, and runs of numbered receipts for hashes, minces, rissoles and croquettes suggest a practical concern with using up a large joint rather than a flourish. Fried parsley was a common garnish for things fried in deep fat, and could be done in the same pan after the main frying.