No. 835

Anchovy Fritters

Beignets d'Anchois

Prepare some very thin pancakes, cut them into narrow strips, three-quarters of an inch wide, by three inches long, cover them with a layer of chicken quenelle forcemeat (No. 89), with raw fine herbs added, set on top half of a well cleaned anchovy, then roll them over, dip in eggs and bread-crumbs, and fry to a fine color. The anchovy fillets may be prepared by arranging them crown-shaped and filling the centers with a quenelle, then dipping them in frying paste to cover well, and fry them immediately in frying fat over a hot fire, drain, wipe and salt. Dress the fritters on folded napkins and garnish the tops with a bunch of fried parsley.

← No. 834 Pickled Green Walnuts Hot Side Dishes No. 836 Attereaux of Beef Palate →

For the Modern Kitchen

Two versions of the same idea sit in one entry: crêpe strips rolled around anchovy and chicken forcemeat, or anchovy fillets coiled around forcemeat and battered. Both hang on the forcemeat being thin enough to cook through in the fryer.

The hinge: forcemeat thicknessThe chicken quenelle mixture goes in raw, and the fritter is only in the fat two or three minutes. Spread it no more than an eighth of an inch thick, or the outside colors while the center is still uncooked. Poach a marble of the forcemeat in simmering water first to check seasoning and binding.
Quenelle forcemeat (No. 89)Ranhofer's chicken forcemeat is raw breast pounded with a panada, egg and butter; check No. 89 for the panada he actually specifies. A food processor does it in a minute if the meat and bowl are cold; pulse, do not run, or the mixture warms and breaks.
"Raw fine herbs"Fines herbes: parsley, chervil, tarragon, chives, chopped fine and folded in uncooked. Tarragon dominates quickly, so keep it to a quarter of the mixture.
AnchoviesRanhofer assumed salt-packed fillets, which need rinsing and a soak in cold water or milk for 20 to 30 minutes. Oil-packed tinned fillets can be blotted and used straight, but add no further salt to the forcemeat.
The pancakesPlain unsweetened crêpe batter, cooked pale and as thin as you can turn them. Cut the strips while the crêpes are cool and dry, otherwise they tear when rolled.
"Frying paste"In the second method this is a light batter for coating, not choux or pastry dough. A thin flour-and-egg batter, or beer batter, that just clings to the fillet.
Fat temperatureThe book gives no number; for 'a hot fire' aim in modern terms at roughly 350 to 375F. Much below that and the crumb coating soaks; much above and the crust colors before the forcemeat is cooked through.
Fried parsleyDry the sprigs completely before they go near the fat, and stand back: any surface water erupts. Five to ten seconds is enough for the leaves to go crisp and dark green.
Serving and yieldA hot hors d'oeuvre or savoury course; the recipe gives no yield, but three or four fritters a head is a reasonable count. Serving fried dishes on a folded napkin was a standard nineteenth-century presentation; a wire rack over paper serves the same purpose without a laundry problem.

A Little History

This comes from Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the encyclopaedic record of his cooking at Delmonico's in New York, and the number-and-cross-reference structure is typical of it: No. 835 cannot be made without turning back to No. 89. Ranhofer files it among the hot side dishes, the class of small hot fried things where a strong salty note was wanted in a mouthful or two. Salt anchovies were among the more reliable preserved seafoods available to an American kitchen of the period, arriving in barrels and kegs from the Mediterranean, which is why they turn up throughout nineteenth-century cookery as a seasoning as much as a fish. The pairing of anchovy with a pale, mild chicken quenelle is a standard classical contrast, and the second method given here, the fillets arranged "crown-shaped" around a center of forcemeat, is as much a piece of assembly and presentation as of cooking.