No. 873

Cromesquis of Oysters, Mussels, Scallops or Clams, Bechamel

Cromesquis d'Huitres, de Moules, de Petoncles on de Lucines a la Bechamel

Blanch lightly either some oysters, mussels, scallops or clams in their own juice, and a little water; drain and cut up one pound into large three-eighths of an inch dice pieces. Reduce three pints of bechamel sauce (No. 409), with the above broth, saute in butter over a brisk fire the blanched pieces of oysters or others, with half their quantity of minced fresh mushrooms, add these to the bechamel sauce, after carefully draining off the butter, then let it get cold, and divide it into parts; roll each one into a ball an inch and a half in diameter, flatten them down to three-quarters of an inch in thickness, and garnish around with a band of very thin prepared pancake; lay a round piece both on top and bottom to cover the entire surface, and then dip the cromesquis into frying batter (No. 137, No. 2), plunge them into very hot fat and let fry a fine color; dress them on folded napkins, placing a bunch of fried parsley in the center.

← No. 872 Cromesquis of Lamb, Beef Tongue or Sweetbrea Hot Side Dishes No. 874 Croquettes →

For the Modern Kitchen

A croquette in a wrapper: seasoned shellfish bound in very thick bechamel, chilled solid, jacketed in thin pancake, battered and deep-fried. Ranhofer assumes you have his sauce and batter recipes to hand and gives no quantities for seasoning or yield.

The hinge is the chillThe bechamel must be reduced until a spoon drawn through the pan leaves a clean track, and the mixture must be refrigerated until firm — several hours or overnight. A filling that is merely cool will burst the wrapper in the fryer.
Three pints is a starting volume, not a finished oneRanhofer states the bechamel is reduced with the shellfish broth but never says to what. Expect a considerable loss of volume; the test is that the cold paste is stiff enough to roll and hold a shape, not a stated measure.
Blanch brieflyThe recipe says 'blanch lightly': the shellfish are only just set, not cooked through. They cook further in the butter saute and again in the fryer. No timing is given; judge by the edges just firming, since oysters held too long turn rubbery and scallops go dry and stringy.
Clean the shellfish firstMussels and clams need scrubbing and, for mussels, debearding; discard any that stay shut after steaming. Strain the released liquor through a cloth, since it carries grit that will otherwise end up in the sauce.
"Prepared pancake" means crêpe"Prepared pancake" means crepe -- thin, unsweetened French pancakes, cut into rounds and a band for the sides, not a raised American breakfast pancake. Caul fat was the other standard wrapper for cromesquis and does the same job of holding the paste together.
Frying temperatureRanhofer only says 'very hot fat' and gives no number. For a battered item of this size, modern practice is somewhere around 350-375F: hotter and the batter colours before the centre warms through, cooler and it absorbs fat and the seal fails. Fry in small batches so the temperature holds.
Fried parsleyDry the sprigs thoroughly before they go near the fat — wet parsley spatters violently. A few seconds is all it takes, until the frizzing stops and the colour deepens.

A Little History

Cromesquis, also written kromeski, entered French professional cooking in the nineteenth century as a variant of the croquette, and the name is generally traced to Poland or Russia, the classic distinction being that a croquette is breaded while a cromesquis is wrapped, in caul fat or a thin pancake, before being battered and fried. Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York, gave a whole run of them in The Epicurean (1894), the numbering here placing the shellfish version directly after lamb, tongue and sweetbread. The shellfish list is a New York list: oysters, scallops and clams were all cheap and abundant from local waters in the 1890s, and a dish like this was small, hot, and handed round on a folded napkin.