No. 874

Croquettes

There are certain preparations called croquettes made either of meat, fish, crustaceans, vegetables, or eggs, cut up into small dice, and frequently mixed with mushrooms cut the same size as the meats, and then mingled with certain sauces. Croquettes are made of various shapes such as pear, cylindricals, balls, or cakes. These croquettes are breaded in eggs and bread-crumbs, and are fried in very hot frying fat until they attain a fine golden color, they must be served as soon as done. Dress on folded napkins decorating with a bunch of parsley on top; to be served without any sauce, therefore the preparation should be mingled with a light, gelatinous or else well buttered sauce.

← No. 873 Cromesquis of Oysters, Mussels, Scallops or Hot Side Dishes No. 875 Croquettes of Beef Palates →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes this as a master method rather than a set recipe, so it carries no quantities at all. The numbers you need are the ones he leaves out.

The hinge: chill the mixture hardThe hinge: chill the mixture hard. Ranhofer says nothing about it, but the shaping will not work otherwise. Spread the bound mixture in a shallow layer on a buttered tray and refrigerate until firm before shaping — several hours, or overnight, does no harm. A soft, warm mixture is liable to burst in the fat.
What "light, gelatinous or else well buttered sauce" meansHe is describing the binder: a very stiff béchamel or velouté, reduced until a spoon leaves a clean track, used sparingly enough to hold the dice together. "Gelatinous" points to a reduced meat or fish stock that sets on cooling, which is why he says no sauce is served alongside — the sauce is inside.
Dice sizeCut the meat, fish or vegetable small, about a quarter-inch; Ranhofer only specifies that the mushrooms be cut the same size as the meats. Larger pieces tear the crust when the croquette is shaped.
The fillings are pre-cookedThe frying only heats through and colours the crust, so nothing raw should go into the mixture; the diced meat, fish or crustacean is cooked before it is bound.
BreadingRanhofer gives only egg and bread-crumbs. Beaten egg, then fine dry crumbs pressed on; if the shaped croquettes have softened in handling, a further spell in the refrigerator helps the coating set.
"Very hot frying fat"In modern terms somewhere around 350–375°F. Too cool and the crust absorbs fat before it sets and the binder leaks; too hot and the outside colours before the centre is hot. Fry in small batches, a few minutes, until deep gold.
Serving on a folded napkinA period convention for anything deep-fried: the linen absorbs surface fat and holds heat on the way to the table. A rack over a warm tray does the same work; the napkin was for the dining room, not the kitchen.
YieldThe original gives no quantities. As a rough guide, a pound of diced cooked filling with a stiff binder makes a dozen or more croquettes of about 1½ ounces, enough for four to six as a hot side dish.

A Little History

This entry comes from Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the vast compendium he assembled over some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and it is placed as a general heading before a run of individual recipes — the next is croquettes of beef palates — each of which assumes you have read this one first. The word comes from the French croquer, to crunch, and the form suited the nineteenth-century professional kitchen's economy: trimmings of poached fowl, sweetbread, lobster and game, bound stiff, breaded and fried, became a dish that could be sent out looking deliberate. Ranhofer lists the moulded shapes — pear, cylinder, ball, cake — without saying what, if anything, they signified.