No. 876

Croquettes of Capon a la Royal

Croquettes de Chapon a la Royale

Cut a pound of white capon meat into three-sixteenth inch squares, also half a pound of mushrooms, a quarter of a pound of sweetbreads, and the same of truffles, all cut alike. Mix together and fill some buttered timbale molds (No. 2, Fig. 137). Put six egg-yolks into a basin, beat them up with a pint of cream, some salt, pepper, and nutmeg, strain this through a sieve, and finish filling up the molds with it; poach them in a slow oven, and as soon as they become hard, unmold, and dip them in beaten eggs, bread-crumb and fry them to attain a good color, drain and dress them on a napkin garnishing around with fried parsley.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A custard-bound croquette rather than a panada-bound one: the binding is a savory royale (hence "à la Royale"), so the whole thing depends on setting that custard firm enough to unmold, breadcrumb and fry.

The hinge: chill before breadingRanhofer says to unmold "as soon as they become hard" and crumb them immediately, but a warm royale is fragile. Unmold onto a tray, chill thoroughly, then egg-and-crumb — a double coating is safer here than a single one.
Poach in a water bath"Poach in a slow oven" almost certainly implies standing the molds in a pan of hot water, though Ranhofer does not say so here. A slow oven in this period is usually taken as somewhere around 275-300F; pull them when the centers reach roughly 175-180F and no longer wobble, on the order of 25-40 minutes depending on mold size.
CaponA capon is a castrated rooster, fattened for tender white meat, and is not a supermarket item. Use the breast of a 4-5 lb roasting chicken, poached and cooled — about 1 lb of picked white meat.
Everything goes in cookedThe dice only warm through inside the custard, so the filling is best cooked first: chicken poached, mushrooms sauteed dry, truffles trimmed, and the sweetbreads soaked, blanched, pressed and peeled before dicing. Ranhofer assumes prepared sweetbreads elsewhere in the book; unprepared ones will be membranous and poor in texture.
TrufflesA quarter pound of fresh truffle is a luxury even by 1894 standards. Preserved truffle, or a smaller quantity of fresh with a little of its juice in the custard, keeps the dish recognizable; the mushrooms carry most of the flavor either way.
Custard proportionsSix yolks to a pint (2 cups) of cream is a rich, firm royale. Strain it as directed — that step catches chalazae and stray white and is what makes the set smooth.
Timbale moldsRanhofer points to a specific mold (No. 2, Fig. 137); small buttered dariole or timbale molds are the modern equivalent, and something in the 3-4 oz range suits the quantities. Ramekins work but the straight-sided shape releases more cleanly; butter them well and consider a disc of parchment in the base.
FryingDeep fat at 375F, briefly — the interiors are already cooked and the aim is only color. Any longer and the custard expands and splits the crust.
YieldAbout 10-12 small croquettes, enough for six as a hot side dish in the Delmonico sense, or four as a light main course.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the book's "Hot Side Dishes" chapter collects small hot dishes of the kind often said to have been served alongside the heavier courses. The name points to the binding rather than the meat: a royale in French kitchen usage is a savory egg custard, usually poached in a mold and cut into shapes to garnish clear soups, and Ranhofer here borrows the technique to hold a fine dice of capon, sweetbread, mushroom and truffle together in place of the thick béchamel or panada that binds an ordinary croquette. The result is closer to a fried custard than a fried paste. The ingredient list — capon, sweetbreads, truffles — is a fair index of what a Gilded Age restaurant kitchen considered ordinary stock, and of how much skilled labor stood behind a single garnished napkin of croquettes.