No. 881

Duckling Croquettes a la Muser

Croquettes de Canetons a la Muser

Have a pound of the meat taken from the breast of a duckling, without any fat or skin, and cut it into three-sixteenths of an inch squares, fry lightly without coloring, one ounce of chopped onions in two ounces of butter, add the duckling, and fry for a minute longer, then season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, drain off the butter and add half a pound of potato puree (No. 725), four raw egg-yolks, and two tablespoonfuls of grated parmesan; mix well and with this preparation form cork-shaped croquettes, two inches in length, dip them in eggs and bread-crumbs, and fry them a fine golden color, dress them on folded napkins and set on top a bunch of fried parsley.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A straightforward bound croquette from Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), where duckling breast replaces the usual chicken or veal. The only real difficulty is that the original assumes you know how a croquette mixture behaves once it is cold.

Chill the mixture firstRanhofer does not say so, but the raw yolks and potato purée must be spread on a tray and refrigerated until firm — an hour at least — before shaping. Warm croquette paste will not hold a cork shape and will burst in the fat.
The potato puréeNo. 725 is Ranhofer's potato purée; a purée of this kind — potatoes boiled or baked, passed through a sieve, worked with butter and a little cream or milk, seasoned — is what is wanted. Keep it dry and stiff; a loose, wet mash will slacken the mixture. Half a pound is roughly one cup of firm purée.
Dice sizeThree-sixteenths of an inch is a scant quarter-inch dice. It matters — larger pieces will not bind and the croquette breaks apart when cut.
Duckling breastOne pound of skinned, trimmed breast meat is about two to three Pekin duck breasts, depending on size. Remove all fat, as instructed; rendered duck fat in the paste will make the croquettes greasy and soft.
"Fry lightly without coloring"This is sweating, not browning: medium-low heat until the onion is translucent, then the duck goes in for a minute only. It is meant to be barely set, since it cooks again inside the croquette.
Frying temperatureDeep fat at 350–360°F. Fry three or four at a time so the temperature holds, three to four minutes to a deep golden color. Any hotter and the crumb darkens before the center is hot through.
Fried parsleyCurly parsley, washed and dried completely, dropped into the hot fat for a few seconds until it stops sputtering and turns bright and crisp. Wet parsley in hot fat spits violently.
Yield and serviceAbout sixteen to eighteen croquettes two inches long, serving six as a hot side dish or four as a course. The folded napkin was standard nineteenth-century plating; a rack and a warm platter do the same work.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of what he cooked in thirty-odd years as chef of Delmonico's in New York, and its croquette chapter is a fair picture of how a grand nineteenth-century kitchen used up prime material: breast meat of duckling, trimmed of every scrap of fat and skin, diced small and bound with potato and yolk. Croquettes had been a French service staple since the eighteenth century — the name comes from croquer, to crunch — and by Ranhofer's day they were the standard entrée volante or hot side dish, arriving in numbers on a napkin with a tuft of fried parsley. The suffix à la Muser is one of hundreds of personal dedications scattered through the book, most of them honoring Delmonico's patrons; like many of them, the individual behind the name is not now identifiable, which is itself a reminder that these dishes were named for a dining room, not for posterity. The parmesan in the binding does real work here, seasoning meat that has been stripped of the fat that usually carries a duck's flavor.