Fish Croquettes

The Fish Croquettes may be prepared with either salmon, trout, sole, bass, kingfish sheepshead, or red snapper. Simply cut up the meat into small three-sixteenths of an inch squares; lay them in a vessel and mix in a third of their quantity of cooked mushrooms, and half as many truffles as there are mushrooms, all cut into the same sized pieces. Put on the fire to boil a few gills of good, consistent bechamel (No. 409); mix into it slowly the mushroom liquor and a few spoonfuls of good melted glaze (No. 402), and when the sauce has become succulent, add the salpicon in the saucepan; heat it without boiling, and spread it over a tin sheet to become hard, leaving it for a few hours in a cool place or on the ice. Divide the preparation into balls, an inch and a half in diameter, lay them on a table bestrewn with white bread-crumbs, and roll them either in the shape of corks or balls; dip them in beaten eggs and roll them in the bread-crumbs; smooth well the surfaces with the blade of a knife, then range them on a tin sheet; put them in hot frying fat; cook only a few at a time and let them get a nice color. After the croquettes are finished and well drained from the fat, range them in pyramid-form over a folded napkin, and garnish around with fried parsley.