No. 950

Rissoles a la Demidoff

Roll out some brioche paste (No. 130) to one-eighth of an inch in thickness; divide it into rounds with a channelled three and a half inch in diameter pastry cutter, and lay in the center of each a ball of preparation an inch and a half in diameter. Wet around these, fold over, and fasten the two edges together, then lay them on a floured cloth, and leave them to rise in a mild temperature until double their height; fry them slowly in very hot fat so that the paste be thoroughly cooked and serve when done on folded napkins. For the preparation cut about two ounces of mushrooms, two ounces of truffles and two ounces of breast of pheasant; heat well with veloute sauce (No. 415) until boiling point; allow to cool; use this preparation to garnish the rissoles.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A fried brioche turnover with a bound game filling, from Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894). The recipe assumes you already have brioche dough and velouté on hand, and its two key instructions appear to contradict each other until you read them as a single idea about frying temperature.

"Fry slowly in very hot fat"This is the hinge. Ranhofer gives no temperature; he seems to mean fat hot enough to set and colour the dough at once but no hotter, since a yeast-raised paste around a cold filling needs time for the centre to heat through. Too hot and the brioche browns before the paste is "thoroughly cooked," which is the condition he actually states.
Brioche pasteNo. 130 is a standard rich brioche: flour, butter, eggs, a little sugar and salt, yeast. Any brioche dough will do, rolled cold and firm at 1/8 inch. Warm dough will not hold a clean seal.
Sealing and proofingWet the border and press the edges firmly together as directed; a fried turnover that opens releases hot sauce into the fat. Ranhofer specifies only "a mild temperature" and gives no time, letting the doubling in height be the signal.
The filling must be coldBoiling the mushrooms, truffles and pheasant into velouté and then chilling is not fussiness. Hot filling slackens the dough and steams the seam apart; chilled, it can be rolled into the 1 1/2-inch balls the recipe calls for.
VeloutéNo. 415 is a white stock (veal or chicken) thickened with a pale butter-flour roux, cooked down until it coats. Reduce it well — a thin sauce will not hold a ball shape when cold.
Pheasant and truffleCooked pheasant breast is the point of the dish, but leftover roast chicken or guinea fowl behaves the same way. Fresh black truffle is a substantial expense for two ounces; a good preserved truffle, or an equal weight of extra mushroom with a spoon of truffle juice, keeps the balance without pretending otherwise.
YieldThe named solids total six ounces, but Ranhofer does not say how much velouté binds them, so the count of rissoles is open; divided into the 1 1/2-inch balls he specifies it will make a side dish for a small number of people. The 3 1/2-inch fluted cutter is worth matching closely; smaller rounds will not close over the ball.
ServingServing fried items on a folded napkin was a common nineteenth-century presentation, the linen taking up surplus fat and keeping the pieces from sliding. A rack and paper does the same work. Serve immediately; the filling stays scalding well after the crust has cooled.

A Little History

Rissoles — from the Old French roissole, ultimately from a Latin root meaning reddened, as in browned — are among the oldest items in French cookery, and by Ranhofer's day the word meant specifically a small fried pastry with a bound savoury filling. The name Demidoff points to the Russian industrialist family whose members, especially Anatole Demidoff in mid-nineteenth-century Paris, kept famously lavish tables; French chefs attached the name to a scatter of dishes, usually ones involving truffle, and the connection to any particular Demidoff is traditional rather than documented. What the recipe really shows is how The Epicurean works as a book: Charles Ranhofer spent over thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and his 1894 volume is built as a cross-referenced system, so a single side dish sends you to a brioche paste at No. 130 and a velouté at No. 415. Pheasant, truffle and mushroom folded into three bites of fried brioche is exactly the sort of thing that filled the middle of a long Delmonico's menu, where a hot side dish arrived between the fish and the roast.