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Beef Croquettes
Mrs. J. B. R.
Chop fine some cold beef; beat two eggs and mix with the meat and add a little milk, melted butter, and salt and pepper. Make into rolls and fry.
BEEF CAKES FOR A SIDE DISH OF DRESSED
A leftover-roast recipe written for cooks who already knew what a croquette should feel like, so nothing is measured. The proportions below are the ones the method implies.
- ProportionsFor about 2 cups of finely chopped cooked beef, two eggs plus a splash of milk and a tablespoon of melted butter is generous. If the mixture will not hold a shape, add dry breadcrumbs or cold mashed potato rather than more egg, which makes the interior spongy.
- Chop, do not grind"Chop fine" with a knife gives a croquette with texture; a food processor turns cold beef to paste and the rolls come out dense. Pulse briefly at most.
- Cold beef means cooked beefThis is a leftover dish, built on the remains of a roast or boiled joint. Raw beef will shed liquid in the pan and the rolls will fall apart.
- Chill before fryingNot in the original, but the single thing that decides whether these hold together. Shape the rolls and refrigerate them 30 minutes so the butter and egg firm up.
- A coating helpsMany period croquette recipes call for rolling in crumbs or flour before frying, though this one does not say so. The bare mixture will stick and tear; egg-and-crumb, or a light dusting of flour, gives a firmer crust.
- "Fry" hereShallow-fry in about half an inch of butter or dripping over medium heat, 3-4 minutes a side, until well browned. The meat is already cooked, so you are after colour and a set crust, not doneness.
- Yield and servingTwo cups of meat makes six to eight small rolls, enough for three or four as a light main course. Often served with gravy, tomato sauce or a poached egg.
- The stray line at the end"BEEF CAKES FOR A SIDE DISH OF DRESSED" is the heading of an adjacent recipe, carried over into this text. It is not part of these instructions.
The Home Cook Book (Chicago, first published 1874) was compiled from contributions by named local housewives, which is why this entry carries "Mrs. J. B. R." rather than an author's byline; the practice of crediting each donor made such books a kind of neighbourhood register as much as a cookbook. Croquettes had arrived in American kitchens from French cookery, and the word is generally traced to croquer, to crunch, describing the fried crust rather than the filling. In a household that roasted large joints and had only limited means of keeping meat cold, dishes like this were the ordinary second act of Sunday dinner, and nineteenth-century books are thick with them: beef, veal, chicken and fish croquettes all follow the same formula of minced cold meat bound with egg and fried. The absence of quantities is typical of the genre, since the amount of leftover meat was whatever the joint happened to leave.