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Subrics of Potatoes
Boil six peeled potatoes in two quarts water with a teaspoon salt for thirty minutes, drain on sieve, then press through potato masher into a saucepan. Add a half ounce butter, ounce grated Parmesan cheese, three egg yolks, light teaspoon salt, two saltspoons cayenne, saltspoon grated nutmeg, briskly stir on fire for five minutes, then shift the pan to corner of range. Heat two tablespoons melted butter in frying pan, then with lightly buttered tablespoon scoop out potato and drop it in pan; repeat operation with balance and gently fry all for three minutes on each side, dress on a hot dish and serve.
A French potato croquette in miniature, fried in a shallow pan rather than deep fat. The recipe is sound as written; the only real pitfalls are the antique spoon measures and the heat of the pan.
- SaltspoonA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon. Two saltspoons of cayenne is a half teaspoon for six potatoes, which is assertive but deliberate; a scant quarter teaspoon gives warmth without heat if you would rather taste the cheese.
- Potato choiceUse a floury variety — russet, King Edward, Maris Piper. A waxy potato will not dry out enough and the mixture will slump in the pan.
- Dry the potatoesThis is the hinge. After draining, return the potatoes to the hot dry pan for a minute before mashing, and treat the five minutes of brisk stirring over the fire as a drying step, not merely a mixing one. The paste should pull away from the sides of the pan; wet potato makes subrics that spread and break.
- "Press through potato masher"A ricer or drum sieve gives the smooth, dry texture this mixture wants, better than a modern perforated masher. Never a food processor — the starch turns to glue.
- Egg yolksThe recipe stirs them in over the fire; if your heat is fierce, draw the pan off while you add them and stir hard, or they will scramble before they thicken the mixture.
- "Shift the pan to corner of range"The cool end of a coal range. Set the pan aside off the heat and let the mixture firm up for ten or fifteen minutes; it shapes far better warm than hot.
- FryingTwo tablespoons of butter in a wide pan over medium heat. Butter alone browns quickly at this temperature — half butter, half neutral oil holds better for the full six minutes. Flatten each spoonful slightly with the back of the buttered spoon so the centre heats through.
- YieldEnough as a side for four, the exact count depending on the size of your potatoes and how generous the spoonfuls are. Serve immediately; they soften as they sit.
Subric is an old French kitchen term for a small, soft fritter shaped with a spoon and fried in a little fat — Escoffier and his contemporaries list subrics of spinach, rice, semolina and foie gras alongside potato. The name is generally traced to sur brique, "on the brick," from the practice of cooking such cakes on a hot brick or hearthstone beside the fire, though that etymology is traditional rather than firmly documented.