Fish Croquettes

This is a variation entry: it borrows its method from the croquette recipe printed just above it, so the only new instructions are the substitution of fish for meat and the addition of lemon juice. What follows fills in what the cross-reference assumes.

• The missing baseCroquette recipes of this period generally run on a very thick white sauce (a panade) as binder, folded into minced cooked meat or fish; one common formulation is about 1 cup of sauce made with 4 tablespoons butter and 4 tablespoons flour to 1 cup milk, to roughly 2 cups of solids. The preceding recipe in your copy of the book governs; that ratio of stiff sauce to solids is what holds a croquette together.
• Chilling is the hingeThe mixture should be spread on a plate and chilled until firm before shaping; a few hours, or overnight, is safest. Warm croquette paste is liable to burst in the fat however carefully it is breaded.
• Fat temperaturePeriod books commonly judge the fat ready when it browns a cube of bread in about forty seconds, which corresponds roughly to 375F. Cooler fat lets the crumb coating soak; hotter fat colours the outside before the centre heats.
• BreadingEgg-and-crumb twice for fish, which is wetter and more fragile than minced veal or chicken. Let the coated croquettes rest 15 minutes in the refrigerator so the coating sets.
• "Canned fish"At this period canned salmon was the commonest tinned fish in the American pantry, and it still works well here because it flakes fine and is already fully cooked. Drain it well and remove skin; the soft bones can be mashed in or discarded. If using fresh fish, poach and flake it, then squeeze out excess moisture.
• The lemon juiceHalf a tablespoon is not seasoning for its own sake -- it cuts the flatness of canned fish and the richness of the butter binder. Add it to the cooled mixture rather than to the hot sauce.
• Yield and servingOn proportions of this kind the mixture would make something like eight to ten croquettes. Fish croquettes were commonly served with a thin egg or parsley sauce, or with tartare sauce and a plain green salad.