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December 31
Menu: Codfish, Delmonico Style; Roasted Leg of Lamb; Chestnut Boulettes; Baked Potato Strips; Watercress and Green Pepper Salad; Cherry and Almond Parfait; Lady Fingers; Coffee Chestnut Boulettes-Mix together in a basin 1 cup mashed chestnuts, which have been peeled after cooking in boiling salted water, beat into this 1 tablespoon whipped cream, 1/2 tablespoon Crisco, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 egg yolks, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon sherry wine. Cool and fold in beaten egg whites, form into small balls, dip in beaten egg, toss in crumbs and fry in hot Crisco. Drain and serve. CRISCO CRISCO O THER members of your family would appreciate a copy of this book. It makes an attractive and useful gift to sister, daughter, mother, or some friend. Send as many stamps, at the rate of twenty-five cents per book, as you wish cook books, and we will mail the books, postage prepaid, enclosing with each a card similar to this, with your name filled in. THIS BOOK IS PAID FOR BY AND SENT TO YOU
A fried chestnut croquette from the Crisco promotional cookbook, meant as a garnish or side with roast game or poultry rather than a dessert. The mixture is loose, so temperature control matters more than anything else here.
- The hinge: chill it hardThe hinge: get it cold -- The paste is soft and enriched with cream and yolks, and it will slump in the fryer if it is warm. The recipe's "Cool" at minimum means letting the mixture cool before the whites go in; chilling it until firm, and chilling the shaped balls again after breading, makes them far easier to handle.
- CriscoStraight shortening, and the 1913 formula was hydrogenated cottonseed oil. Any neutral solid shortening or frying oil works; the half tablespoon in the mixture is there for richness and can be butter if you prefer the flavour.
- Frying temperatureThe recipe says only "hot Crisco." For small croquettes something around 375F, deep enough to float the balls, suits. Much below and they absorb fat and fall apart; much above and the crumb colours before the centre warms through.
- ChestnutsBoil in salted water, then peel while still hot or the inner skin welds to the nut. Something under a pound of fresh chestnuts in the shell will give the cup of mash. Vacuum-packed cooked chestnuts, simmered briefly and mashed, are a fair substitute.
- Egg whitesThe recipe implies the whites of the two eggs whose yolks went in. Fold them in gently; they lighten the interior but also make the paste harder to shape, which is another reason for the chilling.
- Breading"Beaten egg" means a third egg, loosened with a teaspoon of water. Fine dry crumbs rather than panko suit the small size; a second pass through egg and crumbs gives a sturdier shell.
- Yield and servingAbout 16 to 18 balls the size of a walnut, enough for four to six as an accompaniment. Serve immediately while the shell is crisp.
- SweetnessA tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of sherry make this only faintly sweet by modern taste, in the older manner of serving chestnuts alongside meat. Leave the sugar out entirely if you want a plainly savoury croquette.
The Story of Crisco was written by Marion Harris Neil and published by Procter & Gamble in 1913, two years after Crisco itself was introduced as a hydrogenated vegetable shortening intended to replace lard and butter in every use, including deep frying. That promotional purpose is why a small chestnut croquette carries Crisco both in the paste and in the frying kettle. Boulette is simply French for a little ball, and the dish belongs to the long line of croquettes that professional kitchens of the period built from any firm puree bound with yolk and crumbed; chestnuts in this role were served with game and roast fowl. The sherry and sugar season the chestnuts sweetly even though they were meant to be eaten with meat.