Cassell's dictionary of cookery

We will now imagine an inexperienced cook with the following difficulty : — She is aware that the croquettes are far nicer when moist, but then how is she to egg and bread-crumb that which is so moist as to be almost a liquid? We will suppose the case of some croquettes made from the remains of a cold fowl. The meat has been cut off the bone, and minced with the lean ham, miashrooms, &c. Now the bones should have been put on the fire, to assist in making the sauce that will moisten the mince. This sauce, with the bones in it, should be boiled away, i.e., reduced by allowing the steam to escape, till only sufficient to moisten the mince is left. If this is done properly, when cold the sauce will be a hard jelly; consequently, the mince when hot will be quite moist, and almost liquid, but when cold will be quite hard. Now this moist mince should be allowed to get cold, and be then shaped into little pieces, either square for kromeskies, or into pieces like oval picnic biscuits, to look like cutlets. None of tlie trimmings in so shaping them need be lost, as they can easily be dissolved by heat and allowed to get cold again, which they will soon do on a small plate or dish. Now it is evident that these hard pieces when cold can be readily egged over and bread-crumbed. Great care should, however, be taken in so doing, as should there be a flaw in the covering of egg, when fried the inside will run out. I would therefore recommend as follows : — Suppose the inside mince is very savoury, perhaps flavoured with truffle, or composed of those expensive but delicious delicacies — oysters. Having egged and bread-crumbed the cold, hard — because a jelly — piece of mince, let it get dry, which it soon will do if left in a cool place for an hour. Re-dip it just as it is into fresh beaten-up egg, and shake some more fine dry bread-crumbs over it. By this means you have a double coat, so to speak, round your mince. Next, to cook them. We will suppose a small, deep stewpan half full of boiling fat or lard. The croquettes are carefully but suddenly plunged in. What is the effect? The heat of course attacks the outside first, consequently, the egg covering coagulates directly, before the inside melts ; when the inside melts it is surrounded with a thin film which keeps it together. Great care, of course, must be exercised in draining such moist croquettes and in serving them; but when the little cutlet or ball reaches the plate without accident, and that delicious gush of inside pours on to the plate, owing to the fork of the eater being inserted into it, how far preferable are such croquettes to those that have almost to be cut ! Indeed, any one can make the latter; but when a good judge gets one of the former, or moist ones, he knows that in proportion almost to the moisture is the skill of the cook. Should, indeed, the inside be veiy moist and almost liquid, he may smack his lips, and mentally ejaculate, " Ah, an artiste ! ' Recollect, however, in making Ivl cassell's dictionary of cookery.