XII. ON THE MANNER OF PREPARING CROQUETTES, CUTLETS, KROMESKIES, RISSOLES, AND CIGARETTES.

Although these ever-popular dishes are all or may all be prepared from one mixture, there is a difference in the manner of using it which I will here explain.

Croquettes are made from a soft creamy mixture chilled on ice till firm enough to mould, then simply dipped into egg and crumbs and fried in very hot fat.

Cutlets are the same (of course fancy cutlets are meant, not the French chops, so called), only they are shaped to imitate a real cutlet, with a little bone inserted; or, in the case of lobster cutlets, a small claw is used to simulate the chop bone. Many only stick a sprig of parsley where the bone should be, to keep up the fiction.

Kromeskies are rolls of the same mixture enveloped in very thin slices (hardly thicker than paper) of fat larding pork; a small toothpick holds the pork in place. The rolls are then egged, crumbed, and fried.

Rissoles are the same thing, only rather easier to prepare, being rolled in very thin pastry instead of pork.

Cigarettes, the newest variation of the favorite entrÉe, and most dainty of them all in appearance, are thin rolls of croquette mixture (or, better still, quenelle meat) not thicker than a small cigar. These are rolled in pastry, thoroughly deadened, pinched very securely, and fried a very pale brown.

As the manner of making the mixture is about the same for all kinds of meats, fish, or game, varying only in flavor—a little wine, a little onion, or sweet herbs taking the place of the mushrooms in some cases—I will give exact directions for making sweetbread cutlets; chicken, game, or fish may be substituted for the sweetbreads, naming them accordingly. The ham may always be omitted where the flavor is objected to. For those who like it, it adds very much to sweetbreads, but would be out of place with game, which should depend on its own individual flavor.

Cutlets of Sweetbreads.—Soak a pair of sweetbreads in salt and water for an hour—longer if there is much blood about them; then cook them half an hour in stock. Drain them and let them get cold. Trim off all superfluous fat and gristle; chop them with one ounce of lean boiled ham to each pair of large sweetbreads, and half a can of mushrooms, a small teaspoonful of salt, the sixth of one of pepper. Put an ounce of flour in a small thick saucepan with an ounce of butter; stir them together over the fire until they bubble; then add a half-pint of liquid consisting of a gill of stiff jellied stock and a gill of thick cream; stir till they boil and form a smooth sauce; mix the sweetbread mixture with the sauce.

The mixture should be a soft, creamy mass, not in any way so stiff as sausage-meat, or so as to remain in a heap without spreading; when poured on a plate, it should be of a consistency that will slowly settle, yet there must not be any liquid whatever. On this question of consistency depends the quality of the croquettes, cutlets, etc., made from it. If too stiff, they will be dry and only a superior sort of hash ball. What you have to aim at is a croquette or cutlet that will ooze out of the thin shell of egg and crumb when pressed with a fork. Success in attaining this can always be secured by taking care to moisten the minced meat with a sauce made of very stiff jelly in the proportion of half a pint of liquid (the melted jelly and cream) and one ounce each of flour and butter. This will mix a pint of sweetbread and mushrooms, or rather less of dry meat, such as the breast of chicken, veal, etc.

I dwell on this point because this class of entrÉes is always popular, and if the consistency is once well understood, success is certain to follow.When the mixture is poured into shallow dishes or plates, a piece of buttered paper should be laid over them, and then they should be placed on ice until quite firm. When ready, cut small pieces of the mixture, make them into shapes as nearly resembling a French chop as you can, using a very little cracker meal should they stick to your hands. Have before you a large dish of cracker meal and the yolks of two eggs beaten with two small tablespoonfuls of water, cover each cutlet thoroughly with egg, then with meal, gently patting them to make the meal adhere; insert anything you please to represent the bone (turkey ribs may be boiled white and kept for this purpose). Cutlets require to be dropped into very hot fat, and taken up within two minutes. Consult directions for frying in former chapter.

Sweetbread croquettes are simply made into cork or pear shapes, never large, instead of cutlets. When the white meat of chicken replaces half the sweetbread, they are called Cutlets, or Croquettes, À la Reine.Make no attempt to mould croquettes or cutlets until the mixture is firm enough to cut; then handle very quickly, make into proper forms, finish them either as cutlets or what you wish, and let them remain in a cold place for an hour or two before cooking; this last direction may not be always possible, and to an expert is not necessary, but when time can be given the amateur should always plan to do it.

But though in experienced hands it is possible (though not so easy) to make croquettes and fry them as soon as breaded, do not be led to believe that you can dispense with putting the mixture on the ice the first time. I remember a young lady who was very proud of her croquettes telling me she never found it necessary to chill the mixture; she could secure perfect shape without. I asked to see the process, and decided in my own mind that she must go widely from the directions, and have her material as stiff as hash; but I found she solved the difficulty in a different way: she simply worked in quantities of cracker meal, using it like flour. Of course the croquettes were spoiled, although it was true they kept their shape, and I do not think the young lady realized at all that she was changing and impoverishing the preparation altogether.

Braised Sweetbreads.—Take a pair of sweetbreads, lay in salt and water for an hour, then blanch. Press slightly between two dishes; when cold, remove all skin, fat, and gristle; cut up very fine a small carrot, a turnip, and an onion; put them in a stewpan with the sweetbreads, pour over them a pint of stock, lay a piece of buttered paper over them, and braise carefully for half an hour. Take them out of the stewpan, put them in a small meat-pan, boil the liquor rapidly a couple of minutes, then baste the sweetbreads with it several times; put them in a quick oven to brown; serve on slices of fried bread, pour half a pint of Spanish sauce round, and garnish with mushrooms.Tartlettes of Chicken.—Cut six ounces of the breast of a cooked chicken into very small pieces, chop up one truffle, twelve mushrooms, and two ounces of lean boiled ham; stir them into a gill of white sauce. Butter thickly nine dariole moulds, line them neatly with quenelle meat,114-* of which you will require half a pound, fill the centre carefully with the mixed chicken, cover the top carefully with quenelle meat, and steam for twenty minutes; dish on a circle of spinach, pour bÉchamel sauce over and round, fill the centre of the dish with peas or mixed vegetables.

Chicken À la Hollandaise.—Take out the breast-bone of a large young fowl, and fill the space with the following force-meat: half a pint of fine bread-crumbs, an ounce and a half of butter, a small boiled onion chopped, and a dozen oysters cut into small pieces; a saltspoonful of salt, a pinch of pepper; bind together with an egg, sew up the fowl, and truss for roasting. Make a nice batter, as for fine fritters, and when the fowl has been in the oven half an hour, pour part of the batter over it; when dry and beginning to brown, pour more, until it is thickly coated and a nice brown; baste often; cut up the chicken, and serve with Allemande sauce and lemon.

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