Croquettes, Monsieur
Oct. 11th, 2022 08:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerThis week's Resolution Recipe Redo: Meat croquettes, or rather dumplings and ravioli.
1/2 lb pork belly, skin off, boiled
1 1/4 oz basil
small handful each: sage, marjoram, tarragon
4 green onions
1/3 bunch parsley
1/4 cup ricotta
1/4 cup flour
1 egg white
lard or veg oil
pinch sugar
Mince or grind pork belly. Pound herbs in a mortar or grind, and mix into the pork. Mix in the ricotta, egg white, and flour. Form croquettes - small balls or cylinders.
Bring oil to fry temperature. Gently lower in croquettes and fry until browned on each side. Drain, sprinkle sugar over the batch, and serve.
Marjoram, tarragon, and rosemary are common in this manuscript. Parsley, savory, and scallions seemed like good contemporaneous additions. Frying in rapeseed oil (aka Canola oil) is documented in England to the 13th or 14th century.
What worked: The flavor was still good. Cutting the egg whites to 1/4 of the first batch made a big difference. I made 1 Tbsp balls and they (mostly) held together. I got one comment that the slight crunch of the sugar was a nice addition, since the texture was uniform (as opposed to modern croquettes, which have a bread crumb outer coating). You might be able to hand-wave dusting the balls lightly with more flour before throwing into the oil...
What didn't: Mixing everything together the night before and bringing in a Ziploc made things doable. However, the weight meant that some of the herb/etc liquid separated out and pooled at the bottom of the bag. Since I was spooning out directly from the bag (to lessen the mess) that meant the first 20% were much firmer than the last 20%. The last few didn't stick together as well in the oil.
The oil wasn't hot enough to start and some of them broke apart, then it was too hot at the end and some got over-browned. Not burned, but less aesthetically pleasing. This was still hard to do outdoors, even on a propane stove.
Something that occurred to me afterwards: beat the egg whites to firm up and fold in gently, which would "make it stiff" and also lighter batter. Sadly, I don't think that's a period technique but I'd have to verify.
Will I make it again? Maybe. I might just declare this one done, despite the imperfections, and put it in my tourney recipe book in case I want to make it for an event.
Take skinned pork belly, boiled, and mince it thoroughly with a knife: take a good quantity of savory herbs, and pound them thoroughly in a mortar: put some fresh cheese on top of this and a bit of flour, and dilute it with egg whites, until it is stiff. And take a good quantity fresh pork fat, put it in a pan, until it boils, and make croquettes out of this; and once it has been cooked and taken out, put sugar on it. (Anonimo Toscano, late 14th-early 15th c.)
1/2 lb pork belly, skin off, boiled
1 1/4 oz basil
small handful each: sage, marjoram, tarragon
4 green onions
1/3 bunch parsley
1/4 cup ricotta
1/4 cup flour
1 egg white
lard or veg oil
pinch sugar
Mince or grind pork belly. Pound herbs in a mortar or grind, and mix into the pork. Mix in the ricotta, egg white, and flour. Form croquettes - small balls or cylinders.
Bring oil to fry temperature. Gently lower in croquettes and fry until browned on each side. Drain, sprinkle sugar over the batch, and serve.
Marjoram, tarragon, and rosemary are common in this manuscript. Parsley, savory, and scallions seemed like good contemporaneous additions. Frying in rapeseed oil (aka Canola oil) is documented in England to the 13th or 14th century.
What worked: The flavor was still good. Cutting the egg whites to 1/4 of the first batch made a big difference. I made 1 Tbsp balls and they (mostly) held together. I got one comment that the slight crunch of the sugar was a nice addition, since the texture was uniform (as opposed to modern croquettes, which have a bread crumb outer coating). You might be able to hand-wave dusting the balls lightly with more flour before throwing into the oil...
What didn't: Mixing everything together the night before and bringing in a Ziploc made things doable. However, the weight meant that some of the herb/etc liquid separated out and pooled at the bottom of the bag. Since I was spooning out directly from the bag (to lessen the mess) that meant the first 20% were much firmer than the last 20%. The last few didn't stick together as well in the oil.
The oil wasn't hot enough to start and some of them broke apart, then it was too hot at the end and some got over-browned. Not burned, but less aesthetically pleasing. This was still hard to do outdoors, even on a propane stove.
Something that occurred to me afterwards: beat the egg whites to firm up and fold in gently, which would "make it stiff" and also lighter batter. Sadly, I don't think that's a period technique but I'd have to verify.
Will I make it again? Maybe. I might just declare this one done, despite the imperfections, and put it in my tourney recipe book in case I want to make it for an event.
