Mrs. Charles Darwin's Fish Croquettes

Sometimes I just pick a cookbook off the shelf and look for a recipe to make from it.  Today's recipe is from Mrs. Charles Darwin's Recipe Book, Revived and Illustrated, by Dusha Bateson and Weslie Janeway.

ISBN: 978-0-9801557-3-0

Like many wives, before and since, Emma Wedgwood Darwin, wife of Charles Darwin, compile a cookery notebook.  ... this book offers a glimpse behind the kitchen and dining-room doors of one of the Victorian era's most eminent families. ... More than a cookbook, Mrs. Charles Darwin's Recipe Book delineates a lifestyle at the top of English society and intelligentsia.   (quoted from inside flap)

I bought the book because I am a Charles Darwin fan of sorts, so when you combine that with cookery and yet more Victoriana information, well, it had to happen.  The production of the book is lovely, with botanical art scattered throughout and reproductions of Mrs. Darwin's recipes in her own writing.  In other words, very pretty and visually appealing.  

The recipes themselves aren't necessarily very different from other Victorian era recipes I've seen before, although some didn't look familiar when I skimmed the book.  I was particularly drawn to the desserts section because like Charles Darwin, I have a sweet tooth.  However for this post, I was well-behaved and chose to make a savory dish.

The fish croquettes recipe appealed to me because it looked fairly straightforward but it also has one twist:  instead of binding the fish flakes together with the usual cooked potato, it uses a very thick white sauce.  Please see page 61 for this recipe.

Fish Croquettes

1 pound (450 g) cooked fish, chilled

1 ounce (30 g) butter

1 ounce (30 g) flour

1/2 cup (125 ml) milk from cooking the fish

1 tablespoon cream

1 egg yolk

Salt and pepper

1 egg, beaten and breadcrumbs for coating

Butter for frying

1. Flake the fish into a bowl, being careful to remove any skin and bones.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour, cook for 1 - 2 minutes.

3. Add enough of the reserved cooking liquid, stirring constantly to make a thick, smooth sauce.  Let it bubble gently for a few minutes.  Add the cream.

4. Add the egg yolk, give the sauce a quick stir, and remove the pan from the heat.

5. Stir the fish into the sauce and mix gently to combine the two without breaking up the flakes of fish too much.  The mixture should be fairly stiff; it will become more so as it cools.  Let it get cold.

6. When ready to cook, take spoonfuls about the size of an egg and dip them in the beaten egg, then into the breadcrumbs.  Flatten them slightly and fry gently in butter for 8-10 minutes, turning them once.  They are done when crisp and golden on the outside and well heated through.

My Notes

The authors comment that if you don't start with leftover fish, you can poach the fresh fish "in a little milk together with some parsley, a sprig of thyme, and a bay leaf."  Note that if you do start with leftover fish, you still need that milk-based poaching liquid, so plan ahead.  

They also commented that many different kinds of fish can be used; they used smoked haddock and fresh cod.  From this I decided that the big piece of bonita I had would work.  Bonita is a sea fish (I caught it myself!) and has a fairly strong flavor.  Since the authors had used smoked haddock, I felt that a strong flavor wouldn't go wrong.

I didn't have any milk but I did have half-in-half, so I made up a poaching liquid of that with a small bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, and a bay leaf.

The liquid and herbs were combined in a pan, then the fish set on top of it.  Since the fish was a big piece, I placed it in the cold liquid.  The whole thing was brought to just the beginning of a boil, then I reduced the temperature to make it have a slow simmer.  After about 4 minutes, I turned the fish pieces over, then cooked it for another 3 minutes.  

The fish was removed from the liquid to drain, and both fish and liquid were allowed to cool.

I used my hands to skin, debone, and flake the fish.  This made it easy to find the bones, pick off the little bits of skin, and to remove the dark red meat that bonita always has.  I have never liked that part and decided it would be best to leave it behind.  I tried to make the flakes large, considering that they would be broken up more when I mixed in the white sauce.

The recipe didn't specify when to add the salt and pepper, so I chose to add 1/4 teaspoon of each to the fish, using forks to toss it in well.

I made the roux in a cast iron frying pan, using a fork to mix the butter and flour well.  It was very thick, and stayed that way even after I mixed in the poaching liquid and egg yolk.  Since I used a half cream/half milk liquid for the base, I did not add the cream listed in the recipe.

The completed white sauce.

I used a rubber scraper and the technique of folding to mix the sauce and the fish together.  This worked well and didn't break the fish flakes up too much.

All together now.  

The mixture went into the refrigerator for about 45 minutes to chill.

In the meantime, I used the leftover egg white and one more egg, all beaten together, to make the egg wash.  

Then I formed the patties.  The authors said this should make 8 to 10 croquettes; I got 9 comfortably-sized ones.  

Fish patties and the breading station.

Each patty was dunked in the egg wash, rolled in breadcrumbs, and placed in the hot butter.  I estimate the butter was about 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep.  I kept the butter hot enough to make the food bubble when it went in but was careful to not let the butter burn.  The instructions said to cook the patties gently, and this seemed to achieve that.

The foaming butter did a good job of cooking the sides.

I shifted the patties around as they cooked to make sure they were all getting that golden brown coloring on both sides.  

It took about 8 to 10 minutes to cook them, as the recipe suggested.

Voila!  Croquettes!

The Verdict

We didn't have them as a meal, really.  It was more like a taste test.  I was primarily interested to see what my guest taster thought of them because he didn't know how they were prepared.  I interrogated him at length  : )  and here are his thoughts:

He could taste the fish but also got a definite herbal taste.  This showed me that using the poaching liquid was a good idea -- it put the parsley, thyme, and bay flavors into the dish.  

He could not taste the pepper but thought it might be there in a subtle way.  The salt content was just right.

The texture was nice:  a crunchy exterior with a good interior that was not creamy because "it has some substance."  In fact, he said the "crust is excellent."

It was not greasy or spicy, and was heated through to the center.

He tried them just as they were out of the frying pan, which he thought was very good.

He also tried them with some adornments, and thought they were best with either tartar sauce (homemade with mayonnaise, mustard, capers, sweet pickle relish, and a dash of white wine vinegar) or a sprinkling of lemon juice.  It was okay with a drizzle of a very aged balsamic vinegar but he wasn't as thrilled with that.

The tomatoes were a nice side for the croquettes.

We imagined them being served at a buffet, and we thought they could be topped with a piping of tartar sauce to look more interesting and to make the sauce readily available.

Like this but with a star tip for piping to make it prettier.

We declared it a success!  I think the keys here were using the poaching liquid, keeping the flakes big, and gently cooking the patties.  

The authors commented that they had to be careful or the croquettes would fall apart while cooking.  I did not have that issue.  They were firmly together the whole time and I used a metal spatula below and a fork above to turn them.

The only thing I would change in my process is the chilling time -- the mixture wasn't chilled to the center when I formed the patties, which I think would have been better for handling.  So chill at least an hour, or even longer.  This is a bonus because you could make the mixture in advance of cooking.  What a convenience!

Cebolletas en vinagre -- Pickled Scallions

 I'm still translating and exploring  Encarnación Pinedo's book, El cocinero español.  

Today I am trying a recipe on page 56:

Cebolletas en vinagre.

Se toman cebolletas tiernas y blancas, se despellejan y se les quita la cabeza. Se ponen en vinagre hasta que la vasija quede llena, cubriendolas con estragón, hinojo y pimienta en grano.

Se salan despues y se cierran hermeticamente hasta el momento de servirlas.

Pickled scallions.

Take the tender white part of scallions, skin them and their heads are taken off. They are put in vinegar until the jar is full, covering with tarragon, fennel and ground pepper.

They are salted afterwards and hermetically closed until the moment to serve them.

Plus the pepper, which didn't make it into the picture

My Redaction

4 or 5 bunches of scallions (green onions)

fennel leaves

tarragon leaves

salt

pepper (Miss Pinedo says ground, I used whole)

white wine vinegar

Wash and trim the scallions. Cut off most of the green part.  In a clean jar, put in some fennel, tarragon, and pepper.  Put the scallions into the jar, put in more fennel, tarragon, and pepper.  Cover with vinegar.  Add salt to taste.  

Close jar and store in the refrigerator for at least a week.  

My Notes

I interpreted the directions to "skin" the scallions and "take their heads off" as "trim off the root ends and take off the outer layer if it was dirty, slimy, or otherwise unappealing".  My store-bought scallions didn't need to be skinned except in a few cases.

I cut them to a length that would fit in my quart canning jar.  That included some of the green part but still with enough of the white to keep it "tender."

I didn't know how much fennel, tarragon, and pepper to use.  I wanted their flavor to infuse the vinegar and scallions but not so much as to overwhelm.  So I decided that putting some below and some above would be helpful.

A few pieces of leaves and about 5 peppercorns below

A greater quantity of leaves and about 5 more peppercorns above.

Then I filled the jar with white wine vinegar, which I chose for its mild flavor and mild acid bite.  I added 1/2 teaspoon of salt on top.

I tried to put the scallions in decoratively!

I noticed everything floated and so the tops of the scallions were out of the vinegar.  So once the jar went into the refrigerator, I shook it at least once a day to get the tips covered.

The store where I purchased the scallions also had an item specifically labeled as cebolletas, so I bought some of them to try, too.

The bulbs were at least 1 inch in diameter and I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to bite into that much onion flavor and eating the whole thing in a sitting, so I decided to cut them into rings and pickle those.

I had fewer cebolletas, so I used a pint canning jar.  I put leaves and peppercorns at the bottom, the middle, and the top.  I didn't adjust the quantity downwards for the smaller jar - I expect the herb flavors to be bolder.  Also, I used apple cider vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  It helped to use a spoon to gently pack the rings down into the jar.

This jar went into the refrigerator, too, to wait out its week.  It was also shaken regularly.

The Verdict

Several weeks went by until we tasted them.  

The cebolletas in apple cider vinegar were crisp, flavorful, and had a mild acid bite.  The fennel was a dominant flavor.  My guest tasters liked the acid level but I wanted it diluted, either with water or sugar.  They made a good relish next to roasted meat and on a charcuterie platter.

The scallions in the white wine vinegar were soggy and the acid bite was too strong for me.  The fennel was still the dominant flavor (not a bad thing).  I think I should have not included as much (or any) of the green stem as we all agreed that it was fibrous and you had to really pay attention to how you were biting it to make sure you could get a piece in your mouth.  This was not good.

The majority opinion was that either vinegar would be fine (I still wanted to dilute both and I liked the apple cider vinegar best), the cebolletas were better than the scallions, and the flavor was good.  I would have liked less fennel so I could taste a better balance with the tarragon and pepper.  

Success, especially for the cebolletas.  I would do this again with the scallions and only use the white part.  I would also put in less fennel, more tarragon, and crack the peppercorns.

UPDATE:  No one really wanted to eat the soggy scallions as they came out of the jar.  However, I found that chopping them into about 1/2 inch long pieces and including them in stews is absolutely wonderful.  They add a depth of flavor that is unexpected and they also make the whole dish smell so enticing.  A bonus!