Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (35 page)

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These rounds are folded in two, giving them the shape of a half moon. Close the fold tightly and fry in olive oil. Serve as an
entremets
.

These can be made with every variety of leftover meat, and are prepared like the meatballs described in recipe 314, but without the raisins and pine nuts. If you like, however, you may add a little garlic combined with a few parsley leaves. These croquettes are better when given the shape of spools, and are only eaten fried, as a rule.

Take 150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of sweetbreads, cook in brown stock or in a soffritto of onion and butter. Season with salt, pepper, and a dash of nutmeg. Then dice the sweetbreads and mix in two tablespoons of rather firm bechamel, adding an egg yolk and a good pinch of grated Parmesan cheese. Scoop up the mixture one small spoonful at a time, roll each scoop in bread crumbs, giving it the oblong shape of a spool. Then dip in a whisked egg, roll a second time in bread crumbs and fry. You can make them even more delicious if you add untrimmed prosciutto and diced salted tongue to the mixture, and if you use a few shavings of truffle instead of nutmeg.

With this amount of sweetbreads you will make 10 or 12 croquettes, which you can combine with some other fritters for a dish of mixed fry.

1/2 a liter (about 1/2 a quart) of milk

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of rice

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of butter

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of grated Parmesan cheese

2 eggs

Cook the rice in milk until quite firm. When half cooked, add butter and salt. Remove from the heat, add the Parmesan cheese, and while the rice is still steaming hot break in an egg, stirring at once to incorporate it in the mixture. When it has cooled off completely, take the rice out in tablespoons and roll each piece in bread crumbs, giving them a cylindrical shape. With these amounts you will make 12 croquettes. Whisk the remaining egg, dip each croquette in it, roll them once more in the bread crumbs, and fry.

They may be served alone, but are best when accompanied by some other fried food.

Follow the preceding recipe and combine the rice, which you have cooked in the right amount, with chicken giblets prepared in butter and brown stock, or failing that, in a soffritto of onion.

The giblets, once cooked, should be cut into chickpea-size pieces.

300 grams (about 10-1/2 ounces) of potatoes

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of butter

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of grated Parmesan cheese

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons of sugar

a dash of nutmeg

Peel the potatoes, and if they are large, slice them into quarters. Boil in salted water. Then, when the potatoes are cooked and still very hot, drain and puree, passing them through a sieve. Add butter, melted if it is winter, and then the rest of the ingredients, stirring all the while.

Allow the mixture to cool and then make the croquettes by dividing it into 10 or 12 portions which you will place over a thin layer of flour and mold in the shape of a spool. Beat an egg and dip each croquette individually in it. Roll in bread crumbs and saute in olive oil or lard. Serve as a side dish for fried meats or a roast.

300 grams (about 10-1/2 ounces) of potatoes

2 heaping tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese

2 eggs

a dash of nutmeg

flour, as much as needed

Boil the potatoes, peel and while they’re still hot, pass them through a sieve onto a thin layer of flour. Make a hole in the mound of pureed potatoes, salt, and add the nutmeg, the eggs and the Parmesan cheese. Then, using as little flour as possible, make a long soft loaf, which you will divide into 18 sections. With your fingers coated in flour make a small hole in each croquette which you will then fill with meat stuffing. Pull up the sides of the croquette and join them tightly. Then, with your hands still covered in flour, remold each piece into a round ball that you will fry in lard or olive oil. Send to the table as a side dish for fried meat.

This is an impressive dish, tasty and inexpensive, since the stuffing can be made with the giblets from a single hen, if you happen to have one, as long as you use the crest, the gizzard boiled beforehand, and the unlaid eggs, which you should saute in butter with a little finely chopped onion, later adding a slice of untrimmed prosciutto cut into tiny cubes. All the other ingredients should be finely minced.

If you do not have a hen, prepare the stuffing in some other way.

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of rice

1/2 a liter (about 1/2 a quart) of milk

a little more than a walnut-size pat of butter

a generous pinch of grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg

Cook the rice in milk with the butter, keeping it firm. When done, salt and wait until cooled, then add the egg and the Parmesan cheese. Cook two chicken livers and the sweetbreads of two lambs, thus making a tasty little stew, adding a dash of nutmeg. Cut into chunks smaller than a hazelnut, and combine them with small pieces of prosciutto, truffles or mushrooms, which add a delightful flavor.

To give this rice stuffing the appearance of little pears, have a small tin funnel made, the shape and size of which I would draw if I could. But as I cannot, you shall have to content yourselves with the circle pictured here, which represents the funnel’s mouth.

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This is the top section of the funnel, while the spout is a small hollow tube about 2 centimeters (about 3/4 of an inch) long. Grease the funnel with melted butter and coat it with fine bread crumbs. Then fill it half full with the rice, add two or three pieces of the stew, and finish filling the funnel with more rice. To release the little pear you have made, blow on the hollow tube at the other end of the funnel. Repeat this operation until you run out of rice. Of course, before frying these little pears, you need to dip them in egg and roll them in bread crumbs.

2 large chicken livers

40 grams (about 1-1/3 ounces) of salted tongue

40 grams (about 1-1/3 ounces) of Gruyere cheese

Cook the chicken livers in butter, seasoning with salt and pepper. When done, cut into 12 small pieces and do the same with the Gruyere and the tongue. Take 12 toothpicks and skewer all the aforementioned 36 pieces, three per toothpick, in this order: first a piece of tongue, then the Gruyere, and finally the chicken liver, leaving a little space between each piece and the next. Then, using the bechamel described in recipe 220, coat the three pieces on each toothpick so that they are well covered. Dip in beaten egg, roll in bread crumbs and fry.

If you like, you may add to these ingredients little pieces of sweetbread cooked in the same way as the chicken livers, and tiny chunks of raw truffle.

Chop up a loin of lamb, which is the best cut to use for this dish, and sauté in virgin lard. A little lard will do, because this cut of meat is rather fatty. When half cooked, season with salt and pepper, and then, when completely done, add four or five beaten eggs also lightly seasoned with salt and pepper. Mix well, making sure the eggs do not become too firm.

Take a young cockerel, gut it, remove the head and the feet, wash well, and place in boiling water for one minute. Then cut it into pieces along the joints, coat the pieces in flour, season with salt and pepper and pour two beaten eggs over them. After letting them soak for at least half an hour, roll the pieces in bread crumbs. Repeat this procedure two more times if necessary. Prepare over hot coals as follows: take a tin-lined copper skillet and pour in it some olive oil or better still, put in some virgin lard; when the fat starts to sizzle, add the chicken pieces, making sure they brown well on both sides over moderate heat, so that they are cooked through and through. Serve very hot with lemon slices. Turkey wings, the most delicate part of this bird when boiled, may also be used instead of chicken for this dish. They should be cut into little pieces and prepared in the same manner.

The tip of the breast and the feet of chickens, and this holds true also for turkeys, give you some indication of the tenderness of the bird’s meat since as these birds age, the breast tip hardens and will not yield as you press it with your fingers, while the feet turn from black to yellowish.

After you have cleaned the bird as described in the preceding recipe, cut it up into smaller pieces, coat with flour and soak in two beaten eggs, salting liberally. Fry in a skillet, season it again with a little salt and pepper, and serve with lemon wedges.

From the breast of a capon or large pullet, you should be able to carve 6 thin slices which will feed four to five people. Cook in butter and season with salt and pepper.

Prepare a bechamel with 20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of butter; 40 grams (about 1-1/3 ounces) of flour; and 2 deciliters (about 4/5 of a cup) of milk.

When this sauce is done, add 50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of salted tongue which you have finely minced with a mezzaluna. When cooled, spread this sauce thickly all over the chicken slices, completely covering each piece. Then dip in one whisked egg, roll in bread crumbs and saute in butter or lard. Serve with lemon wedges.

Slice a large onion and soak it in cold water for more than half an hour. Then dry it and place in skillet with olive oil or lard. When the onion has turned soft and translucent, remove it from the pan and put to one side. Cut up a pullet or cockerel, saute the pieces in the grease left in the pan, and when browned, add the onion, seasoning with salt and pepper, and sprinkling half a glass of Sangiovese or other fine red wine over it. Also add some tomato sauce (recipe 6). After cooking it for five more minutes, serve.

I warn you—this is no dish for weak stomachs.

For frying, people normally use the best quality fat their native land produces. In Tuscany, olive oil is preferred; in Lombardy, butter; in Emilia, they make the best lard—that is, it is very white, firm and possesses a delicate, comforting aroma of bay leaves. This explains why in this region an incredible number of young poultry is slaughtered to be fried in lard with tomatoes.

For meat fry in general, I prefer lard because I find it more delicate and flavorful than olive oil.

The chicken is cut into small pieces, which are then placed in a skillet in a generous amount of lard and seasoned with salt and pepper but without adding any other spice. When done, drain off the excess fat and add the tomatoes which you have chopped in small chunks after removing the seeds. Stir constantly until the tomatoes are almost completely dissolved, then send to the table.