"Chop your meat evenly, to begin with; then make the white sauce with
double the usual quantity of flour. Instead of using one cup of milk,
one tablespoonful of butter, and one of flour, you must take two of
flour; that is the first thing to emphasize. You mix this with the meat
and seasoning and cook it till it is a smooth paste; spread it out
thickly in a platter and let it get perfectly cold before you take
another step. I leave mine an hour, at the very least. Then cut it up
into small pieces and roll them under your hand and square the ends; dip
each one in finely sifted bread crumbs--have them well sifted, Dolly.
Next dip in half-beaten egg yolk, then in crumbs again, and then dry
them thoroughly before you go any farther. I usually make the paste
after breakfast and set it away, bread the croquettes after lunch and
set them away again. Then just before dinner I fry them, two at a time,
in the wire basket in deep fat. I keep them in only enough to brown the
crumbs; then I put them in the oven on paper to drain, leaving the door
open. That way you make delicious croquettes, pale golden brown outside
and creamy inside and with a soup--"
"A good thick purée," interrupted Dolly.
"Yes, and vegetables, you will have a substantial meal.
"Now for pork. I do hope you are going to see that you get that from a
reliable man, and have it once in awhile, especially in winter, for it
is to my mind neither indigestible nor unwholesome for a change, and it
is such an inexpensive meat that it saves you ever so much. You can see
for yourself that two pork chops, with all the other things you are to
have for dinner, will be plenty of meat for two people, and so cheap!
Pork tenderloins I think are the greatest economy. Try getting two of
them and opening them lengthwise, filling them with bread-crumb
stuffing, and roasting them with nice brown gravy; you will be perfectly
surprised to see how good they are. There will be enough meat left over
for a second dinner, either croquettes or scallop or something else. And
there is this other way of cooking them: tell the butcher to French
them for you; that is, to cut them into rounds and pound each one out
into a little cake. Cook these in the frying-pan till they are a pale
brown; arrange them on a hot platter, and put an edge of mashed potato
around. One good-sized tenderloin will make a dinner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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