articles that are very soft and creamy,
underneath the surface of egg and crumbs, are fried is this: the creamy
substances, whether rich sauce like d'Uxelles and Villeroi, or the cream
used to mix croquettes, must always be made of stock that will jelly
when cold. The sauce is used warm, and the articles are put to chill on
ice, so that they are in a jellied condition. Now the fat into which
they are plunged must be so hot that it sets the coating of egg and
crumbs, which forms a thin shell, as it were, before the jelly has had
time to melt; the shell once formed, the interior cooks in the intense
heat very quickly. If the fat were not hot enough, croquettes would go
all to pieces, and articles coated with sauce would lose the better
part of it.

To fry, you require a stewpan or iron kettle; those called Scotch
kettles are best, as they set into the range readily. A frying-pan is
only useful for sauteing in little fat. Articles to be fried must be
immersed in fat, and no frying-pan is deep enough to do this safely. Put
two to three pounds of clarified dripping or lard into the kettle, and
let it get very hot. This will be after it ceases to sputter--some time
after, perhaps; but you must now begin to watch for smoke to rise from
the _centre_. Have near you some little squares of bread crumb; drop one
in from time to time; only when it colors _immediately_ is the fat hot
enough. At this point no time must be lost, and your frying begins.

Of course you will have the articles you intend to fry right at hand.
You will also need a large dish, in which you lay common butcher's
wrapping-paper (often called "kitchen paper") and a perforated
skimmer--some like a frying-basket, and for very small things it is an
assistance; but for croquettes, cutlets, etc., it is not necessary: they
can be laid on the skimmer and dropped in the fat.

The easiest and safest way to fry is to use a cooking thermometer
(pyrometers or frimometers they are sometimes called), and let the fat
be 380 deg. for croquettes, oysters, and articles that only require two
minutes' cooking; 360 deg. for cutlets and heavier articles.

The time required for articles to cook in the frying-kettle seems
astonishingly short. For instance, a breaded chop will be cooked to a
medium degree in two and a half minutes, well done in three minutes; but
it must be remembered the heat is intense. Croquettes must never be left
longer than two minutes, while whitebait (which,