A Croustard of Fried Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the case
Cut a slice of stale bread two inches thick.
Use a round or oval vol-au-vent cutter to stamp out the bread.
Mark the middle with a smaller cutter and scoop out the inside, leaving a quarter inch thick case.
Fry and serve
Fry in hot fat until golden brown just before serving.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Stale bread
- Its dry, firm crumb holds its shape while frying and crisps on the outside.
- Hot fat
- Conducts heat quickly to brown and crisp the bread surface.
The step that matters
Scooping out the inside. Leaving a case about a quarter inch thick keeps the walls strong enough to hold their shape and crisp evenly when fried. A thinner wall can tear or collapse, while a thicker one stays doughy inside.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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