“Oranges”
by Katarina of Thescorre
According to crepe recipes, oranges are typically served with them. But they are not ordinary oranges. Nope, they are pork balls to look like oranges. This I thought was interesting so I thought I would give it a whirl.
Sadly I did not see any kind of recipe where someone tried these and wrote down baking Temps or times sooo… I just (turkey) winged it.
It called for ground pork that is made into meatballs with seasoning and egg yolks. All I got was to use 4-5 yolks per pound of pork. Now, I didn’t have pork. But I did have a package of turkey sausage. (Now u get the turkey wing joke) I figure it doesn’t matter so much what you use so long as it LOOKS like an orange. Soo away I went.
Also, since I’m poor, we like to add some breading to our sausage so we can feed more people. Which I would assume could also be period. I chopped up the end of some bread loaves, real tiny. Added 4 yolks, saving the white for later. Mixed and formed into balls the size of an orange. Then, I heated the oven to 350 but as I went along I kept raising the temp. I don’t know, I think I messed up. No Temps or times were given and most recipes are for 350 but I thought a higher temp might do the job better.
Ok back to our balls. After they are formed, dip in egg whites and cook in boiling broth. I used chicken broth in a small pot to hopefully cover the balls but it didn’t. Oh well, just flip after a while. Not sure how long to cook. It says, until mostly cooked. I cooked until it was no longer smushy when squished. I know, not really technical. Lol the egg whites made it look funny. But I guess things were going well though not to appetizing.
So after they are all boiled, cook in oven (or on a spit over a fire) until golden. Well, I was getting impatient so it may or may not have been golden. Now here is where I think I majorly messed up. You are supposed to take your meatballs and dip in egg whites again then bake lightly so it forms a nice white coating.
Now I just used the same old whites I used before. But white I think I should have done is whip up fresh plain egg whites until light peaks form. Like making a meringue. This would have made a nice coating of white “pith” for the orange. I thought one recipe said to coat in whites several times and bake between each coating for a half a minute, not long enough to brown. I didn’t get it very white. But I tried. After a few coatings I gave up and moved to the yolk. I admit I did add a drop of orange coloring. Dip balls in yolk and bake. I was short on eggs so I only had enough yolk to coat them once.
The results were kind of orange looking. They tasted good, but the “rind” was a bit tough and rubbery.
