Rissole à la Dauphine Appetizer For A Buffet

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Rissole is a French fried hand pie with a filling generally made with minced meat cooked in a sauce. It is a perfect appetizer for a standing buffet, it can be made in advance and warmed up before serving.

What is a Rissole

Rissoles are the equivalent of a Spanish empanadas, or deep fried turnover.

Auguste Escoffier, the king of French Chefs, uses rissole as a generic term for starters which includes a filling made of salpicon wrapped in a pastry that can be of different kinds: brioche pastry without sugar, puff pastry or short pastry, usually, fried.

Salpicon is a generic term for a mix of different ingredients minced and combined with a sauce.

I took this recipe from Auguste Escoffier famous book Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery
Rissole à la Dauphine has a mix made with minced meat.

Origin of this recipe

Auguste Escoffier is defined as the chef of the royal and the royal of the chefs.

Born in 1845 here in Villeneuve Loubet, he has revolutionized the French cuisine during his 60 years of career. From the Savoy, Riz and Carlton in London Paris and Monaco, he modernized and simplified the French Haut cuisine. His book Le Guide Culinaire is still a reference for chefs worldwide.

I went to visit his Culinary Museum and if you are interested you can find the video here.

What pastry to use

There is no specific pastry required for this recipe, so you can use what you prefer. However, I tried to use a brioche pastry but the dough is very thick and you lose the taste of the fillings.

So I prefer using a lining pastry which is lighter and remains crispy. For the filling, I made a salpicon with minced beef flavored with herbs.

I prepare everything the day before and compose and fry them the same day. I used a filling with mincemeat but you can use any other fillings you would like.

As a dip I used fresh tomato sauce cooked with some basil.

Making perfect shapes

Shaping the pastry can be tricky, so to make a perfectly shaped rissole I use a ravioli mold you can find here my amazon affiliate link.

If you don't have one, you can cut the round shape with a glass and use a fork to seal the edges.

Making the lining dough

1. Mix all the ingredients for the pastry
2. Wrap in a cling foil and let it rest in the fridge for 2 hours

Prepare the filling

1. In a pan pour some olive oil and cumin seed and let it roast for a minute
2. Add crushed garlic and chopped onion and stir-fry until colored
3. Add the minced meat and mix
4. Add the herbs Provencal
5. Once ready let it cool down and store in the fridge if not used immediately

Prepare the rissole

1. Roll the dough
2. Cut a circle
3. Brush the edge of the pastry with egg wash
4. Place 1 tablespoon of the filling in the center of the pastry
5. Fold the pastry and seal the edges
6. If you don't have a mold you can use a fork to press the edges down

7. It should make 10

Frying them

1. Fry the rissole in hot oil
2. Place them on a kitchen paper to absorb the oil
3. To serve sprinkle with some parsley to give some color 

More pies you would like

Here are some other beef pie you will find in my blog:

• Beef sausage hand pie
• Fried panzerotto
• Brioche sausage roll
• Beef pie with Marsala wine
• Ham Spread Terrine With Cognac

More recipes from Escoffier book

• Gougère Bourguignonne
• Rissole à la Dauphine
• Bouchée à la Rein

If you are making these Rissole à la Dauphine leave your comment below I would like to hear from you. You can find more delicious ideas if you FOLLOW ME on Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram or sign up to my newsletter.