Boudin Balls, Isaac Toups - Question about cooling/refrigerating the boudin

Question

I'd like to try Isaac Toups' recipe for boudin balls, for a cooking get-together with a friend of mine. We'll start in the afternoon; ideally, we'd like to have it done for (late) dinner that day.

The recipe specifies 2 refrigeration steps: one overnight, the other for 2 hours (overnight for the boudin, 2 hours for the rolled boudin balls before deep-frying). From what I understand, this is so that the balls don't explode when deep-frying, because there's a lot of moisture in them (although I don't understand how the freezing helps - they will cook through completely anyway, right?).

I was wondering whether the refrigeration times can be shortened - less time, and also by using the freezer. This post seems to hint at it being possible (?)

Beginner cook, so would appreciate any advice and explanation!

Answer 1

The refrigeration steps have nothing to do with moisture / exploding - they're there so the batter thickens and can hold a shape without falling apart.

This is also done for roux-based croquettes, like the Dutch kroketten and Spanish croquetas

I'd be careful with refrigerating in the freezer for the 1st cooling as you don't want your boudin to be frozen solid - you'll have to keep a close eye on the timing. Alternatively, you can spread your boudin as thin as possible into baking trays to have maximum contact surface and speed up cooling in the fridge

For the 2nd cooling you can do an open freeze (line them up in the tray with space between them, so they'll become individually frozen balls) and then fry them straight from freezer to fryer, no thawing needed.