Risole

The risole takes its name and form from the rissole of French and Portuguese cooking — a small pastry of filling enclosed in dough and fried — which reached Brazil through Portuguese and broader European influence and was adapted with local fillings and a distinctly Brazilian casing. Rather than a flaky or puff pastry, the Brazilian version is most often made with a massa de pastel cooked-dough or a flour-and-milk scalded dough that fries up firm and chewy, and it is almost always breaded before frying, unlike many European rissoles. It belongs to the broad repertoire of Brazilian salgados — the fried and baked savoury snacks of bakeries, snack bars and celebrations — and the creamy shrimp risole bound with a white sauce is its signature expression at parties and beachside kiosks.

A golden crescent the size of a palm, crumb-coated and crisp, that crunches and then yields to a soft, slightly chewy dough layer and a hot, creamy filling. The shrimp version is rich and savoury — small shrimp in a thick, oniony white sauce with a little tomato, smooth and almost pourable; the chicken version is shredded chicken in the same kind of bechamel-style binding. Steam escapes when you bite the curved edge. Eaten by hand, hot from the fryer, two or three to a plate at a party, often dipped in hot sauce.

The casing is usually a scalded dough — flour cooked into hot liquid (often milk and butter) until it forms a smooth ball — which pre-gelatinises the starch so the rolled dough is pliable, seals cleanly and fries firm without cracking or absorbing oil. The filling is a thick white sauce (molho branco) of flour, butter and milk folded with the cooked chicken or shrimp; it must be cold and stiff before filling, or it leaks and bursts the risole in the oil. The breadcrumb coat, set by an egg wash, forms a rough surface that crisps and browns by the Maillard reaction and shields the soft dough. Hot oil is essential so the shell crisps before oil soaks in.