Kroketten (Dutch Croquettes)

Kroket is my favourite Dutch snack food. Whenever we land in Holland, the first thing Mr J will do is to put a Euro into the famous "Hole in the Wall" (Febo) to get his frikandel fix and I will usually pick a kroket.

Kroket is a deep fried meat ragout coated with breadcrumbs. It's an unanswered question as to what the filling is made from. Take a guess - Offal? Butchering waste? Kroket is an extremely popular fast food in Holland and it is sold in all snack bars. It's so popular that McDonald's in Holland has a Kroket burger on their menu. Although meat ragout is the most common filling, you can also find noodles, potato, rice and goulash fillings.

Besides from snack bars, kroketten are also available from the frozen section of all supermarkets in Holland. It's very uncommon to make them from scratch nowadays. A good kroket recipe is extremely hard to come by.

I found this recipe in an Australian cookbook (Meat - Delicious dinner for every night of the week) where the author Adrian Richardson, chef and owner of Melbourne restaurant La Luna Bistro, compiled this kroket recipe based on information gathered from his Dutch mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. Hence, he named the recipe: Oma's Dutch Croquettes ('Oma' means 'Grandma' in Dutch).

Adrian Richardson - "These croquettes are one of my mother-in-law's specialties and a closely guarded family secret that she hasn't even really shared with her daughters! I have spent years trying to wheedle out the recipe from all these women, and the version that follows is based on what my sisters-in-law were prepared to reveal of what they know."

Kroketten (Dutch Croquettes) Recipe
(Adapted from Adrian Richardson's Meat - Delicious Dinner For Every night Of The Week Cookbook)
Makes 24

50 g butter
50 g plain flour
1 cup hot milk
salt
300 g leftover cold roast beef, finely chopped, minced or whizzed in a food processor
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 tbsp ketjap manis (A lot of Dutch food has strong Indonesian influence. Hence the use of ketjap manis in flavouring. Conimex is one of the favourite Dutch brands)

1 tbsp chopped thyme leaves
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Crumb Coating:
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup milk
1 cup plain flour
2 cups breadcrumbs
Pinch of salt
Vegetable oil for deep-frying

Method

1. Melt the butter in a small, heavy-based saucepan. Stir in the flour to make a paste (roux), and cook, stirring all the time, for about 3 minutes. Gradually mix in the hot milk to make a bechamel sauce. Bring to the boil, them lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes to get rid of the floury taste. Add a pinch of salt to season then tip the bechamel into a large mixing bowl and leave to cool.
   

   

2. Place the remaining ingredients into a food processor and whiz until smooth.
   

   

3. Tip into the mixing bowl with the cool bechamel sauce and stir in well to form a thick paste. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hour until chilled.
   

   

4. Form the croquette mixture into chunky little logs (3 x 10 cm) - you should get about 24 in total.
   

   

5. Whisk the egg and milk together and set up a little production line of 3 dishes containing the flour, the egg mixture and the breadcrumbs.
   

   

6. Roll the croquettes in the flour first, then dip them into the egg mixture and then the breadcrumbs so they are evenly coated. For an extra-crunchy coating dip the croquettes into the egg and breadcrumbs for a second time then refrigerate for 30 minutes.
   

   

7. Heat the oil in a deep-fryer or a heavy-based frying pan to 180C. Preheat the oven to 100C. Fry the croquettes in batches until golden brown all over, about 5 minutes. Drain briefly on a wire rack and transfer to the oven to keep warm while you fry the remaining croquettes. Serve with Dutch mustard for dipping.
   

   

Note: You can eat kroket on its own or you can eat it with a slice of white sandwich bread or a soft white bread roll (Traditionally, Dutch eat kroket with white bread). If it's eaten on a slice of sandwich bread, you should cut the kroket lengthwise and spread the mustard as shown in below picture:

A telling tale for a good kroket is that the filing is separated from the crumb coating after being fried: