Beef Croquette and croquette balls

The Dutch love their snacks, like bitterballen, kroketten and frikandellen. They even have special snack vending machines, maybe you know them as Automats. In Dutch these were named Automatiek, but are now known as FEBO, named after the first, and now biggest, company to have introduced these here in the Netherlands.

A FEBO-wall

Research in 2008 showed that 350 million kroketten are eaten in the Netherlands every year. An estimated 75% of all Dutch people eat them, resulting in 29 kroketten per person per year on average. The major consumers are between 35 and 49 years old. A smaller round version of the standard beef or veal croquette, the bitterbal, is often served with mustard as a snack in bars and at receptions.

Broodje kroket, a croquette on a bread roll, is sold in restaurants, snack shops, and even by street vendors. The kroket is so popular in the Netherlands that even McDonald’s sells their version on a bun as “McKroket”!

Are you hungry yet? Let me show you how to create your own.

Ingredients

Makes 16 croquettes or 48 croquette balls

1 liter water
600 gr soup meat (beef)
2 bouillon/broth tabs
30 gr parsley
60 gr butter
60 gr flour
nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs
water or milk
breadcrumbs
frying oil

Slowly bring the water, broth tabs and meat to a boil and let it simmer for an hour. Make sure the broth doesn’t boil dry! You need 400 ml to make the croquettes.

Chop the parsley very finely. Sieve the broth and save 400ml, you can use the rest to make a soup.

Use two forks to make pulled beef from your soup meat. If you used small pieces of meat you can also use your hands.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the broth in one thin stream and keep stirring until you have a smooth sauce. Add the meat and parsley, then cook for 2 more minutes. Add pepper, salt and nutmeg to taste. Put the sauce in a deep plate or container and put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Whisk the egg with 2 tablespoons of milk or water and put the breadcrumbs on a plate. Cut the meat into 16 pieces for croquettes and divide every piece into three more for croquette balls. Shape every portion into a croquette or ball and roll it through the breadcrumbs. You can also choose to make croquette burgers. Next, roll it through the egg mixture and through the breadcrumbs again. Make sure the sides are covered thoroughly! Keep them in the fridge until frying or freeze them for up to a month.

Preheat the oil to 180°C. Fry the frozen croquettes for about 4 minutes and the balls for frozen 2,5 minutes. Fry the croquettes and balls out of the fridge until brown and crispy. Enjoy with mustard on a bun, for a real McKroket!