Croquetas or Croquettes?
Croquetas, those fried morsels filled with rich bechamel sauce, meat and/or vegetables that are served as tapas, snacks, or even dinner, are almost as synonymous with Spanish cuisine as paella or tapas, but did you know that, in fact, they originated on the other side of the Pyrenees?
It is thought croquettes were invented in 16th century France, although they weren’t an instant hit, and it wasn’t until the late 18th century when the legendary French chef Antonin Carême, who is credited with codifying the key sauces – the “mother sauces”, or in his phrase, the grandes sauces, including béchamel – on which classic French haute cuisine is based, began serving the delicious ‘croquettes’ to French nobility that they really became popular.
Carême had worked his way up from poverty during the period of history that included the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars to be the most in-demand chef in France, cooking for the nobility and their quests. On 18 January 1817, he served his croquettes based on béchamel sauce to the Grand Duke of Russia and the then Prince Regent of England, George IV, giving them the name “croquettes a la royale”.
Bienvenidos a España
After that, croquettes quickly became popular and spread throughout France, eventually crossing the Pyrenees to Spain. Today they are one of Spain’s favourite dishes, prepared with a vast array of flavours, although the most popular variety remains jamón ibérico or jamón serrano. Also very common here on La Costa Brava are mushrooms and, as you’d expect, fish and seafood, depending on where you go.
You’ll find croquetas in most restaurants or bars serving food just about everywhere in Spain, including Catalunya, and the flavours will vary with the region. Even some top-end restaurants will serve these tasty morsels – with their own unique quirks, of course – but croquetas aren’t only for professional chefs! If you fancy trying making them at home, it’s a pretty simple recipe. It requires a little patience rather than any great skill to get the bechamel just right, and you need to allow some time in between stages of preparation.
Preparation
First of all, the filling. Basically, you need to make a béchamel sauce first and then add your selected main ingredient for the desired flavour. We’re going for jamón serrano in this example, but you can use almost any ingredient you like according to your taste.
Ingredients for the filling:
- 50g unsalted butter *
- 50ml extra virgin olive oil *
- 100g all-purpose flour
- 1 medium onion, very finely diced **
- 750ml milk (approx), at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 200 – 250g Serrano ham, finely chopped
- Salt and pepper
Method
If you want your croquetas to be a little chunkier inside, then just finely chop and do not blend, or you could even prepare your filling and bechamel all in the same pan, but if it’s your first time making croquetas, we suggest preparing your bechamel separately to ensure you get the consistency right and adding your main ingredient after.
* Additionally, some recipes use only butter and no olive oil, and others the opposite, while other cooks prefer to use a mixture of the two. For the purposes of this recipe, we’ve gone for a 50/50 mix, but you can adjust according to your own preferences. Also, bear in mind that if your filler ingredient will produce fat during cooking, like the jamón serrano in this case (as opposed to, say, mushrooms), you can use a little less butter/oil.
** As is the case with Spanish tortillas, there are those who use onion in croquetas recipes and those who are vehemently against their inclusion! We prefer with, but feel free to leave them out if you wish. If you are using onion and want your croquetas to have a smooth and uniform filling, it’s better to prepare the jamón serrano and onion beforehand, and once cooked, place them in a blender to create a kind of paste.
Phase 1
- Add your chopped serrano ham and onion to a pan over a medium to high heat
- Fry for a couple of minutes until the onion turns a light brown
- Add the nutmeg and mix in
- Remove from pan and set aside to cool
- (Once cool, place the mix in a blender if you want a smooth filling.)
- Add your butter and/or oil to the pan on low heat
- Gradually start adding the flour, stirring constantly
- Once all the flour has been added, start adding milk, a little at a time
- To create a smooth roux, it’s essential to keep stirring all the time
- Keep the heat set at low to medium, as the roux should never start to boil
- Once the desired consistency has been achieved, remove from the heat
- Remember, the bechamel will be less liquid when cooled, but also that you are looking for a considerably thicker consistency than in a bechamel that you would use when cooking canelones, for example. Otherwise, the forming and shaping of the croquettes will be challenging, to say the least!
- Add the jamón serrano and onion mix to the bechamel and stir in well
- Add a little salt and pepper if desired
- When all the ingredients have been combined and mixed well, and you are happy with the flavour, place the whole lot into a bowl or dish and cover with cling film.
- Place in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight for best results. If in a hurry, you could also put in the freezer for about half an hour.
- When the croqueta filling mix is completely cold, it’s time for phase two.
Phase 2:
You’ll need:
- 2 or 3 eggs, well beaten
- Breadcrumbs
- Flour (optional)
- With moist hands, divide the filling into bite-sized pieces and mold them to your desired shape.
- (If, despite your best efforts, you are finding it hard to form the dough into the desired shape, a helpful trick is to place it in the freezer on a tray until it is hard enough to cut into rectangles, and then roll in your hands to round off the corners.)
- For crispier breading, coat each croqueta in breadcrumbs, then dip completely in the beaten egg, and then coat in breadcrumbs again.
- If you prefer a thinner coating, coat in flour first, then the egg and breadcrumbs, or just dip straight into the egg and then in the breadcrumbs.
- Ideally, leave the coated croquetas to rest for a while, as this will make the outside firmer and increase their resistance when frying.
Final Phase: Frying
When frying your croquetas, it is crucial that the oil should be hot enough but not too hot! If the temperature is too low, the croquetas absorb too much oil, and if too hot, they can burn on the outside, affecting the taste, and may not be hot all the way through on the inside. The ideal temperature should be around 180ºC.
If you are flying in a pan, make sure to turn the croquetas halfway through to ensure they are cooked evenly. Alternatively, you could use a smaller and deeper pot so that the croquetas are completely submerged in the oil – depending on how many croquetas you prepared, of course! A deep-fat fryer is best if you have one, and apparently, air fryers work too, but we haven’t tried that method yet.
Famous Little Guys!
By the way, did you know that there’s an International Croquette Day? Well, there is, and it’s on 16 January!
