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Dutch Beef Croquettes

Dutch Beef Croquettes

Dutch Meat Croquettes

A versatile savoury snack that is crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.
by Ena Scheerstra

Dutch Meat Croquettes

Meat croquettes (kroketten) consist of a thick meat ragout rolled into a cylindrical form, covered in breadcrumbs, which are deep-fried. They are a much loved food in the Netherlands, for example as a lunch staple and as part of a snackbar takeaway, but almost no one makes them at home. For this post I did make them myself and was pleasantly surprised. It didn’t take that much time (most of it was waiting time) and the result was very delicious.

I served my delicious homemade croquettes in a typical Dutch way: the 12 o’clock (het twaalfuurtje). This is a dish often found on the lunch menu in lunchrooms and restaurants and consists of a slice of bread with butter, mustard and a croquette; a small ‘uitsmijter‘; a garnish of crudités or salad; and a small bowl of soup. Sometimes you also get juice or coffee. Two generously topped slices of bread, some salad and a bowl of soup is enough lunch for a hungry person. You can always choose if you like white or brown bread. The salad is usually potato, russian or beef, but making those is subject for a later post.

See Also

You can also use this recipe to make ‘bitterballen’, the only difference is to roll the ragout into small balls (about 4 cm in diameter) instead of cylinders. Bitterballen are served as a cocktail snack, accompanied by a small bowl of mustard to dip them in.

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Dutch Meat Croquettes

Dutch Beef Croquettes


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5 from 1 review

  • Author: Ena Scheerstra
  • Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins
  • Yield: 4 1x

Description

A savoury snack that is crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 200 g beef/400 g beef with bone

Stock

  • 1 onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 stalk of celery
  • 1/2 leek
  • 2 sprigs of parsley
  • 1 sprig of thyme
  • 1 bay leave
  • a small bit of mace
  • 5 pepper corns, slightly crushed
  • 1 tsp salt

Sauce

  • 35 g butter
  • 35 g flour
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp cream
  • 1/2 tbsp parsley, chopped
  • 1 egg yolk

breading and cooking

  • 1 egg
  • dried breadcrumbs
  • oil for deepfrying

Instructions

  1. Wash the vegetables, cut in large chunks.
  2. Place in a cooking pan together with the herbs and spices, lay the meat on top.
  3. Add water until just covered.
  4. Bring to the boil and leave to simmer until the meat is cooked and tender (depends on the cut of meat).
  5. Take the meat out, slice in cubes of 0,5 cm (discard any tough, sinewy or very fatty bits).
  6. Sieve the stock and set aside 200 ml. The rest will not be used. For a stronger flavour, reduce down the stock before measuring the 200 ml.
  7. Melt the butter in a sauce pot.
  8. Add the flour, mix well, and cook for about 1 minute.
  9. Add the measured stock gradually while stirring to form a smooth and thick sauce.
  10. Leave to cook on low heat for 2 minutes, then take off the heat.
  11. Add the lemon juice, cream, parsley and egg yolk, mix them through the sauce.
  12. Taste and season with salt and pepper if necessary.
  13. Add the cubes of meat, mix them through.
  14. Pour the sauce into a deep plate that you rinsed with water.
  15. Cover with cling film and leave to cool in the fridge (takes about an hour).
  16. Whisk the egg together with a little water in a deep plate. Pour the dried breadcrumbs on another plate.
  17. Slice the cooled croquette mix in 4 equal parts (8 if you want mini-croquettes).
  18. Place a part on top of the bread crumbs and form into a cylinder/croquette form (the breadcrumbs will prevent the mix from sticking).
  19. Place the croquette in the egg mixture, cover completely.
  20. Then place again on the breadcrumbs, cover completely with crumbs. Pat the croquette so that the breadcrumbs are attached well.
  21. Do the same with the other three portions.
  22. Heat the oil to 200C.
  23. Place a croquette (or more, depending on the size of your fryer) in the fryer and bake for about 2 minutes, or until the crust is brown.
  24. Serve immediately.

Notes

Use a cut of beef that is suitable for making stock. You can use veal instead of beef. You can use leftover meat (180 g); in that case you can use a ready made stock instead of the stock you make in the recipe.

  • Prep Time: 1 hour
  • Cook Time: 20 mins
  • Category: Main
View Comments (11)
  • Dear Ena,

    I love all that you posted. Thank you so very much. It is just wonderful to read and I have already made your pancakes for my Dutch/US kids. We all loved them. I can’t wait to make your Dutch apple pie recipe and spice cookies for the holidays. I also like to read your descriptions before the recipes. I’m so grateful for all the time that you put into this wonderful cache of Dutch recipes.

    Many Thanks,
    S

  • My aunt and I used to make a cake or loaf . It was called translated to English “old wife’s cake”. She has passed on and I have been looking for this recipe. It was a spice cake made with aniseed . I am hoping you might know of it and give me the recipe

    Thankyou nancy

  • I know of that cake, but I don’t like it myself because I hate the aniseed flavour. I did searched for a good recipe for you, but unfortunately couldn’t find one. I do have a recipe for “ontbijtkoek” (Dutch Spiced Breakfast Bread) on Honest Cooking, which is quite similar except for the spices. You could try that recipe and add some more aniseed to it. I hope this helps!

  • Ena thanks for the recipe. I doubled the ingredients to made a double batch but the rue came out very runny. Any suggestions.
    Thanks,
    Adrian

  • Ena, thank you for the recipe! I’ve tried to make it for the lunch. I cooked the croquette mix a day ahead, and cool it down in the refrigerator. But turn out, the mixture still very runny and it was very diffucult to make a rolls. I have tried very carefully to make a croquettes, and fried them. The results was ok, the only thing I wished more have filling inside instead of bread crumbs. I didn’t use 2 table spoon of cream, maybe because of that the mixture didn’t get stiff enough? I haven’t try the real Dutch croquettes, so I have nothing to compare. Thank you for your sharing, I also want to try make a Satay with peanut butter.

  • Dear Ena, I have made kroketten and bitterballen all my life so I do know how to make them BUT now I have a friend who cannot eat gluten (wheat flour). Can you tell me what flour I can use (except wheat) to make these delicious snacks. I want to surprise her. The rest of the ingredients I can handle.
    Thank you in advance for your reply.

    akoudys@shaw.ca

  • this was nice and gave me a good view of my heritage and culture
    il tell you a quick story
    i was running in the streets of Melbourne and came across some clocks. one of the clocks said ” berlin” so i sprinted as fast as i could for no reason. but then it hit me , i have to go to berlin. so i took a train to dandenong and got a coffee. and then went back to my dads house the end






  • Thanks Ena, was wondering if you could post a pic of the inside of this croquette. Want to know what it should look like. Thanks.

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