Boiled ham and cheese croquettes (Croquetas de jamón
cocido y queso)
Four servings:
100 g of grated gruyere cheese; 50gm of boiled ham, cut into
small dice; 25 g of flour; 150 gm of finely ground breadcrumbs;
25 g of butter; salt, pepper, nutmeg; 1 whisked egg, parsley, oil,
and some lemon slices.
Preparation:
Mix the cheese, the egg, the boiled ham, and the butter, melted
down; add the salt, the pepper and the nutmeg to all this and
make an homogeneous paste. Form 1-inch balls with this
paste that will be dredged in flour, then soaked in whisked egg,
covered with breadcrumbs and finally fried in oil.
Many people think of the kroket as a quintessentially Dutch delicacy, but according to Johannes Van Dam, a well-known food expert in the Netherlands, the Sun King's chef was
the first to describe them in writing. In fact, Van Dam has tracked down a French recipe for croquettes dating back to 1691, while the earliest Dutch recipes supposedly come
from the 1830s. Even the name kroket was taken from the French - from croquer, 'to crunch'.
Croquettes gained in popularity in the Netherlands in the 18th century, when French food was all the rage in the Low Lands. And, while their origins are French, what is typically
Dutch is the way these treats are consumed today. Once a frugal way to use up leftover bits of stewed meat, nowadays kroketten are often mass produced and bought readymade from fast food chains and snackbars, and consumed as street food. The Dutch love their kroket so much that McDonald's has even created a burger with a kroket-patty
called the McKroket.