Ingredients
MEAT BASE
- 800 grams gravy beef
- Nutmeg
- salt & pepper
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 whole cloves
- beef stock, approx 500ml
ROUX (sauce)
- 90 grams Butter
- 90 grams plain flour
- reserved gravy from "meat base"
- extra beef stock, to make up to 600ml
THE REST
- 1/2 bunch parsley
- plain flour, (about a cup)
- 3-5 eggs, (lightly beaten)
- bread crumbs, (about 2 cups)
Accessories you need
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Spatula TM5/TM6
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I'm cooking this todayRecipe's preparation
I like to cook the meat on the stove top for a longer period of time as I feel you get much more flavour this way so even though this "appears" to take long, it's super easy to do and requires no effort at all. Definitely worth the wait! I also feel that cooking this in the Thermomix would make it harder to separate the gravy from the meat.
Fry the onion until transparent in a heavy based saucepan. Meanwhile sprinkle beef with a small amount of nutmeg, salt and pepper and brown each side in a frying pan. Add the meat to the onion. Pierce bay leaves with cloves and add to the meat mix.
Top with enough beef stock to just cover the meat. Simmer gently on the stove top, covered for 2-3 hours, until the meat is tender and falling apart. (I have a gas stove and use a heat diffuser to help lower the temperature and keep it more consistent for long term simmering). Discard the bay leaves and cloves. Remove meat, reserving the gravy, and allow both to cool. You need to have 600ml of liquid to make the roux so top the gravy up with extra beef stock if required.
Place parsley in the Thermomix bowl and chop on Sp 7 for 5 seconds.
Add meat and shred for 5-10 seconds / Sp 4 /
"Counter-clockwise operation" or until you are happy with the texture... it should appear stringy and textured... you don't want to turn it into a paste! Place the shredded meat & parsley into a large bowl and set it aside.
Very easy step in the Thermomix!
Add butter to the Thermomix bowl and heat at 100° / 3 mins / Sp 2 (make sure butter is completely melted and hot).
Add flour and mix on 100° / 3-4 mins / Sp 4 (cooking it for this long removes the floury taste).
Now with the MC off and the blades turning at 100° / 10 mins / Sp 3 slowly add the combined gravy and stock (about 1/2 a cup at a time) until the roux looks thick and smooth (you may not use all the stock!) and then continue to cook until the timer is finished.
Add 150g of shredded meat & parsley to the roux and mix on Sp 4 / 1 min. It will now look like a very smooth mixture with a slight brown colour.
Pour this mixture into the bowl containing the remaining shredded meat. Stir by hand to combine and season to taste with salt & pepper and refrigerate (covered in plastic wrap) for 2 hours before rolling. This is now called the "ragout / ragu".
Now comes the messy part and unfortunately there are no short cuts – you have to get your hands in and start rolling!
Get yourself 3 large, shallow bowls and fill one with the flour, one with beaten egg and the last one with breadcrumbs. You will also need a plate lined with baking paper for the finished product.
Using your hands, form either sticks (10cm x 3cm, about 60g - croquettes) or balls (3cm diameter, about 20-25g - bitterballs) from the ragout mix. Coat them all in flour, ready for the egg and crumbs.
Now, one by one, dip the floured croquette or bitterball in egg (using your LEFT hand only!) and then bread crumbs (using only your RIGHT hand!); then returned to the egg (with your left hand) and finally into the bread crumbs once again (with your right hand). Your hands will stay a lot cleaner and lighter if you remember to use the correct hands in each bowl. Your croquettes or bitterballs should be returned to the refrigerator for 30 minutes prior to cooking or alternatively you could freeze them (with baking paper in between layers to make it easier to separate later) at this stage to cook at some time in the future.
TO COOK:
Preheat the deep fryer to 180°C. Deep fry the croquettes or bitterballs for 4-6 minutes until golden brown. Cooking time will be slightly longer if using frozen croquettes (no need to thaw first). Drain on paper towels. Serve with mustard and soft bread rolls with french fries and mayo, if desired. Eet smakelijk!
MEAT BASE (stove top method)
SHREDDING THE MEAT
MAKING THE ROUX (sauce) & RAGOUT (ragu)
ROLLING THE CROQUETTES OR BITTERBALLS
Tip
Croquettes can be made from any meat (chicken and veal work well too and ham or prawn are also popular) and were traditionally made using left over meat.
Note: The name "bitterballen" literally means bitter balls but does not mean that they are bitter. Traditionally they were made as an accompaniment to a "bitterje" (a small glass of Dutch Jenever, similar to gin). The only difference between krokets and bitterballs is the shape!
While these aren't hard to make, they are a bit time consuming but I'm hoping that once you try the Thermomix method, you'll see that they're a great success and loved by all! Let me know what you think! Enjoy...
Thermomix Model
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Recipe is created forTM 31
This recipe was provided to you by a Thermomix ® customer and has not been tested by Vorwerk Thermomix ® or The Mix Australia Pty Ltd and The Mix New Zealand Ltd.
Vorwerk Thermomix ® and The Mix Australia Pty Ltd and The Mix New Zealand Ltd assume no liability, particularly in terms of ingredient quantities used and success of the recipes.
Please observe the safety instructions in the Thermomix ® instruction manual at all times.
Comments
This is now my go to recipe for croquettes. Being Dutch I have our family traditional recipe. This recipe tastes exactly the same. Our family and friends love, love, love them.
Super recipe, thank you. Got the thumbs up from my Dutch Mother-In-Law so what can I say. Winner Winner Croquette Dinner! Now I just have to keep it secret as to how less labour intensive it is with the Thermo
A few of them did burst a bit in the oil so maybe had it too hot, never really deep fried anything before so next time I'll bring them out a bit sooner. Thanks again
I have made croquettes several times...some OK others not so...this would have to be the best recipe, still quite time consuming but easy and just delicious, a very definite KEEPER!
Thank you for sharing.
And so finally.... I got around to making these. Oh my stars! Yum Yum. I used my slowcooker for the meat. Used meat with bone and added (TM) meat stock, water and bay leaves etc. and just let it simmer in the slowcooker for the day. Then shred in Thermie (without the bone obviously) and followed recipe. My son who's born in NZ, has tasted these when we were in Holland last time and thinks these homemade ones are even better! I agree
Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks for a great recipe. I made these last night for a Dutch friend as part of her surprise birthday dinner and they were the favourite thing served for the night! Can't get enough!! Thanks again!
Fantastic recipe!
Have made this recipe twice now and both times my Croquettes were a great success with the family.
I have fond memories of Dad stirring this mixture on the stove and my mother adding the flour until
the consistancy was right. Sometimes when Dad was out, we would have turns in stirring and adding the flour.
Then when it cooled we would have to help her to shape the mixture into egg shapes and one would dip whilst the other crumbed them.
If mum was alive she would be overjoyed at how easy they are making them using the TM.
Thank you Carola Cocacola for making this recipe so easy and the "memories"
Grub81, you can buy a "heat diffuser" from a kitchenware shop that will reduce the heat of the gas flames on the stove top so you'll be able to simmer things nice and slow in the future. Either way, I'm glad you had success and enjoyed my recipe. Thanks for your comments.
just delicious!
i cooked this tonigh. I also added wostershire sauce in with the stock and cooked diced, browned rump steak in heavy iron pot in the oven for 2 hours at 160deg as my stove is not very good on simmer.
This recipe was just like grandma used to make, I loved not hurting my arm by using the thermomix to do the hardest part! thanks heaps!
I'm SO keen to give these a go.... , i have also such great memories of my Oma having ragout on pastry... I bet I can use this recipe for that as well! Will keep you posted and thanks for sharing! As for today.... I'm going to try your oliebollen! Gelukkig nieuw jar vanuit Auckland, NZ!!
No, I never did get around to trying it and by the sounds of it, it's not worth trying... what a shame! Mind you, there's nothing like a deep fried kroket!!!! LOL Thanks for updating me. x