"Cooking is Love you can Taste"

Tannie Meisie’s Kroketten

When I first met Tannie Meisie (Aunty Meisie pronounced may-see) I fell in love with her. She was my mother-in-law’s sister and she was such a special lady who loved her children, grand-children and even her sister’s children. She made delicious food and we had some fun Christmases at her house. One thing my husband always told me was that I have to learn how she makes her kroketten as it is very much part of their family’s history. For me her kroketten was the glue to all the special moments that kept two families together and that is what I did.

It was maybe the day I will always remember. The last time we cooked together before she really got to sick to make again. We stood in the kitchen she told stories and showed me what to do. I did all the stirring as it is a good bit of stirring and the best was when we finally sat at the kitchen table talking and rolling the kroketten. For me making this is a family thing. We can do it together. Spending time with each other laughing together and creating memories with one simple dish.

Thanks to Tannie Meisie I can do this with my husband in our little kitchen in Dublin sharing moments. In my heart I hope that everyone who do try making this will also do it as a family. Creating, sharing and making memories

This is my  version of her recipe:

Ingredients

Chicken Stock:
  • 1 Whole chicken (1,2 kg)
  • 2 L Chicken stock (I use Knorr Stockpots for this)
  • 2 tsp Thyme
  • 1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
  • Salt and white pepper to taste
  • 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 3 celery stalks, roughly chopped
  • 1 brown onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 tbs butter
Filling:
  • 2 Lt Chicken stock ( This is your strained stock)
  • 225 g Butter
  • 3 cups Plain Cake Flour
  • 1tsp Aromat
  • Salt and White pepper to taste
  • 1 Shredded Chicken meat
Coating:
  • 400 g Fresh Breadcrumbs
  • 3 Eggs, beaten

Method

Chicken and Chicken Stock:
  1. Melt the butter and saute the onions, carrots and celery for
  2. 1-2 minutes until soft
  3. Add the chicken, stock and spices to the pot. Simmer on medium low heat for +/- 3 hours or until the chicken fall from the bone. If you can, leave it overnight
  4. Remove the chicken and shred the meat.
  5. Strain the stock and keep about 2Lt of Stock.
Filling:
  1. In a large pot melt the butter and add the flour. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
  2. Add the stock a little bit at a time and keep stirring to make a very thick sauce.
  3. Add the chicken to the sauce. Keep stirring until your mix are coming away from the side of the pot. It is very thick so do ask for help stirring. Add seasoning if needed.
  4. Spread it out on to a baking tray to let it cool.
Coating:
  1. Place the crumbs and eggs in separate bowls. Have an extra tray ready.
  2. At this stage I normally shape the croquettes and put them on the extra tray.
  3. Then I start to roll them one at a time in the egg then in the crumbs and then place it on a tray.

When you are done you should have about 64 kroketten depending on
how big you make them. If you don’t want to make them in a sausage
shape you can roll them in balls. They call them bitterballen.
At this stage you can decide how many you want to fry and the rest
you can freeze. They are great for freezing.

Frying:
  1. Heat oil in a large pot or if you have a deep fryer it is perfect for this. The oil temperature should be 180 C
  2. Fry them 2-3 at a time until golden brown.
  3. Take them out and leave to drain on kitchen paper.

Enjoy warm with some mustard or like we do a crusty bread roll
and baked bean salad.

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