Croquetas de jamón

As tradition built it

Croquetas de jamón

Chill at least 2 hours; fry 3 to 4 minutes

Ingredients

• 50g butter
• 1 onion
• 750ml milk
• 50g flour
• a pinch nutmeg
• to taste salt
• to taste pepper
• 200g ground ham, browned
• 1 cup flour, for breading
• 2 egg, beaten, for egg wash
• 1 cup breadcrumbs

Method

1. Whisk butter, onion, milk, flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper into a stiff roux-based béchamel.
2. Brown the ground ham first and fold it through the béchamel.
3. Chill for at least two hours until firm enough to shape into logs.
4. Shape into logs, then bread in flour, egg wash and breadcrumbs.
5. Fry until golden, roughly three to four minutes at medium-high heat.

Notes

Can be frozen uncooked for up to three months, a genuinely practical make-ahead dish in both the island and diaspora traditions.

What a modern chef changes

Sous vide infusion, chinois-strained béchamel, ham dust

Method

1. Infuse the béchamel's milk with nutmeg and bay sous vide at a controlled, gentle temperature, for even, thorough flavour extraction rather than the uneven infusion a quick simmer gives.
2. Pass the finished béchamel through the chinois before it chills, for a properly silky base with no risk of a scorched or lumpy patch surviving into the fried croqueta.
3. Dehydrate excess ham trim into a fine seasoning dust, folded through the breadcrumb coating alongside the usual crumb.
4. Fry in clarified butter passed through the chinois, for a cleaner crumb and a higher, more forgiving smoke point than whole butter allows.