New Year Tradition

Traditionally, every New Years Eve, dutch people make a treat called "Olebollen". Literally translated it means "Oil Balls". Sounds delicious....huh? I am sorry to say that I am not a big fan. As a child I remember our dutch relatives gathering at our house on New Years Eve and my mom making this dutch treat. She would make it in a big bucket and I distinctly remember the smell of yeast dough, raisins and oil. After they are fried they are sprinkled with powdered sugar and you eat them until you are sick. I just have never liked them. I don't really like anything with raisins and they are just too sweet and oily for me. Now that mom is gone, I like to keep the dutch in me alive so I have started a new tradition of making dutch krokets on New Year's Eve. Most of the time the adults and younger children in the family gather together to visit and play games. Krokets are a lot of work to make so New Year's bring a rare great opportunity to make them. Our numbers are usually reduced because most of the teenagers and younger couples are off doing their own thing and we get to hoard them all to ourselves. Yum! I thought I would go ahead and post the recipe for them here in case anyone else every wants to make them..hint..hint! This recipe comes from my sweet Auntie Tonie. It is the same recipe my mom always used and it is delicious. There are many other recipes out there but this one is tried and true and works great everytime. The secret is taking your time and using good quality, fresh ingredients. Thank you Auntie Tonie! Here is everything you need. This recipe makes about 16 krokets depending on how large you make them. Since these are always so popular, and because they freeze very well, whenever I make them I make the recipe four times over so I get about 60. It does not work if you just take the recipe and multiply everything times four. You need to make each one separate. I am not sure why it does not work, just trust me, it doesn't.



2 sticks of butter (1 cup)
1 cup flour

4 cups beef stock (I use the liquid from the meat and then add beef consomme soup and water to equal what I need)

4 cups of finely chopped beef

4 tbs parsley (I use dried but fresh would be delicious)

4 tsp lemon juice (I used bottled REAL lemon juice)

4 tsp onion (I used dried minced because they are chopped small)

1 tsp salt

Dash of nutmeg

Dash of white pepper

Bread crumbs

Egg whites

The first thing you need to do is prepare you meat. I usually do this the day prior. You can really use any cut of meat but I prefer to find something that has as little fat as possible. If you use meat that has a lot of fat on it, then your krokets will be too greasy and they will not come out well.

Make the roast just like you normally would. You will need to brown it in butter adding salt and pepper. Once brown I cover it partially in water and pour a can of French Onion soup over the top. Cook it at low temperature until it is very tender.

Once cooked I remove the meat from the liquid and refrigerate it. I also refrigerate the stock because that allows the fat to rise to the top and then I can skim it off so it is not included in my broth.

The next morning I take the meat out and chopped it up very finely. It is important to cut across the grain of your meat because you want the consistency to be fine and if you cut with the grain, the meat will be stringy.

I also return my broth to a pan and add whatever consomee is needed. I warm it because it mixes into the recipe better when the broth is warm. I also gather all my ingredients and measuring cups. Once you start cooking this, it goes very fast so it helps to have everything readily available.

Step 1 is to melt your butter in a pan. You can cut it up in smaller pieces if you want so it melts faster and more evenly.

Step 2 is to add your flour to your butter. Stir this mixture vigourously to form a rue and let it brown slightly.

Step 3 is to slowly add your stock 1 cup at a time. After you add each cup, stir the mixture together to prevent any lumps. The mixture should thicken. Once you have added all the stock, continue stirring and let the mixture cook for a minute or so. Then remove the mixture from the heat.

Step 4 is to add the remainder of your ingredients and stir everything together.

Step 5 is to pour the ingredients onto a plate or a cookie sheet. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold. Don't skip this step. It must be cold before you begin rolling it or else it will be very sticky and will not work for rolling.

Step 6 is the rolling process. Take about 1/2 cup of dough and form it into the roll about 1 inch think and about 4 inches long forming the kroket. Roll the kroket in bread crumbs, then in egg whites (I usually add a little bit of water to them and slightly fluff them with a fork), then in bread crumbs again. As you roll them you will continue to shape them and you will want to try and make all of them as uniform as possible.

Return them to the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

Step 7 is to fry them up in 350 degree oil. Only cook about 3 or 4 of them at a time. If you add too many of them to the oil at once, the oil temperature will drop and they may fall apart of become oily.

Step 8 is to serve them with yummy dutch mustard and slice of bread with butter. These are really delicious! I will post pictures of everyone else's opinion after serving them tonight. Happy New Year everyone!!
A Typical Dutch Kroket from Robbert Ritmeester on Vimeo.