To obtain ham and chicken croquettes that are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, it’s all about béchamel. Too bland or too watery, and the favorite dish of Spanish tapas falls flat. A viral video from a Spanish mother of many children, Lourdes Álvarez, known on Instagram as @solosomos13, hit hard by showing that a simple trio of ingredients is enough to transform the sauce.
Lourdes Álvarez’s tip for spicing up the béchamel of ham and chicken croquettes
Lourdes Álvarez begins by flavoring the béchamel: “I use a sweet onion for the béchamel. This is what my mother made and it’s very good“. The onion is finely chopped then gently browned in a mixture of extra virgin olive oil and butter, without coloring it. Some versions cited by El Español specify that this base is also made in the Thermomix, but the method works just as well in a simple saucepan.
Once the onion is melted, she adds the flour and its famous flavor reinforcement: “Now we’re going to add the flour and I added a stock cube because I think it’s better. For me, one of the things that helps me the most is that everything I use I keep and to this mixture I will add a liter of milk. Once the béchamel is thick, mix it with the meat“.
With 300 g of cooked chicken, 100 g of Serrano ham and this quantity of milk, you obtain a very thick paste, ideal for croquettes.
Why sweet onion, butter and broth change everything
The sweet onion brings a hint of sweetness and flavor, the butter gives roundness, and the stock cube reinforces the meaty taste already present with the chicken and Serrano ham. Lourdes Álvarez mixes the leftover chicken and ham very finely, “That way, it’s more chopped“, which creates a perfect homogeneous and anti-waste stuffing.
The last gestures for kibbles that hold
Once the very thick béchamel is mixed with the cold meat, Lourdes Álvarez spreads it on a dish, covers it with film and then leaves it to rest in the refrigerator. She then shapes the croquettes using two spoons, which she dips first into the beaten egg then into the breadcrumbs. You can fry them around 170-180°C to get a golden crust without bursting.
With this base of sweet onion, olive oil, butter and broth, its serrano ham and chicken croquettes also become easy to freeze after breading and to fry directly from the freezer, practical for feeding your large family… or an impromptu aperitif with friends.