Croquettes are some of the most popular entrees in the world, and you can find them in a huge number of countries: France, Philippines, Netherlands, Japan…and of course, Spain, which are in our opinion the best ones. Well, although each type has a different origin, they all have its beginnings in one recipe and that´s what we are going to discover today.
Where do croquettes come from?
Although everyone believes that croquettes were invented in their own country, that´s not the truth. The origin of croquettes actually comes from France, and the reason why they were created is because back in the 17th century there was an abundance of flour, plus, in important places, every day there were tons of leftovers…so they decided to combine them and create a dish called croquettes out of it.
Who invented croquettes?
Okay Croquettes originated in France, and they were made to take advantage of the leftovers, but…Who invented them? Well, there are different theories about it.
Most of the people believe that it was Antonin Carême, (known as “the king of the chefs and the chef of the kings”) who first served potato croquettes in an extravagant royal banquet in 1817.
Other people believe that it was the founder of French classical cuisine, Monsieur Escoffier, who created this popular dish in 1898. He was the one who wrote down the recipe, and his team of chefs got credited for spreading the word of croquettes all over the world.
Spanish croquetas origin
The croquettes of Spain are different than any others, they are never made with potato, always with bechamel, and the thing that distinguish them the most is that they are made with serrano ham. Of course, all over the countries you will find mushroom croquettes, blood sausage croquettes and many other types.
The history of Spanish croquettes starts many years later after its creation is France. The first documents are from the 20th century, but there will always be an argument because a housewife claimed that croquetas were already famous in Spain.
In this case, Spaniards started cooking them almost as a necessity instead of being leftovers from royal banquets. Whenever they had something left or they could buy very cheap ingredients they took the most of it to create croquettes and have something else to eat.
Hope you enjoyed reading about the history of croquettes
We could spend an hour talking about the chicken croquettes origin, the potato croquettes origin…But as we said at the beginning, each of this recipe comes from the first one made in France.
Hope you have enjoyed reading about the croquettes original recipe, and if you have any other question, please let us know! You can also learn about What are croquettes?