Bacon and Cheese Korokke

Croquettes, or “korokke,” as the Japanese have evolved them, are delicious little breaded and fried potato bombs. From my experience, the Japanese versions of croquettes are outstanding.

These would be considered Japanese korokke, as opposed to a French croquette, because korokke are typically potato and meat filled, as opposed to the generally béchamel-filled croquette—or so I’ve read.

One specific note on these is to use finely-grated cheese for this recipe. Coarsely-grated cheese doesn’t play well when forming the korokke patties. I learned this the annoying way.

This recipe is very loosely based on an Epicurious recipe.

What you’ll need

• 1 pound potatoes (most preferably, Russet), peeled and cut into 1.5-inch pieces
• 2-3 pieces of thick bacon, cooked to crispy and roughly chopped
• A few slices of onion, finely chopped
• 3-4 scallions, thinly sliced, green parts separated from the white parts
• 0.5t fine salt
• 0.5t coarsely ground black pepper
• 90g (0.75 cup) flour
• About 1.25 cups panko
• 2 eggs
• 1T Kewpie mayonnaise (regular mayo works, too)
• 1 cup finely shredded mozzarella. Other melty cheeses would work, too, such as gouda or gruyere.
• Neutral cooking oil. Maybe up to 1.5 cups, depending on the size of the pan you’re using.

What to do

These instructions presume you’ve already cooked and chopped the bacon.

Cook the potatoes in a large saucepan of boiling water for however long it takes for them to become tender—typically 10-15 minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, sauté the chopped onions and white parts of the scallions in a little olive oil over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside when the onions have softened a bit. Drain the potatoes when tender and add them to a large bowl to let them cool a bit.

After the potatoes have cooled for a few minutes, mash them up with the tines of a fork or with a potato masher. Mix in the sautéed onions and shallots, chopped bacon and green parts of the scallions. Ensure that all the added ingredients are fairly evenly distributed within the mashed potatoes. Don’t cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator or other cool place for about 10-15 minutes until cool enough to handle.

You can prep the rest of the recipe while the potato mixture is cooling. Combine the flour and panko in a shallow bowl, then whisk together the eggs and mayo in a different shallow bowl. Now you’re ready for the final steps.

When the potato mixture is cool enough to work with, stir in the shredded cheese, evenly distributing it throughout the potato mixture. Scoop out about 0.25-cup-sized portions of the potato mixture with a soup spoon and shape them into disks, putting them on a parchment-paper-lined plate.

When you have all the korokke formed, it’s time to—one by one—dip the korokke in the egg mixture before dredging it in the flour-panko mixture, ensuring that it’s evenly coated. Set on a separate plate. When they’re all coated, it’s time to fry!

Pour enough oil into a large, heavy frypan and heat it until shimmering—about 350 degrees, if you have an infrared thermometer. Please note that you should have enough oil to reach about halfway up the side of the korokke. When the oil is heated, carefully add a batch of korokke to cook—don’t crowd the pan. Fry them for about 2-3 minutes on one side—they should be golden brown. When they’re done on the first side, carefully turn them for another couple of minutes of frying, until done. Remove them to a grate or paper-towel lined plate. I gently used tongs to turn them, but you may have another method that’s more effective and less prone to squishing them.

When they’re all cooked, transfer the korokke to a platter and serve them hot with tonkatsu sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or least desirably, ketchup, for dipping.