The Hirshon Japanese Potato and Beef Korokke – コロッケ

My Citizens – today the East Coast of the United States was walloped by an intense and snowy Nor’Easter, dropping nearly 2 ft. of snow on Boston in under 24 hours! Everywhere throughout the affected region, people are vociferously complaining on social media of the freezing temperatures, the mountains of snow and the need to fuel up as they brave the weather to go outdoors! Fortunately, few things are better for this exact purpose than a stick-to-your-ribs potato and meat croquette!

However…today, I am not just sharing any-old version of this classic comfort food recipe! No, today the Daimyo of Delicious is sharing nothing less than My own personal take on Korokke – the Japanese version of this world-favorite dish! Korokke (Japanese: コロッケ) is the Japanese name for a deep-fried yōshoku dish originally related to a French dish, the croquette. Korokke is made by mixing cooked chopped meat, seafood, or vegetables with mashed potato or white sauce, usually shaped like a flat patty, rolling it in wheat flour, eggs, and Japanese-style breadcrumbs, then deep-frying this until brown on the outside.

In 1887, the French croquette was introduced to Japan when France and Japan established formal diplomatic relations. It is thought that the korokke using mashed potatoes was invented because dairy processing technology had not been popularized in Japan at that time! The first mention of a “kuroketto” appear in cookery books from the Meiji era. Today, korokke can be found in almost every supermarket and convenience store in Japan and is enjoyed not only for its taste, but also its low cost.

In a typical Japanese fashion, the French word ‘croquette’ was ‘Japanified’ to ‘korokke’ – this has happened to many so-called loan words in Japanese and it is interesting that the word is lettered in katakana. Katakana is one of 4 Japanese alphabets typically reserved only for words adopted into the Japanese language from outside, or for ‘foreign’ things. It is the use of four different alphabets in written Japanese (and all of them can be used in a single, vertical sentence!) that contributed to My mild nervous breakdown in the early 1990’s when I was trying to learn written Japanese! Kidding/not kidding. 😉

There is also a dish called croquette in the Netherlands also, one of which is a white sauce-based type (these are bitterballen) and another which is a potato-based type. While it has been speculated that potato korokke might have originated in that potato-based type, it is unlikely as it was the year 1909 when the croquette was introduced from France to the Netherlands – it is not likely that the recipe was brought from the Netherlands to Japan, judging from the period that the dish first appeared and that it was already gaining popularity in Japan.

As noted in this excerpt from a very interesting article from food-touring.com:

Its history in Japan is not very precise. At first thought we conjectured that it may have been introduced along with tempura by the Portuguese in the mid 16th century. But it doesn’t appear to have been.

Most online sources put its introduction to Japan in the Meiji era (1869-1912). Apparently a recipe for korokke appears in an 1895 cookbook. Takaoka, a city in Gifu prefecture is making a bit of a claim as the place where where Japanese korokke started. There’s a local chain there promoting Takaoka korokke and they have a winter festival at their main temple where one of the featured foods is the daibutsu korokke (the big Buddha korokke).

According to the Takaoka Korokke (the chain restaurant) business website there is a reference in a newspaper dated 1900 of a western-style restaurant selling korokke – on the second floor to be exact. It makes a bit of sense as Takaoka was an important port during the early industrialization of Japan. Seems like things western could have been easily introduced there.

Moving into the Taisho era, there was a novelty hit called “The Song of the Korokke” in 1917. The song’s popularity led to a popularity of consumption. This hit simultaneously with the introduction and popularization of kare risu and other things from beyond Japan’s borders.

Interestingly, korokke became associated with typhoons in the 2000s, after a user on 2channel said they were eating some to prepare for an approaching typhoon, beginning a tradition that persisted on Japanese social media – you can see why I chose to share this recipe given today’s incredible Winter storm! They are sometimes sold wrapped in paper when you buy them as street food. When sandwiched between two slices of bread, they are called korokke pan (pan being ‘bread’ in Japanese), or korokke sando (‘sandwich’).

There are several different versions of these treats in Japan, as noted in this excerpt from an article I found on masterclass.com: