Crunchy Chicken Croquettes

Chicken prep (preferably the night before)

1. Start by placing a large ziplock bag into a bowl for support.
2. Mix the soy sauce, sugar, garlic, vinegar, whole black peppercorn, and bay leaves in the ziplock bag. Add your chicken drumsticks into the bag, and ensure it is covered in the sauce. Seal the ziplock bag, place it back in the bowl, and leave it in the fridge to marinate overnight.

Potato prep

1. Fill a large pot with water and set on the stove on high heat. While you wait for your water to boil, peel the Yukon gold potatoes, and cut into approximately 2 inch pieces.
2. When your water is boiling, gently add your potatoes to the pot, making sure not to splash yourself! Cook for approximately 30 minutes or until tender – test this by seeing if a fork slides smoothly into the pieces. When tender, drain the potatoes, and place them back into the pot.
3. Add two tablespoons of butter to the potatoes, and mash until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste and let this cool on the countertop.
4. Once cooled, cover and place the bowl in the refrigerator overnight.

Hot tip: the mashed potatoes will work much better for this recipe if they get to rest overnight as they will be drier and therefore, more “thirsty”.

Chicken prep – part II (the next day)

1. Coat a medium-sized pan in oil and set to high heat. Saving the marinade in the ziplock bag, remove the chicken from the ziplock and sear each drumstick in the pan for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown.
2. Once the chicken has been browned, add the leftover marinade from the ziplock along with 1 cup of water into the same pan.
3. Bring the contents to a boil and then reduce the temperature to a low heat and allow it to simmer for 45 minutes.
4. After 45 minutes, remove the pan from the heat and extract the drumsticks, setting it aside to cool.
5. Strain and save the leftover liquid from the pan, allowing it to cool before placing it in a covered bowl and storing it in the refrigerator.

Optional prep for super clean chicken bones

1. Bring a medium sized pot filled with water to a boil.
2. Once boiling, place the chicken bones into the water and boil for 10-15 minutes.
3. Drain the water and use a kitchen towel to wipe off any knuckle and cartilage for extra clean bones. You can skip this step if you are short on time!

Croquette prep

1. Once the chicken has cooled, pull the meat from the bones using your fingers or a fork. Be sure to discard any skin or pin bones. Roughly chop the chicken into small pieces about ½ inch in size. Save the chicken bones to the side.
2. Next, take your mozzarella and cut the cheese into ½ inch cubes. Combine the mozzarella, chopped chicken and mashed potatoes into a bowl. Set aside in the fridge.
3. Once this mixture has cooled, take your cheese, potato, and chicken mix out of the fridge and start forming balls: you are going to form the mixture around the bones, like a lollipop. Take a scoop of the mixture and using clean hands, ball it around the bottom end of the bone, packing it as tight and spherical as possible, in essence re-creating a drumstick.

Breading prep

1. Time to bread the drumsticks! Set up a dredging station by placing your flour in a large bowl.
2. In a second bowl, crack in the 6 eggs, and whisk.
3. Add your Panko to a third bowl.
4. One at a time, coat each drumstick with flour, shaking off any excess. Then, dip the drumstick into the egg wash to coat, and toss this into the panko bowl to coat.
5. Run the drumstick into the egg wash a second time, and lastly add a final Panko coating to finish.
6. Wipe off any coating from the exposed bone portion so it remains clean to hold.

Frying

1. Fill a cast iron pan with enough oil to cover ¾ of each drumstick. Heat the oil until it reaches 325F.
2. Add the drumsticks carefully into the oil and cook them until each drumstick is golden brown. This can be done in batches so you do not overcrowd the pan.
3. While the drumsticks are frying, prepare a baking sheet by covering it with parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 400F.
4. Once the drumsticks are golden brown on the outside, transfer each one to the baking sheet and finish the cooking process by baking them for 10 minutes in the oven.
5. Set them aside to cool slightly before serving as the drumsticks will be extremely hot from the cooking process.

‘Slaw prep

1. Remove the outer layers of your cabbage and discard. Cut your cabbage in half, and core it by cutting into the center at angles to remove the core, and discard. Slice the cabbage finely, and place in a large bowl.
2. Peel a carrot and julienne by cutting them into fine strips. Add this to your bowl.
3. Peel your onion and shave it finely using a mandoline, or cut it very thinly with a knife. Add this to the same bowl.
4. In a separate small bowl, combine the mustard, vinegar, and sugar together. Salt and pepper this to taste.
5. Combine the dressing with your cabbage prep and mix thoroughly.

Sauce prep

1. Place the leftover chicken sauce into a pot on the stove, and bring it to a low simmer.
2. In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch and water together to create a slurry.
3. Once the chicken sauce is simmering, add the cornstarch slurry to the pot, and stir in your ketchup.
4. Bring the mixture to a boil on high heat, stirring constantly so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Once it reaches a boil, remove it from the heat.