How I Mastered My Abuela's Croquetas de Jamón With Just 5 Ingredients

Whenever I get together with my Spanish and Latinx friends, potluck style is always the way to go. And let me tell you, if you show up with a store-bought tray of veggies and hummus, chances are you're never going to get an invitation back. At these gatherings, everyone makes their favorite dishes from their home country. Arepas, arroz con gandules, pasteles, empanadas, pastelitos, and my personal favorite, jamón croquetas, tend to be especially popular around the holidays like Noche Buena or Easter dinner during Semana Santa.

For those not familiar with this Spanish appetizer, croquetas are essentially little pieces of heaven fried with breadcrumbs in the shape of a ball or roll and, like many of the best traditional recipes in every culture, they have their origins in the creativity that comes with necessity and lack of ingredients. As my grandma Merche explained to me when I started to show interest in learning her recipes, she learned to make them with whatever leftovers her mom had in her kitchen. My Abuela Merche didn't love to cook particularly, she was more of an ace-your-top-five-dishes kind of grandma, and her croquetas were unmatchable. The best I've ever had. And it wasn't until I moved 3,582 miles away from my hometown of Madrid that I started to make them myself. I had always followed her recipe from what my dad told me and from paying attention to what she did in the kitchen when I was growing up. But it's a shame that I never got to ask her for the specific steps before she passed away five years ago.

As she showed me and as you can see wherever you go if you visit Spain, you can make croquetas with almost anything you can think of, but my abuela was a master at the classic one, a delicious and uber-simple mix of jamón (ham), flour, milk, breadcrumbs, and eggs. Other very popular versions you can find in Spanish bars, restaurants, and family meals have chorizo, mushrooms, cod, shrimp, or chicken. And the steps to make them are the same no matter what you choose as the main ingredient.