With Waffle House on every corner, hundreds of different fried chicken joints and fish frys on the weekends, the south is the home of bad unconscious eating–so I’ve heard.

I have vices. Mine lend themselves to creating a deficit in my bank account. Imagine that, dad. Really, it’s the desire to have things I know are no good for me…espresso at 10 pm or spending my rent money on a Balenciaga bag, or a nutritionists’ all time enemy: Fried Food every chance I get! Heart and artery cloggin’, not to mention where fat deposits itself in us women, I’ll take it. Chick-fil-A waffle fries are yum. Every now and then we have to indulge in our vices, right!? We stay sane that way. I’d have every designer bag, shoe, hat and dog carrier, otherwise. The fried thing down here is MEAN! And though the best foods are typically injected with all kinds of ingredients you can’t even pronounce or soaked in who knows how old oils, we keep going back for more.

A lot of our indigenous foods are not fried, at least not the main dishes. It’s always those itty bitty appetizers that are sooo good; you might not even make it to your main course. I talk about the croqueta or croquette. Of all our small foods, this is my favorite. It embodies flavors of spices and textures for days.

If I’m not mistaken, a pork or ham croquette is probably the most popular in Latin Cuban cuisine, though we also have seafood, plantain and rice, among others. I prefer chicken. All hail to the chicken! These nibblets will cause you to research different cooking oils, just to keep enough handy for when the urge kicks in. Beware though. There will be some fighting of sorts when the final batch is ready. In my parents house, croquetas are rationed. This is a notion I believed still existed only in poor Cuba.

But alas, fingers come out, eyes roll and lips turn up when it’s time to count your share. You’ll need a black magic marker, aluminum foil, a ziplock freezer bag and a sense of patience if you’re the partitioner.

Living in Atlanta is beneficial in this case: I leave home with 25 more than the rest! YES!!!

IMPORTANT NOTE: This recipe is for the laborers of love. Not just food lovers. You must love to cook! You must have patience and not much else to do at the time. It’s a process. But the reward is abundant. You’ll feel good for demonstrating chef qualities and grandmother patience. You’ll embrace the 4 chiquitos tugging at you. With a soft and utterly delicious center, the crispy (and not oily!) shell, this is the best thing we could have invented. “Viva Cuba!”

You start out my boiling skinless chicken breasts until fully cooked. A maza or dough from the chicken is next. Because the chicken is fully cooked at that point, I often time pinch a bite off and eat it before I even get to the rest. Then you make the dough (no kneading!!), roll it into it’s link size shape, dip in egg yolk mix, roll in bread crumbs and finally deep fry. I told you it’s a process, but so worth it. Te prometo. Here I am frying some at my friend Simone’s house. I made the mistake of only brining 12 for 6 of us. Her husband Reggie was not happy when she took his share. Add insult to injury: she let him take a bite of hers his. Ha ha ha. You go guuurl! Sorry Reg.

Here’s my mother’s version of chicken croquettes, by far the best I’ve ever had!

Don’t they look good!?!?!

Is there any flavor croqueta you’d like me to try!!?? I’m open for ideas. I’m almost inclined to try a seafood one next, though the plantain ones sound way better!! Hmmm. Let me know and I’ll go for it!!