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A chef aged 26 from Madrid won the prize for best croquette in Spain.
This is the dish that spanish families are most proud of. Each family has its own recipe, passed down over the generations by their abuela. It may surprise you to hear that a young chef beat 80 other chefs to win the award for the best croqueta.
Spaniards take their croquetas so seriously the nation’s top chefs come together at Fusion, the gastronomic congress that takes place in Madrid each January to have their bite-size morsels judged by an illustrious panel brought together by famed jamon producers Sánchez Romero Carvajal.
In a blind taste test, the judges received two croquettes of each finalist in order to judge the combination of flavors, the creaminess and crunchiness on the outside, as well as the interior.
The results of the 2026 competition are now in: the winning variety is a classic Jamon croqueta made by Alejandro Cano. He is the chef at Salino near Madrid’s Retiro parks.
Each individual croquette at the establishment at 4,Calle Menorca, costs a mere €2.50.
Cano, after receiving the award, insisted “there’s no trick.” “It’s simply a question of having a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of skill, and above all, a lot of stamina because you have to stir the béchamel sauce many times. The most important thing is to love what you do.
Of course, it’s not as easy as that. He revealed that his recipe involved infusing milk in jamon bones for 24hours before transforming it into bechamel.
“We infuse the milk with the ham the day before, cook it at a low temperature of 74º Celsius for an hour, and the next day we strain it to remove the fat and any rancidity. “We stir it vigorously for 40 or even 45 minutes,” he says.
The frying process becomes very precise after the bechamel bits are coated with panko. This gives them a crispy exterior. “At 180ºC for a minute and a half, and then another minute and a half in the oven so the heat reaches the center properly and it becomes as tender as can be.”
He claimed it took him months to perfect the recipe for the perfect croqueta.
It’s a tavern style croquette that is very Madrid. When you eat it, your lips stick together a little, that slightly edgy taste of ham… that’s what I like most about it,” he explained.
The five other finalists are from Spain.
Miguel Fernández, from Restaurante Bancal (Madrid)
Samuel Moreno, from Molino de Alcuneza (Guadalajara)
Toni González, from El Nuevo Molino (Cantabria)
Julín A. Menéndez, from La Raíz 15 Casa de Comidas (Asturias)
Juanjo Mesa, from Restaurante Radis (Jaén)
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