Croquetas + Pastries by Gilbert’s Bakery
In March 2013, I wrote a post about my Ultimate Croqueta Crawl on the streets of Miami, attempting the Ultimate quest – to find the Ultimate Miami Croqueta. With so many different choices in the Magic City, it’s hard to find the best croqueta in Miami.
After the Croqueta Crawl in March of last year, I was intrigued in finding which Miami establishment best executed the Spaniard béchamel recipe of this tasty fried treat. In true ‘foodie’ fashion, I decided to venture out to many restaurants that are considered a Cuban staple in Miami and conduct an Ultimate taste test. Needless to say, it took a while to hit all of those restaurants!
I also had an ulterior motive to check out these favorite Cuban cafe’s & ventanitas, I knew I would be relocating out of Miami in the fall and needed to get my fill of yummy Cuban flavors before I left.
Traditional Spanish Croquetas are made with a béchamel base, varying meats and fish, and rolled in white bread crumbs. Although it’s probably healthier to bake these breaded creamy yummies, they are pan-fried or deep fried to perfection. Known as the ‘Croquette’ in many countries, it’s origin is marked as a French delicacy in the 1600′s that became a popular trend across the Netherlands, according to Wikipedia. It was widely known as a Spanish delicacy as well.
When I was growing up in Miami, my grandmother taught me everything there was to know about Cuban-Spaniard cooking. My “Mima” was an angel in the kitchen, she knew every recipe by heart and every dish was made from absolute scratch. She taught me how to fry my first egg at the age of 4. Her croqueta recipe was simply ‘melt-in-your mouth’ delicious. I remember the day she taught me how to make béchamel for her croqueta recipe, she even let me stir the mixture. I’m hoping to write a few blog posts in the future with some of her signature recipes and my adaptations of them.
With my grandmother, Angela Alvarez
Angela was an amazing grandmother, matriarch & domestic engineer. She is my hero. I hope to share the legacy of her recipes one day soon.
If you’d like me to send you my croqueta recipe, please click on this link. It would be my pleasure!
In my search for the Ultimate Miami Croqueta, I remembered the taste of my grandmother’s recipe as a baseline for excellence. If any Cuban cafe or ventanita could transport me back to Mima’s kitchen, in my book that would be a contender for the Ultimate Miami Croqueta.
Throughout the years, economic factors & retail efficiencies have left a mark on Cuban restaurants, cafe’s & ventanitas. It’s labor intensive to mass produce béchamel croquetas for thousands daily. Many cafe’s and ventanitas have opted to buy wholesale frozen varieties, that have many fillers including potatoes and bread crumbs. They are 75% fillers & less than 20% meat.
Other establishments do in fact make them fresh daily, and many of those are yummy and notable. Yet again, the fillers used in these recipes keep them from tasting like the ‘real deal’. The true Spaniard recipe is crunchy on the outside and the creamy meat filling literally melts in your mouth.
After months of dropping into different Cuban cafe’s, I decided on my favorite and one runner up. I visited Versailles, La Carreta, Islas Canarias, Ricky Bakery, El Brazo Fuerte, Sazon Cuban Cafe, Havana Harry’s, Gilbert’s Bakery, Las Palma, El Exquisito, Latin American Cafeteria, Vicky Bakery, Las Vegas, Casa Larios, Villa Habana, Habana Vieja, Sergio’s, Las Olas Cafe, Luis Galindo’s Latin American & El Palacio De Los Jugos ~ Just to name a FEW!
There were many others that I just stopped in on Calle Ocho, small bakeries in random parts of Miami and many Latin groceries on Miami Beach.
My taste test was simple, which was the most authentic Cuban-Spaniard béchamel recipe? Was it crispy on the outside? Was it too greasy? Was it hard on the inside instead of fluffy and light? Could I detect the meat? Was it too wide, too skinny, too long, too short? Could I detect if the ingredients were fresh or frozen?
I’m happy to announce that Gilbert’s Bakery won the Ultimate Croqueta Challenge! Their croquetas are simply the best recipe in Miami and they also transported me back to my grandmother’s kitchen.
Croqueta Counter @ Gilbert’s Bakery in Coral Gables
Gilbert’s Bakery produces over 8,500 croquetas per day for their bakery locations and also ship their products via FedEx to anywhere in the continental USA.
Gilbert’s Bakery Pastries
After selecting Gilbert’s Bakery as the Ultimate Miami Croqueta winner, it was also a pleasure communicating with them. Their brand promise on customer service shows at every level from their bakery locations to their home office. I conducted a ‘question & answer’ session with Gilbert’s marketing team and decided to share it with my readers.
Cafe at Gilbert’s Bakery
As a lover & supporter of Small Businesses, their history and story truly impressed me. They are a family driven company who strives every day to make their customer’s experience a pleasant one while making great innovative food.
Ham, Chicken, Cod & Veggie Croquetas at Gilbert’s Bakery
Here is an excerpt of our Q&A:
RachelUnleashed:
What is the history of Gilbert’s Bakery? When was it founded and who were the original owners?
Gilbert’s Bakery:
“Our family’s baking tradition began in 1928 in Camagüey, Cuba as a husband and wife operation. They baked family recipes and peddled them around the town’s train station. As the family grew, so did their success. Under the leadership of their oldest son, they traveled to the United States and Europe bringing products and techniques from abroad. In 1962 their enterprise, now distributing across the entire island, was confiscated by the Castro regime. Seeing that they were stripped, not only of their business, but also of their most basic freedom, they fled Cuba for the United States of America.
Starting from the ground up again proved well worth it for the family. The oldest son, now a Cuban-American entrepreneur, was busy rebuilding his bakery in the United States. Meanwhile, his son-in-law, Gilberto Arriaza was learning traditional American, Jewish, German, Austrian and Italian product lines from some of the best old-fashioned bakers in Miami. Years later, Gilberto and family worked together to make their Cuban bakery flourish in Little Havana and the Miami Latin community.
After his father-in-law’s death, Gilberto went on his own, uniting his knowledge of the Latin community with his vast experience of European pastries. In 1976, Gilbert’s Bakery was inaugurated as one fifth the size of today’s location. Capitalizing on the ethnic and operational experience gained in his previous work and driving forward with an extremely creative and open zest for food, Gilbert’s soon became known for quality, presentation, and creativity.
This remains the cornerstone of Gilbert’s Bakery today.”
RachelUnleashed:
Can you give me the ‘who/what/where/when/who’ on the Gilbert’s croqueta recipe? When did you add in the other flavor options, i.e. cod, veggie, etc.?
Gilbert’s Bakery:
“Gilberto’s grandfather was Catalán and he would make his ham, chicken, and chorizo (Spanish sausage) croquettes for his two grandsons for lunch in Cuba. When Gilberto opened Gilbert’s Bakery in 1976 in Miami, he thought it would pay homage to his grandfather to make some Spanish-style croquettes which he remembered so fondly from his youth.
The idea that began with the same flavors he remembered expanded quickly to also include codfish (bacalao) and asparagus. Now, we offer ten different flavors of croquettes: ham, chicken, codfish, chorizo, cheese, romesco (vegetables and nuts), asparagus, spinach, jalapeño, and piquillo.
As Gilberto traveled for leisure he also tasted the authentic cuisine of Latin America and Europe and that gave way to many other creations such as what we call ‘salgado’, which is a different take on a croquette. Gilberto was inspired with the Brazilian coxinha and made his version for Miami. It is a béchamel filled with either chicken or beef. Super tasty and creamy!”
RachelUnleashed:
How many croquetas do you produce per day?
Gilbert’s Bakery:
“We produce about 8,500 croquettes a day for our bakeries, and even more during the holidays.
On another note, we ship all of our products via FedEx to anywhere in the continental USA. Given that Hispanics are living all over the country, enjoying a taste of home and something authentic, brings back memories and serves as a great treat or gift, especially now for the holidays. Our croquettes ship great frozen or cooked. Frozen is best because you can fry as you feel the urge throughout a longer period of time. They’re also best when just fried which permit the breading to be nice and crispy. We ship both regular size as well as party size, perfect for group gatherings. Our flavors include the traditional ham, chicken, chorizo, and codfish, but we have a huge assortment of vegetarian options too (romesco, spinach, asparagus, jalapeno, cheese, piquillo) which are a big hit among Americans too.”
RachelUnleashed:
I would like to highlight your recipe and cooking process that makes the Ultimate difference in the taste of your croquetas. I personally think it’s your breading and the size of your croquetas that stands out to me and reminds me of my grandmother’s croqueta recipe. She used a béchamel base and didn’t skimp on quality meat. I selected Gilbert’s Bakery as the winner of the Ultimate Miami Croqueta Challenge because I felt the ‘dough’ was very similar to the traditional Spaniard béchamel croqueta recipe. If I compare you to a few of the cafe’s also in the running for the Ultimate Miami Croqueta, I feel that they have put more bread crumbs into the dough where Gilbert’s is definitely using more chicken, more ham, more cod, etc. which makes it a sometimes hard center.
What is the Gilbert’s Bakery secret?
Gilbert’s Bakery:
“You zeroed in on exactly how we stand out from all of the other croquetas in Miami. We use no fillers to bulk up croquettes. These fillers usually involve soy products, bread crumbs, and even potato at times. Using these fillers diminishes the quality of the croquette, but people do this because it is cheaper, and easier to shape and process.
We make a true béchamel and add the meat itself. Making croquettes with true béchamel requires a lot of manual labor on the stove and is harder to shape because the mass is stickier and almost shapeless.
The quality ingredients of the meats are of utmost importance too. Most Miami bakeries buy the cheapest ham for their croquettes. We buy the same ham we use for cold cut sandwiches, which is very flavorful and not as fatty as lesser quality ones.
All of our raw material vendors, old and new, are shocked when they find out the kind of ham we use for our croquettes and always offer us more affordable varieties thinking that increasing margins is the way to our heart. Quality is the way to our heart.”
RachelUnleashed:
I love fun facts… Is there anything that you might think would be fun for our readers to know about Gilbert’s Bakery?
Gilbert’s Bakery:
“Regarding the salgado I mentioned above, we have a very cute way of describing this product since it’s a total innovation when we first launched it (and still today) and was a bit hard for consumers to understand at the time.
This is our story/anecdote:
‘In the pastelito showcase one morning, a papa rellena glanced at a croquette and sparks flew. The next morning, the salgado was born, featuring the best of both-creamy béchamel like the croquette, stuffed with chicken fricassee or beef like the papa rellena.’”
Ham Croquette Appetizer @ Crazy About You
