Sorullitos de Maíz

Sorullitos, also called sorullos de maíz (sorullos for short), are little fried sticks of cornmeal that turn up at Puerto Rican breakfast tables and at kiosks all over the island, served beside café con leche or a plate of alcapurrias and bacalaítos. They sit at the meeting point of two food histories: corn was the indigenous Taíno staple — the Taíno dried and ground it into flour long before the Spanish arrived, and Puerto Rico's cocina criolla grows from that base of corn, tropical fruit and seafood — while cheese and the deep-frying technique were colonial Spanish additions. The cornmeal is first cooked into a stiff polenta-like dough, usually with grated cheese folded in and a touch of sugar, then shaped by hand into cigars and deep-fried; the name is often said to come from the Spanish word for a cigar, after that stogie-like shape (a folk etymology, not certain). Crunchy outside and soft within, they are most often dunked in the island's ubiquitous mayoketchup.

They crackle on the first bite into a crunchy golden shell, then turn soft and warm inside, faintly sweet from the cornmeal with salty threads of melted cheese running through. Dunked in tangy mayoketchup, they are savory, a little sweet, and dangerously snackable.

Pre-cooking the cornmeal into a stiff dough gelatinizes its starch so the fritters hold their shape and stay soft inside rather than gritty. Frying at a steady high temperature flash-sets and crisps the exterior through dehydration and browning, while the trapped moisture and melted cheese keep the center tender.