Ah, "los boquerones fritos" (fried anchovies)! Served, seasoned with a little lemon juice, and devoured immediately, washed down with a cold caña (beer). They go down so quickly that's it's easy to forget their painstaking preparation. Before being rolled in flour and fried, the anchovies are opened, cleaned and rinsed, in order to remove the bitter taste of their innards. Don't forget that Madrid is the second largest fish market in the world, so try out as many seafood tapas as you can stomach. Some of the best fried tapas include parrochas (small sardines), chipirones (small cuttlefish), calamares (calamari), choquitos and chocos (small and large fried octopus).

Forget the french fries-ketchup, it's time for aubergines and honey! Cut in the form of fries, diced or sliced, the aubergines are rolled in doughnut pastry, plunged into the fryer, then sprinkled with salt. Then it's up to you to coat them with honey with the help of the pot provided. An amazing sweet/fatty/salty combo! 

Every bar has its own recipe for croquetas, large balls of fried, thick, breaded béchamel with serrano ham, also containing cod (bacalao), chicken (pollo) or spinach (espinaca). An excellent crunchy/melting mixture, and the favourite tapas of Spanish boys and girls!

What's so special about this very popular tapa? Its container, a small terracotta plate, is placed directly on the heating source.  Garlic, chilli, and prawns (gambas in Spanish) are added to very hot oil. The result arrives piping hot at the table, with the oil still bubbling around the prawns. Simply delicious!

Take some pre-chilled sweetened béchamel (milk, sugar, flour, egg yolk, cinnamon). Cut it into squares, roll it in breadcrumbs and fry it. Sprinkle with icing sugar and cinnamon, and there you have it - leche frita (literally, "fried milk"). It seems that the Old World still has a few things to teach the Americans about calorie bombs!