You are completely right, and there is no easier way to do it

use Text::CSV_XS;
my $csv = Text::CSV_XS->new ({
    binary         => 1,
    auto_diag      => 1,
    keep_meta_info => 1,
    });

my $file = $ARGV[0] or die "Need to get CSV file on the command line\n
+";

my $sum = 0;
open my $data, "<", $file or die "Could not open '$file' $!\n";
while (my $row = $csv->getline ($data)) {
    foreach my $idx (0 .. $#row) {
        $csv->is_quoted ($idx) or next;
        $row->[$idx] =~ s/(.*)/"$1"/; # TIMTOWTDI
        }
    # @$row is now quoted as you want
    }
close $data;
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