Thanks to Rey Gonzalez for his addition to the dinner table.
The last foodie post, and specifically a comment by Mark on Cuban/Mexican Huevos Rancheros (NOT), compelled me to research and write about Cuban cuisine. Although I grew up on this cuisine, I learned lots of interesting information. I will say that Cubans are mostly European descendants of the Spain tribe, who arrived to conquer Cuba in 1511, and pretty much decimated the indigenous Taíno peoples. Although it’s commonly believed that the Taíno were extirpated after the Spanish conquest, their bloodlines, identity and customs were never completely extinguished.
When it comes to traditional Cuban food, it important to note that Cuban-American food in the USA may mirror certain dishes that are originally from Cuba, but that there can be quite a few differences. If you are familiar with Cuban cuisine in Florida and the USA, don’t assume that the versions in Cuba are going to be the same. Hint: not much produce/meat/herbs/spices to be had by the regular folks.
Cuban food vs Florida Cuban cuisine may bring some surprises. And for you northerners that may get to taste “Cuban cuisine” in your neck of the woods, I can only say….well…. sure….go with that. Cuban cuisine is a unique fusion of Afro-Caribbean, Spanish, French & Haitian Creole (not to be interpreted or defined as Cuban criollo), as well dishes and cooking styles from Mexico and central America. Typical foods often feature tomatoes, citrus, bell peppers, cumin, oregano, seafood, and sides such as rice & beans or yuca. Spoiler alert: Dishes you may consider standard Cuban, like the Cuban sandwich, are not as iconic as you’d think. In Cuba, if you can find the stuff to make one, it’s just a sammich.
Spanish Criollo Cooking is one of the greatest influences on Cuban Cuisine, through many waves of immigration. But also, Spain’s effect on cuisine around the region, and it’s blending with African and Caribbean on other islands, made it to Cuba. The Spanish cooking methods brought to Cuba is known as Criollo cooking. Cuban Criollo refers to persons born in Cuba, who were of direct Spanish descent, rather than mixed race. Criollo cooking makes use of Spanish cooking style, but with some local adaptations and ingredients. Criollo style sauce normally describes a sofrito (slowly fried) sauce with tomatoes. Haitian Creole is not Criollo, though the two have blended over the years.
In response to Myr, mojo is a citrus garlic sauce commonly made with sour orange or lime, with garlic, oil, salt, pepper and perhaps with a herb, like oregano, although the addition of oregano is less common in Cuba than in Spain. The sauce concoction is used as a marinade for meats, but another common way you may find it is added to vegetables as a finishing sauce. Yuca (casaba) sweet potatoes, and other starchy root types may be boiled/fried and then topped with mojo as a simple and tastebud popping Cuban side dish.
Below, you will find a short list of the Cuban food top picks:
Ropa Vieja (Old clothes) – The Cuban National Dish. A slow cooked, shredded beef dish mixed with a sofrito of peppers, onions and tomatoes. A Spaniard’s poor-man dish perfected and delicious.
Seafood/lobster enchilado – lobster/seafood cooked in a similar sofrito mix as the ropa vieja. A great combo. Not to be confused with Mexican/Tejano enchiladas.
Moros y cristianos (referencing the battles between the Moors and Christians) – rice and beans cooked together to make a sort of brown/blackish rice/beans dish. Not to be confused with black beans (a soup as you gringos call it) and white rice, served separate but mixed on your plate. I will add, yellow rice with black bean soup smothered over it is frowned upon. It’s not a thing. But you gringos do you. If you like it, go for it.
Ajiaco – One of only 2 mostly pre-Hispanic dishes. It’s Cuba’s “everything you got available” as in meats and roots, stew.
Picadillo – Cuban meat sauce, kinda like Bolognese, sort of, but not; a more meat heavy texture. With limited ingredients, this is simple dish that can’t go wrong over rice or in a Cuban bread sammich a la sloppy joe.
Huevos Habaneros – Eggs with whatever else is available at the time. Bell peppers, maybe some tomato and spices. A breakfast dish, kinda like Mexican rancheros, but not.
Yuca (casba) Con Mojo – The zesty mojo sauce takes a plain root vegetable and makes it a very tasty side or snack.
Vaca frita (Fried Cow) – made with flank steak that’s boiled then shredded, marinated in garlic and citrus mojo, and pan-fried to crispy perfection, maintaining a meaty center, with sweet onions.
Media Noche – (Midnight Sandwich) Like its bigger brother, the Cuban, media noche is almost identical, save for the bread, a sweeter eggy bread. It is named midnight sammich (legend has it) because it is common to find it as a post-drinking all-night partying Cuban street food to be eaten after midnight.
Any of the aforementioned dishes may be deliciously accompanied by rice/beans, yuca, boniato (white sweet potato) other edible roots, sweet plantains or tostones (green mashed-fried (no breading) plantains.
As for snacking and your daily dose of cafecito, croquettes, empanadas and/or pastelitos (a flaky strudel-like pastry); guava, guava and (cream or soft white – not the white fry type) cheese, or meat (picadillo). Churros, the famous deep fried, crispy dough, didn’t originate in Cuba. In fact, it didn’t originate in Latin America at all. But like everywhere else in the Americas, churros are a decadent street food that may be either Spanish or Portuguese in origin.
I hope I didn’t dull you with such a long post. But that’s all I have to say about that. I’d like to thank Mark, Myr, Pax, Guy, for posting such recipes and encouraging me, in a way, to find out more about my own cuisine.
