Cuban cuisine

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Arroz con pollo (rice with chicken)

Cuban cuisine is a blend of Native American Taino food, Spanish, African, and Caribbean cuisines. Some Cuban recipes share spices and techniques with Spanish and African cooking, with some Caribbean influence in spice and flavor. This results in a blend of the several different cultural influences, with strong similarities with the cuisine of the neighboring Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. A small but noteworthy Chinese influence can also be accounted for, mainly in the Havana area. During colonial times, Cuba was an important port for trade, and many Spaniards who lived there brought their culinary traditions along with them ^[1]

As a result of the colonization of Cuba by Spain, one of the main influences on the cuisine is from Spain. Other culinary influences include Africa, from the Africans that were brought to Cuba as slaves, and French, from the French colonists that came to Cuba from Haiti.^[2] Another factor is that Cuba is an island, making seafood something that greatly influences Cuban cuisine. Another contributing factor to Cuban cuisine is that Cuba is in a tropical climate, which produces fruits and root vegetables that are used in Cuban dishes and meals.^[3]

A typical meal consists of rice and beans, cooked together or apart. When cooked together the recipe is called "congri" or "Moros" or "Moros y Cristianos" (black beans and rice). If cooked separately it is called "arroz con frijoles" (rice with beans) or "arroz y frijoles" (rice and beans).^[4]

Boliche

Rice and beans are a culinary element found throughout Cuba, although it varies by region. In the eastern part of the island, "arroz congri oriental" is the predominant rice and bean dish. White rice and red kidney beans are cooked together with a sofrito and then baked in the oven. The same procedure is used for the above-mentioned congri (also known by the terms arroz Moro and Moros y Cristianos – literally "Moors and Christians") which instead uses black beans. Although the process of preparing the black bean soup contains basics (onion, garlic, bay leaf, salt), each region has their tradition of preparing it.

Meat, when available on ration book is usually served in light sauces. The most popular sauce, used to accompany not only roasted pork, but also the viandas, is mojo or Mojito (not to be confused with the Mojito cocktail), made with oil, garlic, onion, spices such as oregano and bitter orange or lime juice. The origin of Cuban mojo comes from the mojo sauces of the Canary Islands. Cuban mojo is made with different ingredients, but the same idea and technique are used from the Canary Islands. With so many Canary Islander immigrants in Cuba, the Canary Islander influence was strong. Ropa vieja is a shredded beef dish (usually flank) simmered in tomato-based criollo sauce until it falls apart. Ropa vieja is the Spanish name meaning "old clothes", in which the dish gets its name from the shredded meat resembling "old clothes". Ropa vieja is also from the Canary Islands Boliche is a beef roast, stuffed with chorizo sausage and hard boiled eggs.

The National Dish of Cuba is Arroz con Pollo. Declared by the Cuban Legislature in the 1930's. For reference read "Cuba Infinita" by José Guerra Aleman. It is the most extensive work on Cuban history to be published in the last 25 years.

Sandwiches

Cuban sandwich

Typical Cuban sandwich (picture from South Florida)

A Cuban sandwich (sometimes called a mixto, especially in Cuba^[5][6]) is a popular lunch item that grew out of the once-open flow of cigar workers between Cuba and Florida (specifically Key West and Ybor City, Tampa) in the late 1800s and has since spread to other Cuban American communities.^[7][8][9]

The sandwich is built on a base of lightly buttered Cuban bread and contains sliced roast pork, thinly sliced Serrano ham, Swiss cheese, dill pickles, and yellow mustard. In Tampa, Genoa salami^[10] is traditionally layered in with the other meats, probably due to influence of Italian immigrants who lived side-by-side with Cubans and Spaniards in Ybor City.^[11] Tomatoes and lettuce are available additions in many restaurants, but these are considered by traditionalists as an unacceptable Americanization of the sandwich.^[5][12]

After assembly, the Cuban sandwich may be pressed in a grooveless panini-type grill called a plancha, which both heats and compresses the contents.^[5] It is usually cut in half diagonally before serving.

Other sandwiches

A medianoche sandwich is very similar to a Cuban sandwich except that Cuban bread is replaced by an egg loaf and ham is sometimes excluded. It received its name (medianoche means "midnight") from its popularity as a midnight snack in the nightclubs of Havana.

Pan con lechón is a traditional pressed sandwich created simply with Cuban bread, roasted pork, onions, and mojito. Pan con bistec is made in the same fashion, but the pork is replaced with a thin sirloin steak (palomilla).

Another sandwich of Cuba is the "Elena Ruz". Elena Ruz was a young society debutante in the 1930s who would stop at El Carmelo, a popular restaurant and confectionery shop in Havana after an evening at the opera or a social function, and would ask the waiter if he would fix her a sandwich to her orders. It is prepared on white or Cuban bread, with a layer of cream cheese on one slice, a layer of strawberry jam or preserves on the other, and thin slices of turkey breast in between.^[13]

Other traditional sandwiches include pan con timba (bread with guayaba paste and cream cheese), pan con chorizo also known as choripán (Cuban bread with thin-cut Spanish chorizo sausage), and the frita.

The frita, which became popular in Cuba in the 1930s, is a Cuban version of the American hamburger, although with significant changes. It is prepared with ground beef mixed with ground chorizo. The patties are made small and fried on a griddle. The fried patty is served in a small Cuban bread hamburger bun, topped with onion and julienne potato fries.

List of Cuban dishes

Plantains

At a casa particular in Viñales, a pig is prepared for a feast.

Dulce de leche

List of Cuban drinks

Two Cuba Libres

• Cuba Libre – Rum, Coca-Cola, sugar, and lime
• Daiquiri
• El Presidente
• Guarapo – juice made from pressed sugar cane
• Hatuey beer
• Havana Cooler – Rum, mint, sprite or ginger ale
• Ironbeer
• Malta (soft drink) – malt beverage
• Materva
• Mojito – Rum, mint, sugar, lime, and club soda

See also

• Caribbean cuisine
• Flattop grill

References

Bibliography

• Aróstegui, Gonzalo, et al.: Manual del Cocinero Criollo, Cuba, 19th century.
• Buchmann, Christine. "Cuban Home Gardens and Their Role in Social–Ecological Resilience." Human Ecology: An Interdisciplinary Journal 37.6 (2009): 705-721. 16 Jan. 2010.
• Cancio-Bello, Carla. "The Growing Popularity of Cuban Cuisine." (2012): http://www.cubancuisine.co.uk
• Folch, Christine. "Fine Dining: Race in Prerevolution Cookbooks." Latin American Research Review 43.2 (2008): 205-223. 3 Feb. 2010.
• Hunt, Nigel. "The Agriculture History in Cuba." Cuba Agriculture. 2008. Web. 11 Feb 2010.
• Murray, James. "Cuban Cuisine, Cuba History and Their Food." 2009. Articlesbase. Web. 16 January 2010.
• Reyes Gavilán y Maen, Maria Antonieta: Delicias de la mesa. Manual de Cocina y Reposteria, 12ed., Ediciones Cultural S.A., La Habana, 1952.
• Rodriguez, Hector. "Cuban Food Profile: Cuban Food History." 2010. Latinfood.about.com. Web 16 January 2010.
• Villapol, Nitza: Cocina Cubana, 3ed., ISBN 959-05-0042-0, Editorial Cientifico-Técnica, Habana, 1992.
• Warwick, Hugh. "Cuba's Organic Revolution." Forum for Applied Research & Public Policy 16:2(2001): 54-58. 27 Feb. 2010.

Historical aspects of Cuban cuisine

• Brenner, Philip, Jimenez, Marguerite, Kirk, John, and Leo Grunde, William. A Contemporary Cuba Reader: Reinventing the Revolution. Rowman and Littlefield Publication. 2008.
• Harpers Weekly. Starvation in Cuba. The New York Times: May 30, 1897.
• Hernandez, Rafael. Looking at Cuba: Essays on Culture and Civil Society. University of Florida Press, 2003. P. 101
• Houston, Lynn Marie. Food Culture Around the World: Food Culture in the Caribbean. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2005. Pg. 115-116.
• Maria Josefa Lluria de O’Higgins. A Taste of Old Cuba: More Than 150 Recipes for Delicious, Authentic, and Traditional Dishes Highlighted with Reflections and Reminiscences. New York: Harper Collins Publisher. 1994.
• Pieroni, Andrea and Price, Lisa L. Eating and Healing: Traditional Food as Medicine. New York, 2006. Haworth Press Inc.
• Randelman, Mary U. and Schwartz, Joan, Memories of a Cuban Kitchen: More than 200 classic recipes. New York: Macmillan. 1992.

External links

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Empanada

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