Cuisine of Puerto Rico
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The cuisine of Puerto Rico has its roots in the cuisines of Spain, and the Amerindian Taínos. The cuisine is also influenced by the cuisines of the rest of the United States and other countries like Mexico.
Contents |
[edit] History
The cuisines of Spain, Taíno Amerindians, Mexico, and parts of the African continent like Ethiopia, all have had an impact on how food is prepared in Puerto Rico. Some dishes also show traces of the island's original inhabitants, the Taíno Indians. Although Puerto Rican cooking is somewhat similar to both Spanish and Mexican cuisine, it is a unique tasty blend of influences, using such indigenous seasonings and ingredients as coriander, papaya, cacao, nispero, apio, plantains, and yampee. Locals call their cuisine "cocina criolla". [1]
"Cocina criolla" can be traced back to the Arawaks and Tainos, the original Amerindians inhabitants of the island, who thrived on a diet of corn, tropical fruit, and seafood. When Ponce de León arrived with Columbus in 1493, the Spanish added beef, pork, rice, wheat, and olive oil to the island's foodstuffs. Soon after, the Spanish began planting sugarcane and importing slaves from Africa, who brought with them okra and taro (known in Puerto Rico as yautia). The mingling of flavors and ingredients passed from generation to generation among the different ethnic groups that settled on the island, resulting in the exotic blend of today's Puerto Rican cuisine. [2]
[edit] Taino Amerindian influences
From the diet of the Taíno (culturally related with the Mayas of México and Guatemala / Mesoamérica) [3], and Arawak people come many tropical roots and tubers like yautía (taro) and especially Yuca (cassava), from which thin cracker-like casabe bread is made. Ajicito or cachucha pepper, a slightly hot pepper, (it should not be confused with the Habanero pepper), orégano brujo, recao/culantro (spiny leaf), achiote (annatto), peppers, ají caballero (the hottest pepper native to Puerto Rico), peanuts, guavas, pineapples, jicacos (cocoplum), quenepas (mamincillo), lerenes (Guinea arrowroot), calabazas (tropical pumpkins), and guanabanas (soursops) are all Taíno foods. The Taínos also grew varieties of beans and some maíz (corn/maize), but maíz was not as dominant in their cooking as it was for the peoples living on the mainland of Mesoamerica. This is due to the frequent hurricanes that Puerto Rico experiences, which destroy crops of maíz, leaving more safeguarded plants like conucos (hills of yuca grown together). [4]
[edit] Spanish / European influence
See: Spanish Cuisine
Spanish / European influence is also seen in Puerto Rican cuisine. Wheat bread, garbanzos, olives, Olive Oil, black pepper, onions, garlic, cilantrillo (or cilantro), oregano, basil, sugarcane, orange, grapefruit, eggplant, ham, lard, chicken, beef, and cheese all came to Borikén (Puerto Rico's Amerindian name) from Spain. The tradition of cooking complex stews and rice dishes in pots such as rice and beans are also thought to be originally European (much like Italians, Spaniards, and the British). [5]
[edit] Afro influences through Spain
Coconuts, coffee (brought by the Arabs and Corsos to Yauco from Kafa, Ethiopia), okra, yams, sesame seeds, gandules (pigeon peas in English) sweet bananas, plantains, and malanga all come to Puerto Rico from Africa. African slaves introduced the deep frying food. [6]
[edit] United States influence
The last century as a territory of the United States has also impacted Puerto Rican cooking traditions and favorite foods. The most significant has to do with how people fry food. The early Spaniards brought olive oil for cooking and frying, but importing it from Spain made it very expensive, and cooks on the Island shifted over to lard which could be produced locally. For 50-60 years, corn oil produced in the United States took the place of lard for making cuchifritos and alcapurrias.
Note: Olive oil (especially "virgin") has been replacing the corn oil for the last three decades.
Some other products and dishes by USA influence
Canned Corned Beef stew
Pasta - Using Puerto Rican seasonings and meats.
Salchichas (canned Vienna sausages) - They were introduced in 1898. Today, they are scrambled with eggs and cooked in other dishes.
Galletas de soda (soda crackers in tins) are an American product of the 19th and early 20th centuries that reproduce the crunchy texture of the earlier casabe bread and can be kept crunchy (in the tins) in high tropical humidity.
Parcha and other fruits and produce - From the tropical American mainland also come parcha (passionfruit), cocoa, papaya, tomatoes, and avocados. Panapén (breadfruit) was first imported into the British Caribbean colonies from the South Pacific as cheap slave food in the late 18th century. After spreading throughout the Antilles, panapén has also become an indispensable part of the Puerto Rican repertoire, both in puddings and crunchy, deep-fried tostones. [7]
[edit] Basic Ingredients
[edit] Grains and Legumes
- Rice
- Corn
- Green beans
- Green peas
- Gandules - Pigeon peas
- Pink beans
- Kidney Beans (red and white)
- Black beans
- Pinto beans
- Garbanzo beans
- Lentils
[edit] Starchy tropical tubers
- Potatoes
- Banana
- Yautía - Taro
- Yuca - Similar to a potato but more starchy. Usually boiled or Fried
- Batata (Sweet Potato) - Camote
- Ñame
- Yam - Batata Blanca
- Malanga
- Apio - Root vegetable (from the legume Apios tuberosa / Apios americana), eaten like potatoes. Not to be confused with celery.
[edit] Vegetables
- Eggplant
- Green onions
- West Indian pumpkin
- Chayote
- Lettuce
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Carrot
- Asparagus
- Cucumber
[edit] Meats and Poultry
- Pork
- Ham
- Chicken
- Turkey
- Guinea hen - More common in rural areas.
- Chorizo
- Corned beef
- Longaniza
- Beef
- Goat
- Lamb
- Butifarra - Puerto Rican grill sausage.
- Morcilla - Moronga
[edit] Seafood and shellfish
- West Indian Great Land Crab
- Salt codfish
- Octopus
- Conch
- Shrimp
- Chapín (Trunkfish)
- Oysters
- Cod
- Chillo (Pargo) - Puerto Rican Red Snapper
- Tuna fish
- Salmon
[edit] Fruits
Fresh tropical fruit is important in the traditional daily diet in Puerto Rico.
- Bananas
- Papaya
- Mango
- Guineos niños - Finger-size sweet bananas
- Orange
- Grapefruit
- Key lime
- Guava
- Tamarind
- Passion fruit
- Mamey (Summer only)
- Soursop
- Quenepa (Summer only)
- Avocado
- Frambuesas - Puerto Rican raspberries (Rubus rosifolius)
- Acerola cherry
- Pomarosa - Appelroo (Tropical apple / Syzygium malaccense)
- Pineapple
- Watermelon
- Starfruit - Carambola
- Jobo - A refreshing orangy yellow fruit
- Caimito - Chrysophyllum cainito
- Chironja - The Chironja (Orangelo) is a combination of orange and pomelo, the original name for the grapefruit, and is a native fruit of Puerto Rico.
[edit] Starchy Fruits
- Plantains
- Breadfruit
- Green bananas They are occasional fare, whether deep-fried and mashed as tostones, or boiled and seasoned with escabeche.
[edit] Spices and Seasonings
- Adobo - A mix of garlic, onion powder, oregano, sour orange, key lime juice, and other ingredients
- Pique verde boricua - Green hot sauce
- Pique criollo - Puerto Rican hot condiment
- Mojito isleño
- Alcaparrado - A mix of green olives, peppers, and capers
- Achiote or Bija - annatto (Bixa orellana)
- Recao/Culantro (Mexican coriander) - 10 times the flavor of Cilantro
- Garlic
- Ajicitos
- Ají caballero - A very hot pepper native to Puerto Rico.
- Onions
- Cooking cachucha peppers (Capsicum chinense Ajicitos - Habanero Pepper's cousin)
- Sofrito - A mixture of Ajicitos (Cachucha peppers), Cubanelle peppers, onions, recao / culantro, garlic, olive oil, small chunks of fatback bacon, smoked ham or chorizo, orégano brujo, cilantro, small capers, chopped olives, tomatoes, achiote (annatto), and other spices.
- Recaíto - Cilantro and culantro green cooking base.
- Orégano brujo - Puerto Rican wild oregano. This oregano, with its distinctive pungent aroma, grows wild on the island.
- Oregano
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- "Sazón" - a seasoning mix consisting of a blend of different spices, often used with sofrito to season when cooking
- Ajilimójili sauce - a very garlicky hot & spicy salsa
- Picadillo a la puertorriqueña
[edit] Puerto Rican Dishes
Puerto Rican dishes are well seasoned with combinations of flavorful spices. The base of many Puerto Rican main dishes involves sofrito, similar to the mirepoix of French cooking, or the "trinity" of Creole cooking. A proper sofrito is a sauté of chopped garlic, cilantro, oregano, onions, recao/culantro (not cilantro but a similarly flavored green leaf), cachucha peppers, tomatoes, and small chunks of fatback bacon. [8]
[edit] Staples
There are plenty of them. Here are just a few: [9] [10]
- Arroz con gandules - Puerto Rico's national dish, it is a rice-and-pigeon-pea dish seasoned with sofrito and smoked ham.
- Arroz con habichuelas - Literally "rice and beans", this dish is so common that the phrase "rice and beans" means essentially the same as "our daily bread" in northern countries. Dried pink beans are slowly stewed with chunks of calabaza (tropical pumpkin) flavored with a sofrito base, and then ladled over a mound of rice. Sticky medium-grained rice is more popular in Puerto Rico than long grain rice.
- Arroz con pollo - Chicken with yellow rice.
- Albondigón - Puerto Rican meat loaf.
- Arañitas - Fried shredded green plantain, seasoned with salt and garlic.
- Pollo frito - Puerto Rican style fried chicken
- Plaintains - Not as popular as arroz y habichuelas are plátanos (plantains, or cooking bananas. They are occasional fare, whether cooked green, deep-fried and mashed as tostones, or boiled and seasoned. They can be let to mature until they are spotted outside and golden inside, and then deep-fried as maduros or amarillos. Sometimes they are baked instead of deep-fried.
- Carne Guisada - Puerto Rican beef stew
- Fricasé - Hearty and spicy (chicken / turkey / rabbit / goat) stew with potatoes, red wine, olives and peas.
- Mondongo (Menudo) - Beef tripe stew.
- Sancocho de patitas - Hearty pork feet stew with starchy vegetables, plantains, and Garbanzo beans.
- Cuajitos en salsa (Buche) - Puerto Rican dish made with pork belly in a red hot sauce
- Rabo encendido - Spicy and hot oxtail stew.
- Empanadillas de carne / mariscos / queso / guava - Meat, seafood, cheese, or fruit turnovers usually called "empanadas" in other Spanish-speaking countries. On the eastern side of the island empanadillas are known as pastelillos, although pastelillo also refers to a pastry turnover.
- Empanadas - Breaded steak (beef / turkey / chicken / veal)
- Escabeche
- Mofongo - Mofongo is a popular dish, made from fried green plantains or fried yuca, seasoned with garlic, olive oil and pork cracklings, then mashed. Mofongo is usually served with a fried meat and a chicken broth soup.
- Seafood - On certain coastal towns of the island, such as Luquillo, Fajardo, and Cabo Rojo, seafood is quite popular, although much of it is imported. Only a tiny number of fishermen ply the waters off Puerto Rico today, and their catch never leaves their seacoast towns. The fact that the island sits next to the deepest part of the Atlantic means there is no wide continental shelf to foster a rich offshore fishery; neither are there any large rivers to dump extra nutrients into the sea that could build up a fish population. Popular seafood include bacalao (codfish), chapín (tropical fish), pulpo (octopus, not always canned), carrucho (conch), camarones (shrimp), langosta (lobster) (most commonly caught in the surrounding waters), and jueyes (crabs).
- Alcapurrias - This food consists of a seasoned meat or crab filling wrapped in a seasoned dough of mashed green bananas and taro root/Yautía (mashed yuca may be used too), which is then deep fried.
- Arepas / Domplines - These are fried rounds of flour-based dough. Sometimes they can contain coconut (known as arepas de coco). They are sometimes stuffed with seafood. This is an East and Southern Puerto Rico's dish.
- Bacalaítos - These are fritters made from a pancake-like batter containing codfish, flour, and seasoning.
- Taquitos - Puerto Rican "Chimichanga".
- Morcilla - A type of spicy and hot blood sausage.
- Sorullos - Fried corn meal logs (much like little tamales), sometimes stuffed with cheese.
- Guanimes - Semi-sweet tamales, wrapped in banana leaves.
- Piononos - Fried filled ripe plantain rolls.
- Canoas - Ripe plantain "canoes" stuffed with ground meat and covered with melted cheese.
[edit] Holiday dishes
- Stuffed Turkey - From November to January Puerto Ricans enjoy holiday parties and large family dinners almost daily, starting with the Thanksgiving turkey which is stuffed with a ground beef and/or pork mixture containing almonds, raisins, olives, hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, and garlic. Instead of the thin slices seen in the North, a baked turkey in Puerto Rico is often cut into large blocks or chunks to be served on a plate. Rice is a mandatory course in dishes such as Arroz con Gandules (rice with pigeon peas), Arroz con Tocino (rice with bacon), Arroz Mampostea'o, and the sweet dessert Arroz con Dulce (rice pudding).
- Roasted Pork - Pork is central to Puerto Rican holiday cooking, especially the lechón (spit-roasted piglet). Holiday feasts might include several pork dishes, such as pernil (a baked fresh ham shoulder seasoned in garlic and oregano), morcilla (a black blood sausage), tripa (tripe), jamón con piña (ham and pineapple), gandinga (stewed pork innards) and chuletas ahumadas (smoked cutlets).
- Pasteles - For many Puerto Rican families, the quintessential holiday season dish is pasteles, which English-speakers often literally translate to "cakes". Pasteles are not a sweet pastry or cake, but a soft dough-like mass wrapped in a banana or plantain leaf and boiled. In the center of the dough are choice pieces of chopped meat, chicken, raisins, spices, olives, red peppers and often a garbanzo bean. Puerto Rican pasteles are similar in shape, size, and cooking technique to Mexican tamales. The dough in a Mexican tamal is made from corn meal; while in a Puerto Rican pastel it is made from either green bananas and/or starchy tropical roots. The wrapper in a Mexican tamal is a corn shuck or a banana leaf; the wrapper in a Puerto Rican pastel is a banana leaf. Pasteles also use different spices than tamales. The making of pasteles is a labor-intensive social activity. Many family members will get together for hours or days to make dozens to hundreds of pasteles to share with friends and loved ones. Pasteles from the Island are often shipped overseas packed in dry ice during the long Christmas season. They are received as a nostalgic, much treasured gift.
- Sweets - Sweets are common in Puerto Rican cuisine. During the holidays, the most popular are deserts such as Arroz con Dulce (sweet rice pudding), Budín de Pan (bread pudding) - Capirotada in Mexico, Bienmesabe (little yellow cakes soaked in coconut cream), Brazo Gitano - Puerto Rican style sponge cake with cream and / or fruit filling), Buñuelos de viento - Puerto Rican wind puffs soaked in a vanilla, lemon and sugar syrup), Barriguitas de Vieja (deep-fried sweet pumpkin fritters), Natilla - Atole in Mexico (corn starch cream), Tembleque (coconut pudding), Flan (egg custard), Bizcocho de Ron (rum cake), Mantecaditos (Puerto Rican shortbread cookies), Polvorones (a crunchy cookie with a dusty sweet cinnamon exterior), Turrón de Ajónjolí (a toasted sesame seed bar bound together by caramelized brown sugar), Mampostiales (a very thick, gooey candy bar of caramelized brown sugar and coconut chips, challenging to chew and with a strong, almost molasses-like flavor), Dulce de Leche (milk and key lime peelings' caramel pudding), Pastelillos de Guayaba (guava pastries), Besitos de Coco (coconut kisses), Tarta de Guayaba (guava tarts), and Tortitas de Calabaza (pumpkin tarts).
- Coquito - A popular Christmastime drink is coquito, an eggnog-like rum and coconut milk-based homemade beverage. The holiday season is also a time that many piñas coladas are prepared, underscoring the combination of pineapples and coconuts seen in Puerto Rican cuisine. [11]
[edit] Notes and references
[edit] Puerto Rican food in mainland USA cities
- Cuchifritos - In New York, cuchifritos are quite popular. "Cuchifritos", often known as "Puerto Rican soul food" includes a variety of dishes including but not limited to morcilla (blood sausage), chicharron (fried pork skin), patitas (pork feet), masitas (fried porkmeat), and various other parts of the pig prepared in different ways.
- Jibaritos (Plaintain Sandwich) - In Chicago, El Jibarito is a popular dish. The word jíbaro in Puerto Rico means a caucasian man from the countryside, especially a small landowner or humble farmer from far up in the mountains. Jíbaro is a term strongly associated with preserving the traditional values and the culture of the Island. Typically served with Spanish rice, Jibaritos consist of a meat along with mayonnaise, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and onions, all sandwiched between a fried plantain, known as a canoa (canoe). In the early 20th century, bread made from wheat (which would have to be imported) was expensive out in the mountain towns of the Cordillera Central, and jíbaros were made from plantains which are still grown there on the steep hillsides.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Puerto Rican Recipes
- The Rican Chef - Recipes from the cultural magazine El Boricua, Puerto Rico
|
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
