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Basic Training
A typical home meal usually includes simple ingredients that are universally beloved by Cubans. Rice and beans are mainstays that are gussied up with vegetables such as yuca (also known as cassava) and malanga, fruit such as mango and plantains, and proteins like chicken and pork. Flavor enhancers such as mojo sauce and sofrito and rich beef and chicken stocks provide a little pizzazz (more on all of these shortly). Baguettes or white rolls are another staple often served alongside a simple garnish plate of raw onions and tomatoes.
Havana’s cuisine rarely deviates from an amalgamation of urban market basics, but there is much more variety waiting to be discovered in the countryside. Ingredients that were once staples of the indigenous diet—such as rabbit, guinea pig, and goat—are not necessarily common, but it’s also not a surprise to find them on a rural table. Outliers such as snake, alligator, iguana, and crocodile also turn up, especially in Baracoa in the Guantanamo Province of eastern Cuba. Red mole, a flavorful tomato and ancho chile–based sauce laced with precious Cuban chocolate, is another rare but welcome rural discovery since the government exports most of the cacao beans grown in Cuba and very little of it remains for the Cuban people to enjoy. It is in the countryside that tenuous links to Cuba’s indigenous past exist in backyards where cooking is still primarily done over charcoal in the slow, leisurely way that busy residents of Havana rarely have time for today.
What doesn’t change when traveling between Havana and Cuba’s rural regions are the basic foods beloved by everyone.
Without ingredients like rice and beans and fried plantains, Cuban cuisine would lose its identity.
No Cuban meal is complete without black beans and rice, and many Cuban recipes such as ropa vieja, a shredded beef dish, are deepened by the slow development of sofrito, a combination of onions, garlic, tomatoes, and other aromatics, at the beginning of the cooking process.
Sofrito also finds its way into many of the velvety stocks forming the foundation of most Cuban stews and soups. Stocks made with animal bones that impart a silken texture are cooked low and slow, infusing the home with a tantalizing aroma promising good things to come. Another flavor enhancer in the Cuban pantry is mojo, a sauce typically composed of garlic and citrus juice that adds vibrancy to dishes like baked fish or fried plantains. Bijol (see page 243) is beloved in the Cuban culinary repertoire—a proprietary flavor and color enhancer as it endows a dish with a cheerful yellow hue. Bijol is especially favored in rice; it transforms a ho-hum bowl of white grains into something a little more festive and bright.
In a country whose people have been denied their right to exist as autonomous citizens by each new wave of colonizers and then by a native dictator, the basics that find their way to the Cuban table each day—the rice, beans, plantains, yuca, sofrito, mojo, and heady stocks and broths—are symbols of resiliency and courage. Most fundamentally, they are a link to the past that is cherished by Cuban people today. Each humble recipe transcends the sum of its parts, representing how a little creativity and patience can transform even the most elemental ingredients into something tantalizing and beautiful.
Shredded Plantain Chips
Makes about 30 chips
4 green plantains, peeled
2 cups vegetable oil
Salt
Shred the plantains using a box grater. Heat 1 inch of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Test the heated oil by adding a shred of plantain and making sure it starts to sizzle.
Carefully add tablespoonfuls of shredded plantain to the hot oil. Use a spatula to gently flatten each mound into a little patty. Cook until golden brown on the first side, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side. If the plantains are browning too quickly, lower the heat slightly.
Transfer the cooked plantain chips to paper towels using a slotted spoon and season with salt while hot.
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