Cuba Food History

Cuban cuisine, cooking tips, pictures, stories, recipes y más.

[cubafood-blog]

Boniatillo Seco Dessert Recipe

Nitza teaches us how to make dry sweet potato dessert, or boniatillo seco. Sweet potato existed and was consumed heavily in Cuba before Colombus' arrival, although the refined sugar would've come much later for this recipe.

Nowadays around the world we're increasingly more conscious of limiting our refined sugar intake, so the next time we make this we'll experiment with alternatives.

4 cups of sweet potato

2-3 cups of refined sugar

A hint of cinnamon and/or orange/lemon peels from one fruit

Heat the sweet potato until it is soft and can be blended by hand or in a blender. Once it is a paste, it can be combined with the sugar and cinnamon or fruit peels before being put back on the stove  for everything to mix together into a thicker paste.

At this point, the cinnamon and fruit peels should be removed so the paste can be poured onto a plate to cool and harden. Once it's hard it's ready to serve!

[cubafood-blog]

[cubafood-blog]

Sangría Habanera Recipe

La Fuente de la India o de la Noble Habana represents the mythical figure of Havana, wife of the cacique Habaguanex, ruler of the area before Colombus. The fountain is outside of the colonial walls in the Paseo del Prado and was made of Carrara marble under the direction of Giuseppe Gaggini. It is popular among Cubans as a metaphor for the new city, turned away from the colonial walls and the doors of El Campo de Marte, home of colonial governor Tacón. (photo credit: @RenyDizle)

Like The Capitol in The Hunger Games, over the last 200 years Havana has tended to distinguish itself culturally from the rest of the island. Sangría is no exception. @Lillian_Guerra uncovered this 1950s pre-Revolution, mango-season cocktail while conducting her research on the island in the 1990s. Barrio Chino's influence on capitol cuisine is evidenced here through the use of ginger.

1 bottle of white wine (ideally Sauvignon Blanc)

1 cup of Looza mango nectar (or another unsweetened, natural variety, just avoid Goya)

1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger

1 bottle of dry champagne (chilled, not brut)

juice from one to two key limes (go with regular criollo limes if you can't find key limes)

Pour the white wine and mango juice into a tall pitcher, blending in the grated ginger. Allow this mixture to sit in the refrigerator, overnight ideally. Right before serving, add the key limes and stir well. To serve, pour a half glass into a champagne flute-style glass and fill the remainder with cold champagne. If you don't keep the champagne separate until serving, the drink will curdle.

¡Que viva la Habana!

[cubafood-blog]

España en Llamas Recipe a.k.a. Spain in Flames, a cocktail homage to Cuba's Independence

It was a humid night on October 9th, 1868, when on Eastern Cuba's La Demajagua plantation Carlos Manuel de Céspedes read el Manifiesto de la Junta Revolucionaria de la Isla de Cuba, marking El Grito de Yara and proclaiming the ideals of an independence struggle based on equality among men - black or white, cubanos o españoles. It became common for Cubans to light Spanish plantations ablaze by pouring rum on their sugarcane fields - fueling the Ten Year's War, and the metaphor for today's cocktail. :P

Mom and I discussed the cocktail recently, and I not only learned it saw a mid-century renaissance in Havana, but that it was actually the signature drink at her quinces in 1974. The alcohol was made prohibition-style, in a clandestine process my grandfather had developed in the backyard of their Coco Solo home, since by 1974 Fidel's Revolution had made large quantities of alcohol impossible to come by.

For the cocktail, we suggest Haitian Rum añejado at least 8 years. Barbancourt is one of the only distilleries outside of Cuba to @Lillian_Guerra's knowledge that still ages its rum in oak barrels. The poor Bacardís lost their 18th-century barrels as they fled to Puerto Rico, and the industrial approach to añejo rum in PR doesn't offer it the same touch.

1.5 ounces Rhum Barbancourt (or another quality añejo)

1.5 ounces Sidra El Gaitero, etiqueta blanca (or another sidra gallega, keep in mind that if it is Gaitero the non-alcoholic green label is too sweet)

Juice from 1/4 of a lime

Large ice cubes a gusto

You can light the cocktail ablaze as you serve, or alternatively add an optional sugarcane stick for Independence-era flair.

No temáis una muerte gloriosa, que morir por la patria ¡es vivir!...

[cubafood-blog]

Piña Colada Mulata Recipe

An interesting variation of this classic cocktail that will delight the sun-loving coffee aficionados who surround you. We discovered it on the road in Pinar del Río at a government-run kiosk in 2011, near Viñales and los mogotes.

3 ounces Habana Club añejo rum

6 ounces pineapple juice

2 ounces coconut cream

2 ounces espresso coffee

2 cups ice

fresh pineapple spears

In blender, combine rum, pineapple juice, coconut cream, espresso and ice. Blend until all ingredients combined. Garnish with pineapple spears.

Let us know what you think! (Photo credit: @renydizle)

[cubafood-blog]

Impromptu photograph of @renydizle's grandparents that could be a Cristal ad, even today...

[cubafood-blog]

A Cristal ad from 1950s Bohemia featuring a nervous lechón and his fellow turkey.

[cubafood-blog]

Con Pura Magia Satisfechos, documentary on Nitza Villapol's legacy over 40 years on Cuban television with Cocina Al Minuto.