Today's Caribbean Kitchen: Authenticity and Adaptation
Despite their proximity to the U.S., the islands of the Spanish Caribbean remain an enigma to many American chefs. What is the nature of these cuisines? (They are similar but not identical.) To guide us in this workshop, we rely on the expertise of Maricel Presilla, a restaurateur and food writer with a deep knowledge of the culinary history of her native Cuba and its neighbors; and Wilo Benet, a Puerto Rican chef who deftly balances tradition and innovation.
From a Tumultuous History, a Rich Cuisine
The three Spanish-speaking islands of the Caribbean—Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic (which shares an island with Haiti)—were the world's first experiment in intercontinental fusion, says Maricel Presilla. The Cuban-born Presilla, a New Jersey restaurateur and scholar of Latin American culinary history, describes how these picturesque islands in the northern tropics came to host peasants from four continents.
The Arawak Indians from South America were the islands' first settlers. Next came the Spaniards who followed Columbus, looking for mineral wealth. By the early 16th century, the Spanish were importing African slaves to the islands. And lastly, after the slaves were freed, indentured servants from China arrived to work the sugar-cane plantations
"These are mixed societies, people who had to reinvent themselves," says Presilla of the Hispanic Caribbean. "The faces are mixed faces. You can see the Spanish in their bearing and the African on their table."
What a tantalizing melting pot: cassava from the Arawaks; saffron, capers, rice and pork from the Spanish; okra, yams and plantains from the Africans; and techniques of rice cookery from the Chinese.
Before Columbus, Cuban cooking had no pork, no tomato, no peppers, no sour orange juice—all signature ingredients today. But Columbus and his Spanish successors brought European seeds and livestock with them, and Hispaniola (the island that is home to the Dominican Republic) became a breeding ground for these new plants and animals, says Presilla. In return, the Spaniards learned about the native tubers and corn and saw tamales for the first time.
Among the plants that figure largely in Caribbean cooking today is the plantain. A starchy relative of the banana, it is technically a fruit but Caribbean cooks treat it as a vegetable and use it in many savory ways. "It's as important as wheat bread for us," says Presilla.
Cubans are particularly fond of it and consider it almost a national symbol, writes María Josefa Lluriá de O'Higgins in her book, A Taste of Old Cuba (HarperCollins). When a non-Cuban assimilates into Cuban culture, he is said to be aplatanado, or "plantainized."
Plantains are always cooked before eating, whether they are green (unripe), yellow (semi-ripe) or black (fully ripe). Each stage demands a different treatment. Hard green plantains can be sliced and deep fried to make salty chips, or boiled and mashed with garlic and lime juice. Semi-ripe ones are peeled, cut in chunks and added to stews. Ripe ones can be peeled and baked with butter and brown sugar, which may sound like a dessert but it's not.
Watch Wilo Benet, a Culinary Institute of America graduate and chef at Pikayo, a fine-dining restaurant in the Puerto Rican Museum of Art, demonstrate a classic Puerto Rican use for plantains and his updated, contemporized version of the same dish.
Related Recipes: