Liza Gershman - Cuban Flavor

Also by Liza Gershman, with Skyhorse Passage to China: A Photographic Celebration of the Silk Road Drink Vermont: Beer, Wine, and Spirits of the Green Mountain State
With a foreword by Sam von Trapp Copyright 2018 by Liza Gershman All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018. Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or .

Skyhorse and Skyhorse Publishing are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file. Cover design by Jenny Zemanek Cover photo credit Liza Gershman Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-1012-2 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-1014-6 Printed in China For Shelby & Arthur, Betty & Marvin, Nancy & Abby, Giedra, and Alastair Table of Contents Acknowledgments They can print statistics and count the populations in hundreds of thousands, but to each man a city consists of no more than a few streets, a few houses, a few people. Remove those few and a city exists no longer except as a pain in the memory, like a pain of an amputated leg no longer there. G RAHAM G REENE , Our Man in Havana Thank you to my Cuban friends, hosts, and guides who have all welcomed me as family: Lancelot and Rayda Alonso, Yosniel, Alejandro, Junior, Mike, Carlos, Vivianne, Carey, Mariana, Claudia, Ray, Tony, and others.

Thank you to every friend who has schlepped through the streets of Havana, Trinidad, and Viales with me in search of food, photos, and chefs! Debbie, Katie, Megan, Jessica, Lauren, Bonnie & Roger, Steve & Evie, Apple, Vik, Giedra, Darren, Andie, Ankur & Eileen, Christina & Tom, Asya, Annie, Raj & Shivani, and more! Thank you to the US team for food and recipe assistance, props, and photo production. Fanny Pan, Leigh Noe, Courtney Atinsky, Sandbox Studios, and Laura Burch. Thank you to Alastair Windeler for his constant support. Thank you to Savannah Jones, for all of her incredible assistant work. Thank you so much to the Forge household for their support: Gemma, Steve, Emily, Patrick, and Isabelle and Alfie. Thank you to Rayne Wolf for friendship, encouragement, and editing.

Many thanks to Abigail and Kim, my wonderful editors, at Skyhorse for their help to make this passion project come to life. And last but not least, to Carlos, my first Cuban friend, whom I have never found again. Foreword Ask a sixth-generation Cuban to write a succinct foreword for a Cuban cookbook? Did they ask the right bilingual, bicultural person? Clearly someone has not been briefed about my uprooted, exiled, immigrant life surrounded by enchanting storytellers with an incessant desire to recall what was great in Cuba a la hora de comer (when it was time to eat)?! Nevertheless, I entertained the challenge. I began to take in and savor the fruits of Liza Gershmans labor and fell in love with a stunningly shot, spectacularly presented, elegant, sensual, and inspiring libro de cocina (cookbook). Much like all great recipes with fresh ingredients and mucho amor (much love), there's nada mas (no more) to be added. Liza serves up everything you could want on the pages and sections that follow.

Narrowing in on my succinct message, I'm taking a stab and issuing a warning: attention, all who dare open Cuban Flavor. Please be prepared to participate in a progressive journey through Cuba and its traditions that will delight your senses; engage your imagination; seduce you with their timeless, unparalleled magic; and maybe just maybe even stimulate your apetito (appetite). Just like a Cuban vintage Bacardi rum ad would read, Liza Gersham s Cuban Flavor is sano, sabroso, y Cubano (healthy, tasty, and Cuban). Ejoy, Mari Aixal It was a city to visit, not a city to live in, but it was the city where Wormold had first fallen in love and he was held to it as though to the scene of a disaster. Time gives poetry to a battlefield.
G RAHAM G REENE , O UR M AN IN H AVANA Introduction My love affair with Cuba began long before my first visit in 2003, and my passion for Cuban food began long before then. I dreamed, like you may have too, of a rich blend of Native American, Tano, Spanish, African, and Caribbean cuisines.

The story of Cuban cuisine is as diverse as its traditions and cultures. Colonized by the Spanish, and later the French, and built up by slaves from Africa and Haiti, as well as a population of Chinese immigrants, Cuba has a food culture with flavors that most closely resemble those found in Puerto Rico and the neighboring Dominican Republic. However, Cuba has a history and figurative spice all of its own. Cuban Flavor is not simply a beautiful cookbook, but rather an introduction to a revolutionary era of Cuban cuisinetruly a new frontier. *** During the most difficult times in Cuba, known as the Special Period, opulent meals were served only to the elite connected to the government, while others sat by and starved. It was a time of great economic crisis in Cuba that began in 1989 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union (and their financial support of Cuba), and continued through the mid- to late-90s.

During this time, Cubans suffered greatly and endured shortages in fuel, food, and other resources. For many, a piece of bread with sugar was sustenance for the day. Cubas tropical climate has always been perfect for growing pineapple, guava, mango, and limes. The lapping sea delivers a bounty of crustaceans and fish. In a typical Cuban home kitchen, youll find tools from the 1950s like pressure cookers and rice cookers, broken utensils, dull knives, and mismatched china. Its a wonder that anyone can actually cook.

But the resilience of the Cuban people perfumes each savory dish, as always. While rice and beans are staples of the Cuban diet, their cuisine is such a complex storya tapestry of love and loss, woven so deeply into their culture going far beyond history or sustenance. To those of us more fortunate, Cuban cuisine can appear as a stroke of luck served up on a beautiful platter. *** When I first visited Cuba in 2003, to my great disappointment, every meal was the same. We ate plain chicken, rice, and beans. Cuba was in a difficult financial period, and tourism had yet to really take hold.