Puerto Rican Food - My 500 Words D14

I love food, perhaps a little too much. But what I love the best is Puerto Rican food. I am a bad Puerto Rican because I am not a good cook. Since it never tasted like my mom’s I just gave up. But I love to eat it, when it is made with love and seasoned right!

One thing about Puerto Rican food is that it is not spicy. I think people assume because it is Latino it is spicy. People in the US are used to Mexican food and they assume it is all the same. We do hot sauce on the side for people who like it spicy but the food itself it is not. Staples in Puerto Rican food are rice, beans, pork, and plantains. I love arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas).

The rice is cooked in a caldero, which is a cast iron pot. It is seasoned with seasoned with sofrito and sazón. Sofrito is a blend of herb, spices, and sweet pepers some people make it from scratch while other buy the Goya sofirito. Sazón helps with the flavor as well as the coloring. The color comes from the achiote or azafran. I only use Goya sazón. Some people make arroz con gandules with ham and adobo which is heavy on the sodium. I personally do not use them when I make my rice (which is not often).

Ricans love pork. Sweet Lord it is so good!! One traditional dish is pernil. Pernil is a pork shoulder. When made right, pernil is moist and flavorful. I have only made it once and I used my father’s recipe with a garlic and olive oil marinade with onions and green peppers. His is much better than mine. Some people make it with adobo but again it is high on sodium. Pork is naturally salty and to me it does not need any more salt. I cook with garlic and onion powder versus salt.

Plantains are also a big part of Puerto Rican cuisine. They can be made green or ripe. Green plaintins are cut into slices, dipped in salt water, and deep freed twice the first in the slices, the second after they have been flattened. These are called tostones. They are crispy but moist and soft in the middle. Riped plantains are also sliced and freid but they remain soft. They are sweet. Platanos maduros (riped plaintais) are my favorite. I like the sweetness against the seasoned food.

Being form an island we also enjoy our coconut. There is a coconut dessert called tembleque de coco. It is a coconut custard. It is chilled and topped with cinnamon. It is very smooth and not overwhelmingly sweet. It is just right and one of the best ways to end a Puerto Rican meal.

I just made myself very hungry thinking about all of the delicious Puerto Rican food I know and love. I need to put more effort into cooking it. It is like my mom says, the more I practice the better I will get. I have no excuse after all; my mom has sent me cookbooks in English and in Spanish. I just need to get in touch with my inner chef.