Old Havana Cookbook: Cuban Recipes in Spanish and English (Bilingual Cookbooks) [Kindle Edition]

Rafael Marcos (Author), Rosemary Fox (Illustrator)

Book Description

Havana is one of the oldest and most picturesque cities of the western hemisphere. It was a popular winter destination for North American tourists in the 1950s, and this cookbook recaptures the spirit of Old Havana-- Habana la vieja-- and its celebrated culinary traditions. Cuban cuisine, though derived from its mother country, Spain, has been modified and refined by locally available foods like pork, rice, corn, beans and sugar, and the requirements of a tropical climate. Fine Gulf Stream fish, crabs and lobsters, and an almost infinite variety of vegetables and luscious tropical fruits also have their places on the traditional Cuban table. This cookbook includes over 50 recipes, each in Spanish with side-by-side English translation-- all of them classic Cuban fare and old Havana specialties adapted for the North American kitchen. Among the recipes included are: Ajiaco (famous Cuban Stew), Boiled Pargo with Avocado Sauce, Lobster Havanaise, Tamal en Cazuela (Soft Tamal), Quimbombo (okra), Picadillo, Roast Suckling Pig, and Boniatillo (Sweet Potato Dulce), along with a whole chapter on famous Cuban cocktails and beverages.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A useful and very useable collection." --British Bulletin of Latin America, April 2001.

About the Author

Compiled by the Editors of Hippocrene Books

Product Details

• File Size: 996 KB
• Print Length: 123 pages
• Publisher: Hippocrene Books; illustrated edition edition (December 1, 1999)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00275EE62
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #416,659 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #32 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > Caribbean & West Indian

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars AUTHENTICALLY CUBAN January 21, 2010

By Ellen Sweets

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

a friend who lived in cuba until her family left several years ago, recently stumbled on my edition of this charming little volume, pronounced it the most authentic of all my cuban cookbooks and asked to borrow it. although i hate lending books, she lives across the street and i felt there was very little risk. what did i know. after she'd had it for more than a month, i decided to get one for her as a christmas gift and retrieve mine. in the interim mine had been blessed with a few more grease spots. she had really used it!

as an additional piece of this book's charm, recipes are in spanish on one page and in english on the facing page (which helps me with my efforts to learn spanish). probably more people know about picadillo (a kind of ground-beef hash with raisins and olives) than about ajiaco, the national soup. but make this hearty dish once and you will have experienced a delicious piece of culinary cuba.

i have cooked my way though this book's 120+ pages and so far my guests and i have enjoyed everything. i don't much make desserts, but if someone made the apple pudding with bicardi rum for me, Old Havana Cookbook: Cuban Recipes in Spanish and English (Bilingual Cookbooks)i'd for sure eat it!

Oh, and if you're interested in a bit of bartending at home, there are also recipes for drinks, including the daiquiri, which originated in cuba.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Havana cookbook June 19, 2008

By Cathy Garcia

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased this book because my family is from Havana, Cuba, and I felt I could get some good authentic recipes. I was very dissapointed. My grandmother who has shown me how to cook cuban food was even surprised at some of the ingredients in the recipes. The recipes are from foods we eat but the ingredients were way off. Sorry just my opinion

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good October 8, 2010

By LD

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have used a couple of the recipes. I found them pretty easy to use. I also like that it in Spanish as well, which helps me practice.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Buena Comida! February 16, 2009

By DavidO1

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I got this book for my wife for Christmas. It's great, and has Spanish on one page and English on the opposite, so you can learn some words and phrases if you feel so inclined. There is a wide variety of recipes, and they're great. My wife loves to cook, and this has become one of her favorite cookbooks.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Old Havana Cookbook not so old March 11, 2011

By Rekha Patel

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased this book to learn about cuban cooking. I showed some of the recipes to a friend who is Cuban. She was surprised at how the Ropa Vieja dish was suggested to be cooked, she said that you typically have cumin in the dish and avoid the turnips, leeks, carrots. Did not feel authentic at all. Think that there are better cuban cookbooks out there.

3.0 out of 5 stars Cookbook on Kindle May 29, 2013

By LovesToRead

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

It's okay, but I have difficulty using a cookbook from my Kindle. I would not purchase another one in this way.

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice quick book for Cuban food May 27, 2013

By Natasha Pomares

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

My husband is Cuban so I buy many books like this. Love the Spanish and English language mix. I wish there were pictures to see the delicious food

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book, well written March 11, 2013

By Barry P. Evans

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a well written, with easy to follow recipes. Many of which aren't commonly found in the other Cuban cook books that I've read.