Customer Reviews

A Taste of Cuba: Recipes From the Cuban-American Community

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
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As a Cuban born American, I know real Cuban cooking when I taste it, and this book has brought my family and friends countless kitchen joys. Simple, direct and easy to follow --- with little embellishment that serves to improve the recipes themselves --- "A Taste Of Cuba" allows us to experience the true essence of Cuban cookery. Unlike the "chic Cuban" styles of Asia de Cuba, Patria, chino-latino, Green makes no daring attempts to improve on the real thing, and that's the best way to enjoy this colorful delicious food over and over again! From standards like "Arroz Con Pollo" and "Lechon Asado" to "Camarones enchilados" and "ropa vieja" Green's passion for the condiments shines through. INstead of embellishing the dishes she realizes they're best left to the natural scents and zeitgeist that the best Cuban cooks - our abuelas and mami's - know is at the heart of the matter. Only "Cocina Criolla" - Nydia Villapol's(sp?) 60's classic is better or tastier or truer to the food's indigenous roots (alas, that's only available in SPanish, but every Cubano should proudly display a copy in their homw!) Linnette Green has done a fine job of mixing together the magical qualities of a legendary cuisine - fresh ingredients, attention bordering on love, colorful presentation, and a passion for the dishes themselves. Here, her characters are malangas and mangoes, frijoles and arroz, but "Like Water for Chocolate" her memories and passion stir the senses making your tastebuds soar! A WINNER!

The recipes are very good, they follow our greatgrandomothers way to cook. Some of the recipes are time consuming but that's probably why cuban food taste so good

I purchased this book many years ago, and for many years it has sat in my buffet (where I put all cookbooks whose recipes I don't like). I am Cuban, as over 400 years of my ancestors were, and I found nothing in this book that reminded me of anything I grew up eating. Instead, I strongly suggest you buy "Memories of a Cuban Kitchen" by Mary Urrutia Randelmann. This book provides true Cuban food.

Every single recipe in this book has been a proven hit with my in-laws who are Cuban. It is authentic and the recipes are easy to follow. The ingredients are not expensive but the flavors just burst with every recipe. I have used this book for over a year and continue to get ideas out of it. I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes to cook.

I got this book about a year ago when I was first gaining interest in Cuban cooking and I was satisfied with it until I began to dig a little deeper into the traditions and standards of Cuban cooking. The cover says "Recipes from the Cuban-American Community," and perhaps that can lend a little insight as to why there are so many non-traditional Cuban recipes and shortcuts in this book.

The first red flag for me was the recipe for Pan Cubano, which calls for olive oil instead of the traditional lard, no starter prepared beforehand, and is supposed to be placed in a loaf pan before baking instead of rolled into a loaf. I was interested in what this recipe would yield and unsurprisingly it had a completely different taste and texture than the pan cubano I have tasted in restaurants and specialty bakeries. In fact I have yet to find a recipe in this book that didn't need some quantity adjustments and/or didn't benefit from the substitution of conventional ingredients with more traditional ones discovered from outside research.

Many recipes have no basis in Cuban cooking at all, such as fried battered shrimp appetizers, sweet and sour pork, and almond cookies. Perhaps these are a favorite of the author but they do not have a place in a cookbook meant to introduce cooks to dishes that are Cuban in heritage. Also, some recipes appear twice with only minuscule modifications. An example of this is Frijoles Negroes, which correctly shows up among the bean dishes yet makes another appearance in the Soups chapter with quantities upped and a few chopped vegetables tacked on to the ingredients list. The author could have easily mentioned that this dish is enjoyed both ways and given simple suggestions for extra ingredients instead of filling pages with duplicate recipes.

Also, there are a LOT of recipes that include rum. Cuban cooking does not feature rum as heavily as one might think after perusing this book, and while it may be enjoyed by Cuban-Americans such as this family the majority of the rum dishes have no roots in Cuba itself. Similarly, the author touts Ajiaco as being "born in Cuba," however she completely omits the glaring fact that another completely different and more famous dish also named "Ajiaco" exists and is attributed to Colombia rather than Cuba.

When all of this adds up, there are simply too many transparencies in this book and I cannot recommend it to anyone. There are some good regular recipes to be found if you look and I am sure these recipes are treasured by the Cuban-American community as proven by the positive reviews here, however for those of us looking for instruction on Cuban cuisine rather than a Cuban-American's family recipe collection I would suggest looking to Memories of A Cuban Kitchen or, if you are looking for Florida favorites, the Three Guys from Miami.

The Cuban cook in our household reviewed the book before it was shipped in a parcel of Cuban food items. The cookbook was deemed to be well organized and comprehensive. The recipes were representative of that which might be served within the Cuban-American community.

Several of the recipes reminded of my Cuban mother's home cooking. Truly authentic and very tasty