Customer Reviews

A Taste of Old Cuba: More Than 150 Recipes for Delicious, Authentic, and Traditional Dishes

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I cannot tell how much I love this book. When i first bought it i took it to my grandmother to share it with her. She got misty eyed reading it, she said that it reminded her of her mother cooking for her and her 11 brothers & sisters in Cuba - there were recipes in the book that she had not had since she left Cuba in the 60s. When she passed, she took some of the best cooking with her. The book gives me recipes that taste exactly the way i remember them - never fails. The following Christmas i bought 9 copies for my family's 3rd generation women so that we don't forget, and have since bought several more as gift whenever the subject of good Cuban recipes has come up. Buy the book, i promise you won't need anything else!

I first read this book at a Library and enjoyed so that I took it out a second time. To a person who knows cuban food, this book is the portal to paradise. The recipies are authentic and are written very clearly and very easy to understand. I lived in Matanzas and Varadero during the 50s and the reminiscenses are true. I enjoyed this book tremendously and I will recommend it to many of my friends. It would be great if translated to spanish. A lot of people that live in Miami who came to the US from Cuba do not speak english.

If you are looking for authentic Cuban recipe's, then this is the book for you.Having been raised in a Cuban household I grew up with just these kinds of foods. But alas I never did pay attention to the actual cooking,now that I have my own family, I needed and wanted these recipe's, but all previous book's I purchased were a big disappointment,they all missed the mark when it came to the authentic taste of my abuelas(grandma's) cooking! Finally I came across Mrs,Lluria De O'Higgins book and I am delighted to report that these are the recipe's I recall from my childhood. From the arroz con pollo to the paella all are truly wonderful!! Thank You Mrs, O'Higgins, I now have something to pass on to my own daughter!

Even though she missed some more authentic receipes I still enjoyed the book and would recomened it to anyone who would like to cook in Cuban, I should know Iam the chef at Azucar Cuban Cuisine in Edgewater New jersey.

The recipes in this book are authentically Cuban and easy to follow. In addition, the book contains a rich array of anecdotes from Mrs. O'Higgins' childhood which bring alive a time and a place no longer available to us. The stories are as great a treasure as the recipes, for they are written in a style which absolutely characterizes the Cuban people, a style which is full of wit and humor and a general attitude of generosity towards the world and towards the world's many gifts. Cuban joie de vivre fairly leaps off every page of this lively and extremely reliable cookbook.

Just my kind of cookbook! I love cookbooks with more substance than just a bunch of recipes...... I like to read about background, history, lore or anything else that will flesh out a book. The recipes are just a bonus! Reading this book brought back many memories of a way of life that, unfortunately for many of us, no longer exists. Every recipe I have tried from this book has worked for me. Reading about Maria Josefa's family life in old Cuba was almost like putting a mirror in front of me where I could look back on my life as well.

This is not only a gastronomic delight, but an extraordinary trip through old, but good, memories, glorious traditions and an unfortunately bygone way of life. To revisit places I've loved and relive experiences I thoroughly enjoyed as a child, like crabbing at Paso Malo, was an absolute joy.
This book, a present from my daughter, is one of the most memorable father's day present I recall.

Growing up as an Irish/German decendant I had never had black beans until I was in my late 20s. My best friend's mother introducted me to delicious Cuban food. I am now happily cooking for her nephew and his daughters almost as well as his Tia and his mother. Forget meat and potatoes - I'd rather have Arroz con Pollo and so would my children.

Everything I have made from this book tastes exactly like the food in the famous Cuban restaurant "Versailles" in Miami, which to me is the essence of classic 1950s Cuba. This is not a "30-minutes meals" type of book. All the recipes aren't necessarily simple, though some are, but they are very authentic and Mrs. O'Higgins does a good job of explaining the procedures.

Some of the recipes that I have tried are the Ropa Vieja, el Picadillo Clasico, of course the black beans, Arroz con Pollo, Tambor de Platano and the Andalusian Chicken Breasts, which is delicious, and all the recipes have been a success.

Aside from the classic recipes, the book is dotted with "recuerdos", or reminiscences of life in early and mid-century Cuba and pictures of Mrs. O'Higgins family, making for a very enjoyable and endearing read.

It's hard to find good Cuban away from Miami [and I assume Cuba.] The recipes in this book smell and taste like my favorites from Calle Ocho; I prepare a dish, and I'm not homesick for a good 24 hours!