Three Guys from Miami Celebrate Cuban: 100 Great Recipes for Cuban Entertaining [Hardcover]

Glenn M. Lindgren (Author), Jorge Castillo (Author), Raul Musibay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

"The Three Guys from Miami have done it again with 100 ALL-NEW delicious Cuban recipes for creating an amazing party, no matter the occasion! After all, the Three Guys know that when you eat Cuban food, every meal is a celebration. For Cubans, getting together with family is at least a monthly, if not weekly, ritual. And the perfect Cuban party includes these things: Good food, good friends, good music, more good food, good conversation, a good drink or two, and of course, a good time. Cuban parties have always revolved around food-and oh, the food! Huge platters of tender roasted pork, plates of crispy yellow tostones, and bowls of black beans cooked to perfection in a thick aromatic stew, tropical drinks, sweet desserts, and more. This cookbook includes some of the Three Guys' favorite party dishes. These festive recipes are perfect for ALL occasions, and they'll surely inspire you to put together a unique party as an excuse to create a unique Cuban menu!
Chapters and recipes include:
The Cuban Party Tradition
Bebidas-Drinks: Doncellita-Young Maid
Apertivos-Appetizers: Escabeche de Pescado-Marinated Fish
Sopas-Soups: Sopa del Mar-Seafood Soup
Platos Principales-Main Dishes: Langosta a la Cubana- Cuban-Style Lobster
Asado Al La Parrilla de Patio-Backyard Grilling: Puerco Asado Estilo Chino-Cubano-Chinese-Cuban-Style Pork Roast
AcompaÒamientos-Side Dishes: Ensalada de Arroz FriÛ- Cold Rice Salad
"

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Actually, it's two guys from Miami and a Minnesotan who just winters there (Lindgren). The semi-wild and mildly crazy trio are back with their second effort (after Three Guys from Miami Cook Cuban). It features 100 new party-friendly creations and page upon page of less than stimulating banter laid out as marginalia opposite each recipe ("Milk has always been thought to provide some comfort for an upset stomach"). Still, it's hard to dislike a cookbook that puts the desserts at the beginning. Cake de Cuba Libre is the most effervescent of the batch, with rum and Coca-Cola in both the batter and the accompanying sauce. Standouts among the various soups and main dishes include Sweet Plantain Soup, Cuban Wedding Shrimp in a sauce of rum and orange juice, and traditional pork chops with plenty of garlic. The authors are willing to Cubanize at will; there is Cuban Style Lobster (with Chorizo), Cuban Stuffed Turkey (with a rice and bean stuffing) and Cuban Baby Back Ribs (with Guava Sauce). The many full-page color photos make all the recipes look mouth-watering; less appetizing are the shots of the Three Guys in loud shirts or staggering down a beach. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Equally lively follow-up to their first book includes numerous color food photographs and Miami scenes. Recommended for most collections." -- Library Journal, September 2006

"If you liked their first book, you're going to love this one!" -- Blogspot.com, October 2006

"Miami masters of fun, good times, and easy to do Cuban." -- Southern Living Magazine

(a) delightful collection of Cuban food recipes... You might salivate just reading them! -- Pittsburgh Post Gazette

A hearty band of bon vivants offer a delicious array of Cuban-inspired foods accompanied by cultural anecdotes and off-the-wall humor. -- Kirkus Reviews July 1, 2006

Is there a better cuisine to set out to master these days than Cuban? -- Providence Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith; 1 edition (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423600630
• ISBN-13: 978-1423600633
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > Caribbean & West Indian

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Culinary Favorites and Cuban Culture October 23, 2006

By Rebecca of Amazon HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

"Cuban parties have always been about food. Step into any Miami Cuban household a few hours before a big party and you will immediately detect the heavenly scent of garlic, green peppers, and onions sizzling in olive oil." ~ Glenn

Celebrate Cuban is a collectible cookbook, not only because of the amazing pictures tempting you at every turn of the page, but because of the writing style. I adore the way this book is written. The personality shines throughout and each recipe has comments from Glenn, Raúl and Jorge. There are also conversations between the three cooks and this introduces you to the cultural significance of each dish or gives you insight into why an ingredient is so popular.

The recipes are especially unique and while you may have never tried a guava cake, the picture will have you ordering cans of guava. Guavas are also used in the sauce for the Baby Back Ribs.

The rum butter frosting on the Rum and Coke cake uses Coca-Cola and this amusing comment is on the same page:

"The biggest trouble we had making this cake was convincing Raúl that the rum and Coke goes in the cake and not in the cooks!" ~ Jorge

For dinner you might want to try the Grilled Fish recipe that works on your outdoor grill. Beef Kebobs are flavored with citrus and oregano and you can prepare them the night before. The Chinese-Cuban Style Pork Roast is drenched in a soy and sherry sauce with five-spice powder and more garlic.

Roasted Turkey with Lime and Oregano sounds delicious for Thanksgiving. The instructions are detailed enough to make this sound easy to accomplish. First you make a marinade in your blender with lots of garlic and then leave everything overnight. The instructions are listed in the exact order you need to accomplish everything on time. The recipe takes you from marinade to roasting the turkey to making a delicious gravy. Even if you have never tried to make Thanksgiving dinner, this is something you will want to try. Additional soon to become favorite recipes include: "

Shrimp in Cilantro Cream Sauce
Cuban Pizza
Spinach Empanadas
Cuban Milkshakes
Rice with Seafood
Baked Potato with Bacon (they wrap the potatoes in bacon)
Corn Stew
Spanish Seafood Omelet
Cuban Style Bruschetta
Sweet Cuban Toast (like French toast, but with lemon peel and cinnamon)

The Caramel sauce in this cookbook is a safer version of the condensed milk sauce you might remember making as a child. I had forgotten about this and now I see you can make it in a double boiler.

"It can take several hours to cook in the can, but you can do this one in about an hour." ~ Raúl

I read and cook from a lot of cookbooks and this one is very exciting on all levels. On one page you are dreaming, the next laughing and when you are cooking, you feel a connection to culinary favorites and the Cuban culture.

~The Rebecca Review

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars El Segundo Hit! September 21, 2006

By Sonia Martinez

Format:Hardcover

Can there be anything wrong with a cookbook that starts with desserts up front.......? Definitely not in my opinion, especially when the first recipe is for Coconut Rice Pudding!

This is the second cookbook by this winsome trio and in my opinion also destined to join their first one on the best seller list!

In their own inimitable bantering style, Glenn Lindgreen, Raul Musibay and Jorge Castillo deal in serious business.....seriously good food business, I mean... Whether you are familiar with Cuban food or not, the book is a promise that 'if you read it, and, of course, cook from it, they will come...to your table', to paraphrase a well known movie's most famous line.

The format is easy to read and follow and none of the recipes are very complicated... You will find a few comments on the margins by Glenn, Raul and Jorge, sometimes explaining a recipe, a name, an ingredient, a cooking term or even making fun of themselves.

The beautiful color photos throughout the book make your mouth water in anticipation and you will find little bits of information scattered among the pages explaining certain customs, holiday traditions and everyday way of life in the Cuba we used to know.

I hope you enjoy this cookbook as much as I have.....and yes, the first recipe I will make from this cookbook is the Coconut Rice Pudding!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is what I'm talking about! October 12, 2006

By S. Porretta

Format:Hardcover

I congratulate the Three Guys on their new book! I discovered their website years ago and have found it an invaluable resource for information on Cuban food and culture. I purchased their early online recipe book and still use it today. I also bought their first hardcover book and pre-ordered this second hardcover as soon as it was available.

I must say that I am very impressed with this book and find it even better than their first. It is bigger, has more recipes, and - BONUS - it has a lot more pictures of the actual dishes this time! This was a complaint of mine with their first book - not enough pictures of the food were used when they could easily have been included instead of pictures of inanimate objects and other at times seemingly irrelevant things. But this book does have a lot more pictures and it is so helpful for an amateur cook like myself to see what the finished product is actually supposed to look like, plus of course the pictures are mouthwatering!

I don't throw parties myself, but I still wanted this book just in case I ever do decide to throw a Cuban party. However, the recipes can be used, as it states in the book, for any size gathering - be it just a simple family dinner for three or four people to an actual large party.

I also loved the little articles about how Cubans celebrate various holiday traditions, such as Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's, and Three Kings Day. It gave me some ideas to use with my own family.

Finally, I appreciate the fact that they always suggest substitues if, like myself, you live in an area that has hardly any Cuban ingredients and where the majority of the locals don't even know what a plantain is! For instance, they tell you how to substitute for sour orange juice, "calabaza," etc. It's always appreciated that they keep in mind that many of their readers live in Northern climates where these tropical ingredients are not readily available.

If I had only one complaint (sorry!) it would be to encourage them to keep the recipes as simple as possible while still being flavorful. For instance, there is a recipe for "Bistec Encebollado" that has 12 ingredients, versus their old recipe (which I frequently use) in their online book that has just 8 ingredients. This may not seem like much of a difference, but if a recipe can be kept both tasty AND simple, it is something appreciated by time-pressed, beginner chefs like myself.

In summary, though, I think that the book is highly recommended for its beauty and color photos, the variety of recipes included (from simple to complex, from main dishes to desserts), and for the quirky "conversations" and informative explanations about Cuban food and culture. I really think it is superior to their first book, and has new recipes not found there. Here's to your new book, Guys, and may there be more to come!

P.S. - You Guys should really get a show on the Food Network!