Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"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

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!

I loved the Three Guys' first book, and this one is a worthy sequel. They present interesting stories about Cuban holidays, in their friendly conversational writing style - you feel as if they're talking directly to you. The photography is beautiful, and the recipes are yummy and easy to follow. I hope they come up with many more book ideas. By the way, where did pasta de pollo originate, who invented it, why is it popular, and what's up with the chicken anyways?

I liked the first book so well that I purchased 3 copies for gifts. I highly recommend the authors. They are even more entertaining in person. I was able to attend one of their local cooking demonstrations and book signings.

Great book. If you loved their first book as much as I did you will find this second book equally enjoyable as well as usefull. Great job guys!

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!

A great selection and the best Cuban recipes the book has it all. Easy to do recipes and mouthwatering photography in fact the book has more than 80 full-color pictures. I also enjoy the unique sense of humor throughout the book. A most have for every kitchen.

I love this book! Five stars all the way! I'm experienced with cooking Cuban cuisine, having spent 25 years in Miami before moving north. I love the first book by the "three guys from Miami" for its coverage of essential Cuban cooking. They did it right!

But this second book captivated me most because of how intelligently it borrows from Spanish cuisine and applies magnificently to the Cuban style. This is truly one of the great cookbooks. I very much appreciate that the recipes work well and were obviously tested carefully before publication, and readily obtainable ingredients are used.

I love the 1st book by the 3 Guys from Miami. So I could not wait to order this book. It's everything I thought it would be. Great recipes, great writing. If you enjoyed the first book, you will love this book.

The collaborative effort of Glenn Lindgren, Raul Musibay, Jorge Castillo, "Three Guys From Miami Celebrate Cuban: 100 Great Recipes For Cuban Entertaining" is an ethnic collection of mouth-watering cuisine and a "how to" guide for celebrating and partying "Cuban Style". There are whole chapters devoted to Cuban oriented desserts, drinks, appetizers, soups, entrees, side dishes, and even backyard grilling. Enhanced with a 'Cuban Food Glossary' and a list of sources for acquiring special ingredients for Cuban dishes, the recipes comprising "Three Guys From Miami Celebrate Cuban" range from 'Cake de Guayaba' (Guava Cake), to 'Ensalada de Fluevos' (Egg Salad), to 'Pollo de la Plancha' (Grilled Chicken Breasts), to 'Coctel de Frutas Tropical' (Tropical Fruit Cocktail). Wonderfully illustrated throughout with full color photography of finished dishes, "Three Guys From Miami Celebrate Cuban" is a particularly "user friendly" and enthusiastically recommended addition to any kitchen cook's ethnic cuisine oriented cookbook collection.