The record-union., 1898-12-07
Cuban Cooking.


The kitchens of the Cubans are al
ways either in the courtyard back of
the house or on the roof. Unlike the
Irish,. they never dream of making
the kitchen q sitting or dining-room
And, unlike the Americans, they do not
cook three times day. Twice day
the Cuban servant ~or housewife goes
to her kitchen and does her cooking;
at 10 o'clock. to cook the breakfast,
which is served at eleven, and about
6 o'clock to cook the dinner which is
served at 8. In the morning at 8 or Z
o'clock coffee is served. though for
this purpose the kitchen is not used.
The coffee is cooked in a French cof-
fee pot on the sideboard of the dining
ROOM AS for coffee, nowhere in the
world, Paris and German cities In
,cluded. do they make such excellent
coffee as that made by the Cubans.
They use the coffee grown on the ISL
and, and oftentimes the housewife
picks the beans from coffee bed in
her courtyard just as We would pick
green peas in our own gardens. Gu
ban coffee is very black and strong,
but never muddy like the Turkish.
The coffee bean is usually cheap and
plentiful, and the Cuban cook has
learned that to make good coffee and
not brown water he must not be too
sparing of the raw material. He never
allows less than q full teacup of
ground coffee to pint of water
At breakfast, at every place, stands
bottle of red Bordeaux or Catalonian
wine which is drunk as freely as
water. The food is usually abundant
and nourishing. After breakfast, and
not with it. coffee is served.
AT breakfast they have the inevita-
BILE honey, and fruit, and eggs, the last
being cooked in styles about the same
as in the States In addition, a IA
vorite breakfast dish is small ten
derloin steak, served with sliced fried
potatoes.
The island has ninety different kinds
of rice, which the natives cook in al
most ninety different ways. In Cuba
rice grows in the water or it grows on
dry land; some varieties come to ma
turity in three months, others not for
four to six months. Besides the ordi-
nary ways of cooking rice in puddings,
curries, and so on, the Cubans have a
dish of their own, rice casserole. 1t is
usually served as an entree. Its in
gradients, sufficient to fill moderate
sized casserole, are a pound of rice,
two pints of weak stock, two slices of
fat. ham and one teasDoonful of salt.
The casserole, when ready, is used, of
course, as a border for ragouts and
fricassees. Translated from the Span
ish, the Cuban recipe for this dish is
after having washed the rice in
water two or three times, drain it we'll
and put it in stew pan with the stock,
ham and salt: cover the pan and let
the rice gradually swell over a slow
fire. occasionally stirring to prevent its
sticking. When it is quite soft strain
it, pick out the pieces of ham, and,
with the back of large wooden
spoon, mash the rice into perfectly
smooth paste Then we'll grease a
mold and turn it upside down for a
minute or two to drain, then put some
rice all around the bottom and sides Of
it, place a piece Of soft bread in the
middle, cover it with rice: press it in
equally with the spoon. and let it
cool. Then dip the, mold into hot
water, turn the casserole carefully on
a dish, mark where the lid is to be
formed on the top, by making an in
cisfon with the point of knife about
an inch from the edge all around, and
put in a very hot oven. Brush it over
with a little butter and bake about
half an hour or. rather elonger. Then
carefully remove the lid, which will
be formed by the ,incision having been
made all around, remove the bread in
small pieces with the point of knife.
being careful not to inJure the casse-
role. Fill the center with the ragout
or fricassee, which should be made
thick; put on the cover, glaze it, place
It in the oven to set the glaze Serve
as hot as possible. e.''-American Kitchen
Magazine