A Cuban Thanksgiving

An Excerpt From Our Latin Table
by Fernando Saralegui 
Cuban Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is the fall's big gathering. The kitchen is always crowded, 
with Ale passing Luli the daiquiri under Kendall's arm, while he is putting the 
bird in the oven. I'm balancing a glass of wine and reaching for a boniato 
handoff from Angela. The table is a long one on this day. We manage to blend 
some of our favorite Cuban flavors with this quintessential American holiday. We 
have a lot to be thankful for. 
Steamed Yuca with Mojo
3 pounds frozen yuca
10 cloves garlic
4 cups oregano leaves
Juice of 2 limes
� Cup olive oil
� Cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/8 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper to taste 
Steam the yuca in the basket of a vegetable steamer over medium-high heat 
for 30 minutes. 
While the yuca is steaming, puree the garlic, oregano, lime juice, olive 
oil, orange juice, cumin, salt, and pepper in the jar of a blender or in a food 
processor fitted with a metal blade. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve yuca 
hot with mojo sauce. 
 
Cumin-and-Oregano Rubbed Turkey with Chorizo-and Cornbread Stuffing
The truth is that our Thanksgiving turkey is an annual experiment because 
the turkey preparation job is taken on by a different sibling every year. 
This recipe is one of my favorites. 
16-pound turkey, fresh or defrosted
3-4 cups Cornbread Stuffing (recipe follows)
Kitchen string
Cumin Rub (recipe follows)
1� cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 
Remove the plastic piece from the legs of the turkey, if necessary, and the 
gizzard package and neck from the cavity. Rinse the turkey inside and out 
with very cold water and pat dry with paper towels. 
Loosely stuff the turkey with the stuffing. Pull the legs together so that 
they overlap. Use the kitchen string to tie the legs together. Spoon any 
leftover cornbread stuffing into a buttered ovenproof casserole dish. Bake in a 
350-degree oven, uncovered, for 20–25 minutes, or until crispy and golden 
brown. 
Using your hands, gently rub about half to three quarters of the cumin rub 
over the exterior of the turkey, working it lightly into the skin. Reserve the 
remaining rub for basting the turkey during roasting. 
Place the turkey on a rack in a large roasting pan. Roast uncovered for 30 
minutes until the skin starts to brown, then cover with aluminum foil. 
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt the 3 sticks of butter over medium 
heat. Stir in the remaining rub. Set aside, covered, to keep warm. Use a pastry 
brush to baste the turkey with the seasoned butter every 30 minutes during 
roasting. 
Reduce the heat to 325 degrees and roast the turkey for about 4 � hours, or 
until the juices run clear when the meat is pricked, the leg joints feel 
loose, and a meat thermometer registers 180 degrees when inserted in the thickest 
part of the thigh. Check the stuffing: the thermometer should register 165 
degrees when inserted into the center of the stuffing. 
 
CUMIN RUB
� cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons cumin
5 tablespoons dried oregano
3 tablespoons smoked paprika (hot)
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons fresh-cracked pepper
� cup olive oil 
In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. 
Combine the seasonings and olive oil in a mixing bowl. 
Add the melted butter and stir to mix well. 
Set aside to cool to room temperature. 
 
CORNBREAD STUFFING
4 8�-ounce boxes cornbread mix
1 cup toasted pine nuts
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
2 large Spanish onions, chopped
10 cloves garlic, minced
4 small (7 ounces) chorizo sausages, diced
2 roasted red bell peppers, chopped
1 cup fresh oregano, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste 
Bake the cornbread according to package directions. While the bread is still 
warm, cut it into small cubes in the pan. Let the bread sit at room 
temperature, uncovered, for 12 hours or overnight. Remove the bread from the pan and 
crumble to make coarse breadcrumbs. 
To toast the pine nuts, bake them on a baking sheet in a 300-degree oven for 
approximately 5 minutes until they turn golden brown. Watch carefully as 
they will burn fast. Immediately remove the nuts from the pan to a clean dish to 
stop them cooking. 
In a medium saut� pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Saut� the onion and 
garlic until translucent but not browned, about 5 minutes. 
In a large bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, pine nuts, saut�ed onion and 
garlic, sausages, red pepper and oregano, mixing well. Season to taste with salt 
and pepper. The stuffing can be made up to this point a day in advance and kept 
 refrigerated in an airtight container. 
Reserve 3 to 4 cups of the stuffing to stuff the turkey. 
 
 
Pumpkin Flan
1� cup sugar
1� cups whole milk
� cup unflavored canned pumpkin puree
1 cinnamon stick
� teaspoon salt
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
In a heavy saucepan melt 1 cup sugar over medium-high heat, stirring 
occasionally, until the sugar is amber in color and has turned into a smooth liquid. 
Immediately remove the syrup from heat and pour evenly into the bottom of a 
heated 9-inch glass pie plate, 2-quart casserole dish, or a cake mold. (To 
heat the dish, pour hot or boiling water into it and let stand for a minute or 
two, then drain and dry completely before adding the sugar syrup.) 
In a heavy saucepan, bring the milk, pumpkin puree, cinnamon stick, and salt 
to a boil over medium heat and remove from heat immediately. Discard the 
cinnamon stick. 
In a large mixing bowl beat together the eggs, egg yolks, remaining sugar, 
and vanilla. While the beater is running, slowly add � cup of the hot milk 
mixture and beat until eggs are tempered, then slowly add the remaining hot 
milk. 
Pour the mixture into the dish over the hardened sugar syrup and place in a 
baking pan. Add hot water to halfway up the side of the dish. Place in oven 
and cook for 1 hour or until the custard has set. 
Carefully remove the baking pan from the oven and remove the flan dish from 
the hot water bath and allow to cool. While the flan is still warm, run a 
knife around the edge to loosen it. 
To remove flan, place a large, deep plate face down on top of the dish and 
invert the flan onto the plate. Make sure the plate is large enough to hold 
the flan and has enough of a well to hold the syrup. 
Flan can be served warm or chilled. The flan can be prepared 2 days in 
advance and kept covered and refrigerated. 
_http://oldfashionedliving.com/holidays/latintable2.html_ 
(http://oldfashionedliving.com/holidays/latintable2.html) 
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