The Heart Of Puerto Rican Cooking

 Puerto Rican cooking is island cooking, It's a mix of European and indigenous ingredients, blended together to form a unique cuisine. Most of all it's home cooking - the comforting hug needed during hard times and hurricanes, holiday and happy times.

Von Diaz,food professor. author of several cookbooks and articles seen in Bon Appetit, Eater and Epicurious magazines wrote this interesting article along with recipes in today's New York Times Food section.  She is Puerto Rican herself, however being raised in the States, namely Atlanta Georgia, but her heart and cooking belong to this complex tropical island. Its' cooking is a blend of Taino, the original culture of the island along with African and Spanish. Even modern American cooking has lent a hand - thanks to the introduction of canned food. There is also a nouvelle cuisine vibe with pastellos de guyaba, a mix of cheese queso en hoja and guava paste.Of course the backbone of Puerto Rican cooking is sofrito, a cooked mix of garlic , onions and peppers and spiked with culantro - cilantro's cousin. This is in many dishes. such as arroz mamposteao, a rice dish also made with beans and veggie or chicken broth.  Sofrito is in other dishes too, like sancocho, a stew that combines, beef, pork and chicken with the indigenous roots  like white yautia and yucca.

Of course the highlight of any Puerto Rican holiday dinner is pernil.This is a pork shoulder marinated in garlic, citrus and herbs and then roasted for an hour in a 400 degree Farenheit oven . The marinade is a flavorful combo of sour orange juice, garlic cloves, and oregano. (Professor DIaz also offers a tip for cleaning the roast pan too because the skin will stick). Another delicious main course is pescado frito, fried snapper. Again, the marinade is the same as the pernil, except with the addition of sazon - a mix of coriander,garlic cumin and annatto - seeds from the achiote tree. This gives color and flavor to the fish which is cut in three places, better for the marinade to soak in. It's then fried, whole, head an tail in vegetable oil. The fried fish is served with lime. What can end all these dishes? Those pastillos de guyaba, easily made with puff pastry dough. Farmer's cheese can be used in place  of fresco en hoja.  They should be left to cool because the guava gets molten hot and will badly burn your mouth.) Once cool, sprinkle confectioner's sugar over them  and store in an airtight container. Stale ones can be refreshed in a 350 degree Fareneheit oven for five minutes before eating.

Puerto Rican cooking is rich and complex. It's a mix of all sorts of flavors , indigenous, Spanish and African.  This is a perfect blend of deliciousness, pride and history.

Chefs To The Rescue

Food heals no matter what the problem. It comforts. It nourishes. It gives strength in hard times. No one knows this better than chefs. No one can stop them - not even a hurricane named Maria.

Kim Severson wrote about this amazing cadre of cooks in yesterday's New York Times Food section. Maria devastated the entire island of Puerto Rico and unfortunately that devastation is still there. Many not only lost power but also their homes and that means kitchens too.Even the hotels couldn;t help out. They too were in the path of the hurricane,. Thankfully Chef Jose Andre, a Spanish born chef and giant in the culinary world. stepped in and created  chains of pop up kitchens everywhere, from big cities to mountain villages. He came right after the storm and hasn't left. He was so devoted that he over worked himself and suffered dehydration. Thanks to him , food,  - warm meals and sandwiches were given out to the population,This was more than even the Red Cross and Salvation Army did. He went to food distributors and bought up everything they had. He bought every aluminum pan he could get his hands on. He and his crew started out with the classic Puerto Rican stew sancocho. It fed everyone, from tireless medical workers to those just waiting on line for gas. Even the salvation Army came up to him and asked for 120 meals.

Chef Andre is not new to giving or natural disasters. Back in 2011, he went to help out in Haiti after their earthquake. A year later he was in Houston, wanting to know how to expand the scope of World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding those who need food relief. He worked with the organization;'s executive director, Brian MacNair. to add emergency food relief to an agenda that includes building school kitchens and organizing culinary training.  This worked when Hurricane Irma hit FLorida. A manual was quickly written up showing chefs in Miami what to do to sixteen days before Irma hit. It was like a mis en place for disaster. Kitchens and chefs aiding those in need is nothing new. After 9/11. many restaurants near the World Trade Towers devoted their time and effort as well as food to the emergency workers. Competitive chef , Cat Cora started Chefs For humanity after the Sumatra earthquake and there was a contingent of barbecue chefs that headed to help out in Joplin, Missouri,after the 2010 tornadoes.

Chefs , like Chef. Andre set the tone for cuisine. Yet they also help in feeding those who  need it.They are more than just cooks, they're the healers and nourishers  - the hero s who feed and also lead too.