The Art of The Proper Arroz con Pollo

The Coconut Telegraph ^ | May 10, 2003 | Luis Gonzalez

[Luis Gonzalez]

To my mother.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Happy Mother's Day FReepers!

[Cacique]

ping

[buffyt]

Best I ever had was made by a friend from Peru. It was a dish to die for. It was tangy and delicious. I have tried to duplicate her recipe and mine is never as good as hers was. And I have been married thirty years and raised three kids, and am an experienced good cook. Arroz con Pollo is just heavenly!

[Clemenza]

YEECH! Even the smell of saffron rice at a Dominican lunch counter makes me sick. Give me a plate of basic Moros y Cristianos anyday of the week.

Why is it that New York has GREAT cuisine (ok Cacique, "traditional dishes") of all nationalities by NO decent Cuban places (with the exception of Victor's 52nd, which is VERY expensive). All I find is "South Beach" pseudo-Cuban, and anyone who has ever lived in Miami can tell you that there are NO good Cuban places on South Beach.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I love to read your stuff Luis. Great, as usual.

[Aracelis]

Luis...that was beautiful...thank you! I feel the same about my mother's turkey stuffing - she's gone now, and I cannot reproduce the recipe. The ingredients I know, but she added something special.

[Clemenza]

See my comment #4.

BTW: No como pollo, prefiero mariscos, especialmente Camarones al Ajillo y Calamares en su Tinta. El Pulpo Asado en Las Culebrinas es mi comida favorita en el sur de Florida.

[nopardons]

Food IS love, Luis, and so wrapped up with memories and emotion, that even your dear four year old, with his daddy's blonde hair knows it in his heart.

Many thanks for your ping to this wonderful story and for you lovely sentiments to all of FR's mothers ! My Mother's Day cards sit on my breakfast room table, sent much too early, by my darling daughter. If only,IF ONLY , I could send my wonderful, badly missed mother and grandmother cards.

I've never eaten Cuban food. Still, your evocative story sets off taste & smell memories of my grandmother's and my mother's kitchens, the dishes I'll never have the pleasure to eat again, and the warmth & love that they gave me, until their dying day.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Squid? I've heard people rave about squid but can't for the life of me understand how. Is there any way to cook it so it does not feel like rubber in the mouth?

[bonfire]

Beautiful, Luis.

[Clemenza]

Is there any way to cook it so it does not feel like rubber in the mouth?

You've obviously been to the wrong restaurants. The key to cooking squid, when either frying or grilling, is not to cook it long. It only gets rubbery if you do not take it out of the fryer/off the grill in time. The easiest way to cook it is to sautee it. I have a recipe for a squid sauce that is outstanding. I would share it, but I am too lazy to type the directions. ;-)

[HiTech RedNeck]

Luis, in this touching story there's a sad question hanging over ... where is your wife? Did she have to stay in Cuba?

[aruanan]

That’s when I realized that I would never find the most important ingredient of them all, and that my four year-old boy was right.

You got that right. I loved Thomasa Guzman's arroz con pollo con gandules, but I loved best watching her bustle around the kitchen and steeping lemon leaf from the little tree in the window in hot water, listening to her commentaries on life and the family, hearing her exclaim, "Ai! Gregorio!" and laugh when I'd tell her about something fairly egregious that had happened while at work. Now that she's gone, arroz con pollo is just chicken with rice.

[Clemenza]

BTW: Calamares en su Tinta is squid cooked in its own ink mixed with rice. I take three trains to a place in Queens (an hour and a half trip) sometimes to get that dish.

[Luis Gonzalez]

No, not at all!

Wife does not cook at all.

Taking her out for a great dinner Sunday night.

[untenured]

Awesome. Years ago I had a recipe for arroz con pollo that I loved, especially after I tinkered with it. But I lost it when we moved and have to do it from memory, so it never turns out quite right. All I remember that was out of the ordinary was olives and a can of beer.

I'm living in Osaka, Japan at the moment, and there's still time this afternoon to shop for tonight's dinner. There's not a lot of bijol to be had, but I'll see what I can do about ad-libbing the ingredients and giving my wife a night off from cooking.

I was at an exhibit here recently on life in Cuba. Like most things involving the nature of man and how he governs himself, the Japanese are very naive about it. The exhibit was full of delighted multiracial Havana groups laughing, singing and smiling. Little do they know.

[catfur]

Luis that was so beautiful.

All so true too. No matter what the recipe, it's just neeeevvvvveeeerrr the way your mom did it.

Your writing is more about your love for your mother than the food.... however, it's been almost 23 yrs. since my mom died and neither I nor my sister have been able to duplicate her many recipes.

You're right, it's her that's missing that's all. Thank you for your post and your wonderful tribute to your mother.

[The KG9 Kid]

Where's the black beans with bay leaves and white rice?

What about the Cubano Tamales with steamed white onions?

What about the jerked shredded pork?

Where's the Ironbeer? Materva?

I thought you were REAL Cubano. I am starting to wonder about you. ;)

[HiTech RedNeck]

Moros y Cristianos

"Moors and Christians" -- what is this dish? Google isn't of much help.