Puerto Rican cuisine consists of the cooking style and traditional dishes original to Puerto Rico. It has been primarily a fusion influenced by the ancestors of the Puerto Rican people: the indigenous Taínos, Spanish Criollos and sub-Saharan African slaves. As a territory of the United States, the culinary scene of Puerto Rico has also been moderately influenced by American cuisine.
History
Puerto Rican cuisine is a product of diverse cultural influences, including Taíno Arawak, Spanish Criollos, and Africans. It is characterized by a unique blend of Spanish seasonings and ingredients, which makes it similar to Spanish and other Latin American cuisines. Locally, it is known as cocina criolla.
The roots of traditional Puerto Rican cuisine can be traced back to the 15th century. In 1848, the first restaurant, La Mallorquina, was opened in Old San Juan. The island's first cookbook, El Cocinero Puerto-Riqueño o Formulario, was published in 1859.Ortiz, Yvonne. A Taste of Puerto Rico: Traditional and New Dishes from the Puerto Rican Community. Penguin group, 1997. P. 3
Taíno influence
Many of the arrowroots and root vegetables used in Puerto Rican cuisine, collectively known as viandas, have their roots in the diets of the indigenous Taíno people. These include cassava (Spanish: yuca) and three kinds of tannier (Spanish: yautía) which are staples in traditional Puerto Rican dishes. Other popular root vegetables include sweet corn root (Spanish: lerén), sweet potato (Spanish: batata mameya), celeriac (Spanish: apio criollo), white sweet potato (Spanish: batata; this potato has purple skin and white flesh) and yambee (Spanish: yambi), all of which are cultivated in the mountain regions of the island.Raíces y Tubérculos. Centro de Recursos Informativos Digitales Agrícolas de Puerto Rico (CRIDAg). University de Puerto Rico en Mayaguez. 2018. Accessed 8 December 2018.
It is hypothesized that Taínos used cooking methods that resemble what is called barbecue today. By some counts, the earliest recorded use of the term barbecue can be traced back to a journal entry made by a Spanish settler upon landing in the Caribbean. The term was used by the indigenous Taino people, who referred to the practice of slow-cooking food over a raised wooden platform as barabicu, which means "sacred pit" in their language. While the Tainos likely slow-roasted fish due to the region and their diet at the time, this cooking method may have given rise to what is today known as barbecue. The Taíno ate a variety of spices, herbs, fruits and foods, including squash, allspice, avocado (fruit and leaves), chili, beans, peppers, papaya (fruit, leaves, and seeds used as a spice), guava (fruit and leaves, wood was used for fire and cooking), soursop (fruit and leaves), corn, lippia, peanuts, and culantro. Some of these foods are still part of Puerto Rican cooking today. The Taínos hunted birds, reptiles, and small mammals, such as hutia and gathered snails, eggs, honey, clams, oysters, and mussels. They also captured manatees and turtles.
African influence
While the contributions made by people of African descent are often overlooked in Puerto Rico, their cultural contributions to the island are significant. Several popular Puerto Rican dishes date back to African influences including mofongo, bacalaitos, funche, and pasteles.
Africans transformed the ceramic cooking tool used by native Tainos to make casaba (yuca-based flatbread) into an iron griddle called “burén.” The tool is used for cooking coconut-based candies wrapped in banana leaf, mondongo, sancocho, coconut rice, gandinga, cazuela, and many plates they brought to the Puerto Rican culinary culture. Important ingredients such as bananas, plantains, yams, orégano brujo, pigeon peas, and maybe even rice were introduced by Africans through the slave trade. Africans also brought spices and used the native spice annatto in food. Before then annatto was used by Tainos for body paint and a repellent against the sun.
The slave trade brought guinea fowl to the Caribbean from West Africa in the 1500s. Guinea fowl is a traditional Puerto Rican dish that can be prepared as a fricassee in lemon zest, sofrito, wine, raisins, olives, and other ingredients. Roasted and marinated traditionally in adobo, orégano brujo, sazón, citrus, and vinegar and often stiffed with mofongo or arroz junto (rice, beans, and pork).
A traditional and typical meal in the Caribbean is braised fish, meat, vegetables, and beans that derived from the African cuisine. In Puerto Rico these braised dishes called guisadas are served over rice, mofongo, or funche. In Puerto Rico guisadas are typically made with olives, capers, cumin, annatto oil, bay leaves, recaito, lippia micromera, coriander seeds with tomato sauce, potato and pig feet to thicken the sauce. Chicken can be made with bits of ham and beer while beef switches out beer and ham for wine, mushrooms and adds rosemary, both have carrots and sweet peas. Beans like black, red or pink are cooked with additional squash and also bits of ham or salchichón (Puerto Rican salami) in water or broth. Salted cod fish guisadas is also a popular dish with no pork included cooked in white wine, cream and/or coconut milk and served with guanimes (Taino dish similar to tamal).
Spanish influence
Chorizo is a sausage brought over from Spain that is used in a variety of Puerto Rican dishes. Arroz con pollo is frequently made with chorizo; other chorizo dishes include asopao con pollo y chorizo (rice soup with chicken and chorizo), arroz mamposteao (Puerto Rican fried rice with chorizo), chorizo potato salad, and classic breakfast chorizo with chayote and eggs.
As in Spain, bakeries function as social hubs. These local bakeries were first established by Spanish settlers. Major desserts include flan, a favorite among Hispanic families. There are many flavors of coffee, coquito, orangelo, soursop, piña colada, cassava, sweet plantain, and countless others throughout the island. Originally from Spain, Brazo gitano is a typical dessert in the south of the island but can be found in bakeries all over Puerto Rico. Brazo gitano is a simple thin sponge filled with cream cheese and another ingredient (such as guava, mango, lemon, corn, passionfruit, papaya, carrots with sweet potato and spices, pistachio, or nutella) and rolled up.
Breadfruit was introduced to Puerto Rico by Captain William Bligh in 1793 and has since become a naturalized part of the island's landscape. This fruit is used as a replacement for plantains as it is used the same way. It is a favorite among Puerto Ricans and frequently paired with fish and coconut or as a dessert with coconut and banana. Mofongo de pana, breadfruit flan, alcapurria de pana, tostones de pana (re-fried breadfruit), pastele de pana, pastelón de pana (breadfruit casserole), ralleno de pana (breadfruit version of papa rellena), and cazuela replacing cassava with breadfruit. Breadfruit flour is widely available throughout the island and used to make cookies, empanada dough, fry batter, bread, pancakes, and waffles.
Regional Arecibo Arecibo is the biggest municipality in Puerto Rico by area and is located on the northern coast. In the Río Grande de Arecibo, whitebait called cetí is caught.
Basic ingredients Seafood and shellfish
On some coastal towns of the island, such as Luquillo, Fajardo, and Cabo Rojo, seafood is quite popular.
Cetí – Cetí or whitebait is a tiny immature transparent fish that lives in the Río Grande de Arecibo. During the annual migration from July through December, cetí becomes abundant in the Arecibo area and is widely used in local cuisine. This tiny transparent fish is just about an inch long, and it is the most delicious when deep-fried and eaten whole.
The Arecibo region is also famous for its pasteles filled with cetí. Usually, Puerto Rican pasteles are cooked with meat, however, they taste even better with fish. The recipe includes cetí, squash, yuca, yautía, and coconut milk. Pasteles are always wrapped in banana leaf and grilled. It is one of the delicacies served during the Christmas holidays. Cetí is also used in mofongo, alcapurrias, empanadas and other Puerto Rican dishes.Historia del Cetí en Puerto Rico y el Caribe. Ferdinand Quiñones. FoodiesPR.com February 2015. Accessed 25 January 2022. Archived. Chillo – Red snapper is a favorite among the locals.Nos gusta el bacalao, pero el chillo es el rey de la mesa puertorriqueña Según varios expertos, el chillo es el pescado favorito de los consumidores del país. Agustín Criollo Oquero. Primera Hora. 12 August 2014. Accessed 25 January 2022. Archive. Codfish and dried and salted cod – Codfish has been a part of Puerto Rican cuisine for a long time, with a history that dates back to European exploration and trade. Salted cod was a staple food for European sailors and explorers because it was a non-perishable source of protein. It was also cheap labor food for slaves during the Atlantic slave trade. Salted codfish is cheap, easily accessible, and eaten daily in Puerto Rico. While most Puerto Ricans enjoy bacalao guisado, bacalaíto, buñuelos de bacalao (cod fritters replacing potato with yuca, batata, or sweet plantain), alcapurria stuffed with cod, arroz con bacalao (one-pot rice with salted codfish), croquettes de bacalao, serenata de bacalao, bacalao con viandas, caldo santo (sancocho made with coconut milk, codfish, and shellfish), and the famous codfish ice cream from Lares Ice Cream Parlor.
Seasoning Traditional cooking on the island uses more fresh and local ingredients such as citrus to make mojo and mojito isleño and especially fresh herbs, vegetables and peppers to make recaíto and sofrito.
The base of many Puerto Rican main dishes involves sofrito, similar to the mirepoix of French cooking, or the "trinity" of Creole cooking. A proper sofrito is a sauté of freshly ground garlic, yellow onions, culantro, cilantro, red peppers, cachucha and cubanelle peppers. Sofrito is traditionally cooked with tomato paste or sauce, oil or lard, and cured pork. A mix of stuffed olives and capers called alcaparrado are usually added with dry spices. Adobo in Puerto Rico most traditional refers to a wet rub known as adobo mojado (wet seasoning) of Caribbean oregano, salt, black pepper, garlic, shallot, vinegar, citrus juice and zest.
Adobos come in two forms: dry (adobo seco) and wet (adobo mojado). Both use the same garlic, onion, salt, black pepper, lippia (orégano), and citrus. While adobo seco uses dry ingredients and the option of citrus zest, adobo mojado uses fresh ingredients mixed with olive oil, vinegar, and citrus juice. Both of these forms of adobo are typically rubbed on meats and fish. Adobo seco is considered more of an all-purpose seasoning used for most typically Puerto Rican dishes.
Sazón, like adobo, is widely used in Puerto Rican cuisine. It is traditionally made with cumin, salt, annatto powder, and coriander seeds, with the option of paprika, turmeric, crushed bay leaves or avocado leaves.
Sorfito and recaíto are used in the same way but with minor differences, as recaito is heavier on the herb culantro known as recao on the island thus giving its name recaito. The base is a puree made with a large amount or both cilantro and culantro, green bell peppers, garlic, yellow onions or scallions, oregano brujo, cachucha and recently parsely.
Annatto oil is made from steeping annatto seeds with oil or lard with olive oil used mostly and sometimes steeped with bay leaves. It is used for signature dishes adding a bright yellow-orange color and smoky peppery taste to pasteles, arroz con gandlues, alcapurrias, arroz junto, used to sear meats for stews and soups.
Puerto Rican dishes