The Art of The Proper Arroz con Pollo

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

[dansangel]

Thank-you for the link you posted bringing me here. This gave me a lump as big as Texas in my throat. Two reasons:

1) I miss my mother's Italian cooking. She's back home in FL and I'm stuck here in Atlanta. She also (like your mother) doesn't cook the same dishes any more due to health reasons. But, when we visit and the mood strikes her, the food is outstanding.

2) I miss the good Cuban restaurants so abundant in FL and so lacking up here. Even though the restaurant food is not as good as your mother's (just like the Italian restaurants don't compare to my mom's or my dearly departed grandmother's), to "novices" like me, it is heaven! :-)

((((((((((Luis)))))))))

[Budge]

Luis, you better not have thrown that recipe away around exit 16!

You better tell us you still have it...somewhere, because I know there is going to be a lot of FReepers that will want it.

Or that you submitted it to "The Clinton Legacy Cookbook!"

Or are you going to force a large contingency of FReepers to gang up, come down there, and turn you over our knees? :)

Really would love to have your Mama's recipe!

Please say, however you must, we love her.

[dansangel]

Ping - this will get your taste buds going!

[hardhead]

I don't know the subtle differences between countries or regions, but I can remember while stationed in Puerto Rico in the early 1960s that arroz con pollo was excellente! This makes me hungry.

[Alamo-Girl]

Oh my, what a beautiful essay! What precious memories! Thank you, Luis. Hugs!!!

[Bizzy Bugz]

Luis, How beautiful. I did not realize it until I read your post that it is just Mothers love and not her dressing for Thanksgiving that we all miss so much. All of my familiy always try to make dressing like Mother and we cannot make it "Just like hers", although I have watched her for lots of years make dressing and my family just smiles and says "Mother this is so good, But it is just not like Mama's".
Thank you for your post.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Thank you for the article.

If I may ask, where or near where did you live in Havana?

To share with you a couple of things which I think you might enjoy: “…she had used hens instead of chickens…” In Panama, we call these hens “gallina de patio” to differentiate them from commercially raised chickens. The galliana de patillo has more flavor.

“Hasta luego” is always used here also. “Adios” is considered permanent…a permanent goodbye.

Is “bijol” the same as “achiote?” Achiote are small red seeds that are dumped into boiling oil. They release a red color and a pleasant flavor and is used in arroz con pollo here.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Ref post 52.

I see my question about achiote vs. bijol was answered. thank you.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Thank you. I couldn't find bijol in my dictionary. Neither could I find achiote for that matter. But I do have my little container of commercial achiote in front of me. I was looking to see if the container also used the word bijol.

[Mamzelle]

I don't know bijol, is it anything like achiote? Maybe the scent you remember is saffron, and her "precious store" would make a lot of sense in that case.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Shame on you, Luis, if you threw away your mother's recipe. If you did, your assignment from us is to return to your mother's home and write up a new one for us. Thank you.

[Mamzelle]

Achiote--I use it to flavor my "ugly soup." (Lentil soup with barley). This was a creation from early marriage poverty, chicken broth/lentils/barley/half a package of achiote-- with whatever meat you have, like kielbasa. Threw it together during a very lean time, and it became a family favorite. But it *is* ugly.

[nutmeg]

bump

[No!]

`had me cryin like a baby...

Macho guy that I am!

Hasta luegos Luis... :)

[Grampa Dave]

Man, this post made my mouth water. We don't have any good Cuban restaurants in the N. California area that I know of.

[carlo3b]

What a wonderful story Luis, once again capturing the essence of the moment in your family kitchen.. oh, all of those wonderful memories, full of familiar smells, and laughter. If I had an acceptable replacement recipe, that I've prepared, for your grandma's authentic favorite Cuban dish, which I haven't, I wouldn't dare post it without this disclaimer; there were 6 women in our immediate family, 4 of which were infamous in the kitchen, and they could start a revolution over nuances in how to prepare our own family Lasagna recipe!
The following is taken from a yellowed 3 x 5 card, stuffed into an old cookbook. I filed it under Cuban because it came from my dearest friend, who's Cuban mother passed a few years ago and said she wanted me to have her cookbook. She and I would play in the kitchen when I was invited over to their home for the holidays. So I cherish it and the memories of that giant of a 4'9" woman. I hope this helps Luis;

Maria Fuente's RICE WITH CHICKEN
(typed as well as I could decipher and crudely translated what she wrote)

1 chicken of 3 pounds cut in pieces
1  minced onion
4 minced cloves of garlic
½ dry red pepper
1 teaspoon of  comine (I think this is cumin)
1 teaspoon of oregano
1 teaspoon of pepper
1 leaf of laurel (bay leaf)
2 pounds of  rice grain , short not long
1 tin of beer
1 tin of 6 ounces of tomato sauce
1 teaspoon of bijol
1 small tin of petit pois (spring peas).
¼ cup of capers
¼ cup of olives
juice of a lemon
6 water cups
3 olive oil teaspoons
1 tin of 6 ounces of peppers (I think this is hot peppers)
1/cup of dry wine
Instructions :
In an iron pot it puts the chicken, the lemon juice, the onion, garlic, the red pepper, I combine, the oregano, the pepper, the laurel leaf, the oil and sofríalo by 5 minutes; year the water, the salt, bijol and cooks by 15 minutes.    Year the rice and revuélvalo occasionally.   Lower the flame and you begin to add the beer and the dry wine, according to is cooked as well as I eliminate of petit pois and the peppers.   This rice does not have to be dry, so add these liquids little by little, according to needs it until this totally soft one.   Cocínelo by 30 minutes.   add the olives, the capers and the olive oil, adórnelo with the peppers and peas.

[gitmo]

I haven't had decent Arroz con Pollo since I left Guantanamo in the 60's. Thanks for the memories.

[JimRed]

God bless your mother! Now you've gone and made me hungry. BTW, is the bijol saffron?

[Luis Gonzalez]

I was born in Pinar Del Rio, in a litle town called Artemisa. We moved to La Habana while I was still very young, to a neighborhood called Las Viboras, a street named San Miguel.

Points of reference being the infamous Loma del Burro nearby, and a great view of the harbor from our balcony, which was interesting in the fact that our apartment was on the bottom floor of the building, but since it was built on the side of a hill, the back of the building (where our apartment was located) was three stories high.

One last thing, about saying adios.

[dixie sass]

Dearest, dearest Luis. Treasure her. Momma and Grandmomma were my very best friends in the world. I miss them both so much. There were times when I would want to fix a certain dish and I would have to call Momma or Grandmomma to make sure that I remembered the ingredients and how to combine them. There was always something missing...

You know what that was, don't you. Something every Momma puts into her cooking that can't be bought or grown - it's a mothers love.

I'm sitting here with tears streaming down my face, this piece today makes me even lonelier than before. Even though I know that their spirit is in me, I can't run into the next room and tell Momma that she should really come read this or call Grandmomma on the phone to read it to her.

Thank you for sharing your Momma with us today.

Hugs for you and your family.
May GOD bless you and yours.
Dixie