Mouth- and eye-watering, hot, hot, hot Latin and Caribbean recipes.

From Publishers Weekly
Read this book for an insider's urbane perspective on Cuban cuisine-and for its spicy "Floribbean" creations. Food writer and television-cooking-show host Lafray has written several guides to Florida restaurants-and her cookbook also could serve as a culinary guide, since almost one-third of the recipes come from professional chefs and restaurateurs from both the U.S. and Cuba. Yet Lafray's book is not a paean to celebrity chefs so much as a chronicle of the influences of Cuban culture on American cooking, a trend she invokes frequently as "nuevo Cubano." The New Cuban style calls for fresh tropical fruits and vegetables, combined with meats and fish into lighter dishes than might have been traditional in old Cuba. For example, black beans may be made unctuous with creamy lard and garnished with crispy pork cracklings-or cooked with olive oil, instead. A practical tone makes Lafray's recipes seem unintimidating: unusual ingredients are defined, and tips on handling and preparations are found in almost all recipe prefaces. Enthusiasm can make Lafray sound a bit repetitious, but she demonstrates the style and flair of Cuban cooking and brings recipes of talented Cuban and Floridian chefs to a wider audience. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
LaFray is a Florida food writer, former restaurant critic, and author of several books, including Tropic Cooking: The New Cuisine of Florida and the Caribbean (LJ 11/15/87). Miami's restaurant scene is hot now, with innovative Cuban American cuisine playing an important part, but LaFray first became intrigued by Cuban cooking many years ago and has traveled to Cuba, visiting both restaurants and home kitchens. Here she presents recipes for traditional Cuban dishes (with Creole and Chinese as well as Spanish influences), for Cuban American favorites, and for nuevo Cubano cuisine-what those celebrated young chefs are cooking now. There are still few titles in this area; Linette Creen's A Taste of Cuba (LJ 4/15/91) covers some of this ground, but LaFray's book is broader in scope. Highly recommended.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The voluptuousness and mystery of Cuba is brought out here in an extensive recipe collection of famous and not-so-famous Cuban fare. LaFray, a self-taught Cuban food expert, brings the traditional and the avant-garde together, offering recipes that either originated in Cuba years ago or have developed recently--nuevo cubano--in southern Florida. The first section features bases and sauces that are called for in many of the recipes. There is a good mix of easy and complex recipes, and LaFray covers all the courses from appetizer to dessert. There is sometimes too much American influence in her recipes, but LaFray generally sticks with authentic Cuban spices and flavorings, giving just about anyone the power to have a cocina cubana. A glossary of both Cuban terms and obscure ingredients rounds out this fine batch of recipes. Mary Frances Wilkens

Book Description
Here is the most complete guide ever to the robust and soul-satisfying flavors of Cuba, both the traditional or classico foods and the exciting nuevo dishes rapidly becoming so popular here and on the island.Caribbean food expert and long-time fan and proponent of Cuban cuisine in America, Joyce LaFray has included hundreds of recipes from home cooks and restaurants that reflect the vigorous and flavorful cooking of this tropical island. The pages of ¡Cuba Cocina! are fitted with the tantalizing scents of garlic, citantro, tomato, sweet peppers, and those ubiquitous favorites, black beans and rice.Distinctively delicious recipes include fresh red snapper served with a tangy citantro-lime sauce, a crab dish that incorporates crisp plantains and a mango vinaigrette, and a Creole stewed shrimp prepared in the style of the province of Santiago de Cuba. Alongside the traditional arroz con pollo, ropa vieja, pollo frito and roast suckling pig are recipes for nuevo-style roast turkey with black bean stuffing. ginger-sherried roast pork, and pork medallions with yuca and mojo.To accompany all these dishes are more than two dozen recipes for salsas, and great tropical fruit and vegetable offerings such as fluffy calbaza souffle and eggplant stuffed with ripe tomatoes, peppers, and raisins.On the more indulgent side there are dozens of island cocktails, with and without alcohol. and a sumptuous array of aaah-inspiring desserts: flan with rum sauce, mango-coconut cake, and acreamy custard called natilla. Cuban traditionalists will love the mamey sapote and mango ice cream.For those new to Cuban cooking. an exhaustive glossary covers the essential terms and ingredients. a shopping list offers Cuban names for major ingredients, and a detailed technique section discusses preparing uncommon fruits, vegetables, shellfish, and more,¡Cuba Cocina! means "Cuba Cooks!" and as this book so amply demonstrates, that activity is cause for celebration.

About the Author
Joyce LaFray, one of Florida and the Caribbean's foremost food experts, is the author of Tropic Cooking: The New Cuisine of Florida and the Caribbean and a dozen other popular cookbooks and guides. As "The Tropical Gourmet," she has been the host of Tropic Cooking, a food and wine television show, and is the food and wine editor of Creative Loafing, a popular newspaper in Tampa, Florida. She lives in St. Petersburg, where she tends to her collection of tropical fruit trees and exotic herbs.

ANNOTATION

Cuban food is showing up on menus in restaurants throughout the U.S. Cuba Cocina! is the definitive cookbook covering classic and nuevo-style recipes, as well as the first ever complete glossary of Cuban ingredients, cooking terms, and cooking techniques.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Here is the most complete guide ever to the robust and soul-satisfying flavors of Cuba, both the traditional or classico foods and the exciting nuevo dishes rapidly becoming so popular here and on the island.Caribbean food expert and long-time fan and proponent of Cuban cuisine in America, Joyce LaFray has included hundreds of recipes from home cooks and restaurants that reflect the vigorous and flavorful cooking of this tropical island. The pages of ¡Cuba Cocina! are fitted with the tantalizing scents of garlic, citantro, tomato, sweet peppers, and those ubiquitous favorites, black beans and rice.Distinctively delicious recipes include fresh red snapper served with a tangy citantro-lime sauce, a crab dish that incorporates crisp plantains and a mango vinaigrette, and a Creole stewed shrimp prepared in the style of the province of Santiago de Cuba. Alongside the traditional arroz con pollo, ropa vieja, pollo frito and roast suckling pig are recipes for nuevo-style roast turkey with black bean stuffing. ginger-sherried roast pork, and pork medallions with yuca and mojo.To accompany all these dishes are more than two dozen recipes for salsas, and great tropical fruit and vegetable offerings such as fluffy calbaza souffle and eggplant stuffed with ripe tomatoes, peppers, and raisins.On the more indulgent side there are dozens of island cocktails, with and without alcohol. and a sumptuous array of aaah-inspiring desserts: flan with rum sauce, mango-coconut cake, and acreamy custard called natilla. Cuban traditionalists will love the mamey sapote and mango ice cream.For those new to Cuban cooking. an exhaustive glossary covers the essential terms andingredients. a shopping list offers Cuban names for major ingredients, and a detailed technique section discusses preparing uncommon fruits, vegetables, shellfish, and more,¡Cuba Cocina! means "Cuba Cooks!" and as this book so amply demonstrates, that activity is cause for celebration.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Read this book for an insider's urbane perspective on Cuban cuisine-and for its spicy ``Floribbean'' creations. Food writer and television-cooking-show host Lafray has written several guides to Florida restaurants-and her cookbook also could serve as a culinary guide, since almost one-third of the recipes come from professional chefs and restaurateurs from both the U.S. and Cuba. Yet Lafray's book is not a paean to celebrity chefs so much as a chronicle of the influences of Cuban culture on American cooking, a trend she invokes frequently as ``nuevo Cubano.'' The New Cuban style calls for fresh tropical fruits and vegetables, combined with meats and fish into lighter dishes than might have been traditional in old Cuba. For example, black beans may be made unctuous with creamy lard and garnished with crispy pork cracklings-or cooked with olive oil, instead. A practical tone makes Lafray's recipes seem unintimidating: unusual ingredients are defined, and tips on handling and preparations are found in almost all recipe prefaces. Enthusiasm can make Lafray sound a bit repetitious, but she demonstrates the style and flair of Cuban cooking and brings recipes of talented Cuban and Floridian chefs to a wider audience. (Sept.)

Library Journal

LaFray is a Florida food writer, former restaurant critic, and author of several books, including Tropic Cooking: The New Cuisine of Florida and the Caribbean (LJ 11/15/87). Miami's restaurant scene is hot now, with innovative Cuban American cuisine playing an important part, but LaFray first became intrigued by Cuban cooking many years ago and has traveled to Cuba, visiting both restaurants and home kitchens. Here she presents recipes for traditional Cuban dishes (with Creole and Chinese as well as Spanish influences), for Cuban American favorites, and for nuevo Cubano cuisine-what those celebrated young chefs are cooking now. There are still few titles in this area; Linette Creen's A Taste of Cuba (LJ 4/15/91) covers some of this ground, but LaFray's book is broader in scope. Highly recommended.

BookList - Mary Frances Wilkens