Cuban cooking is about making the most of what you have. Its recipes aim to make a lot out of a little, using the ingredients that are on hand.

“They don’t have a winter, but still can only get certain things at certain times of the year,” says Guillermo Pernot, chef-partner of Cuba Libre Restaurant and Rum Bar. “When the fish don’t swim by because migration comes in September, you don’t have fish. Mangoes come at certain times of the year. Papayas come at certain times. Potatoes are difficult to find. Sometimes you don’t have carrots, sometimes you don’t have eggs. It’s this wonderful struggle, in a good way. You can make food about almost everything, and make it fantastic.”

Pernot was born in Argentina, but has focused on Cuban and Latino cooking for years. He spent time as a chef with a restaurant owned by Gloria Estefan Group in the 1980s, and went on to launch his own Latin-themed restaurant, Pasion, in New York. Today, Cuba Libre aims to represent an evolution in Cuban cuisine. He’s also personally connected to the culture through his wife, who is Cuban.

“Simple” and “seasonal” might be the two words one would use to describe Cuban cuisine. Food on the island, which is about the same size as its closest U.S. neighbor, Florida, draws from a range of influences. Pernot, who has traveled to Cuba, described restaurants that take advantage of ingredients found nearby. You might find a Haitian influence in the eastern part of the island and ingredients like coconut, chocolate and chilis, Pernot said. Restaurants in the agricultural region of Vinales in western Cuba tend to utilize only local ingredients found in that region. “You find these little pockets of food culture throughout the island,” Pernot says.

Family and food are two cornerstones of Cuban life. Extended families often live near one another. “Usually, people don’t move far outside of the city,” says Pernot. “They won’t move more than five or six blocks away. The group stays together, and they gather every Sunday.” The menu might include arroz con pollo, beer and maybe a roasted pig. They’ll start the fire and cook over several hours. “People gather, they dance, they play music, they laugh.”

“Food is about family, and Cubans are big on family and gatherings, enjoying life and food together,” says Bruce Ozga, dean of culinary education at the North Miami campus of Johnson & Wales University. He has been observing Cuban cooking for more than 20 years in Miami, where the Cuban influence is strong. Preparing meals is also a family affair.  “The food is very important, and everybody loves to get their hands in the process,” Ozga says.

“Everybody brings something and they come together and eat. But it doesn’t stop there—it’s the music, it’s the dancing and having a great time with family.”

So gather a group of your family and friends (and maybe a pig to roast). It’s time to bring a little bit of culture from America’s island neighbor to your kitchen.

Appliances & Ingredients 

Of course, a good range is important for braising and stewing, both common Cuban cooking methods. A multi-cooker or pressure cooker will be useful for cooking rice and beans, staples in Cuba, and stews like ropa viejo, a common dish at the Cuban table.

Shakes are common in Cuba—mamey shakes (made from the fruit of the native mamey sapote tree), as well as soursop shakes and fruit shakes like pineapple, mango, papaya. “The majority of the fruits they have are local, tree-ripened and ready to go,” Ozga says. “Cubans love their sugar. They juice sugar cane. Orange juice is all fresh-squeezed. That’s part of the culture.” Shakes may also include milk, ice or vanilla extract.

Get a good, durable pot for whipping up a big batch of arroz con pollo. Use a panini press to make grilled sandwiches, and a tortilla maker.

Cuban cooking calls for ingredients found in most U.S. kitchens: onions, garlic, green peppers, cumin, oregano, paprika, oil, rice, beans, eggs, pork, chipotle, diced tomatoes, lime, avocados and plantains.

Start with the basics. “You’re not Cuban unless you’re making a good pot of rice and beans,” Ozga says. Pernot recommends putting together a simple meal of yellow rice and picadillo. Pork is always welcome at the Cuban table. Try your hand at plaintains maduros or plaintains tostones. For dessert, make a flan from condensed milk, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla extract.

Embrace the simplicity of the menu. “Here we have a culture that makes a lot out of a little” Pernot says. “Not everything has to have the best fish or the most expensive ingredients. Just buy a tough cut of meat, stew it, buy peppers, carrots, potatoes and green peas. Make the best stew. Make the best rice possible. For $20 you can feed six people or more. We should learn how to do that.”

Finally, prepare and share the meal as a group, to celebrate the spirit behind the meal. “The people who escaped Cuba and settled in south Florida still keep strong roots and they keep their Cuban culture with them,” Ozga says “They know where they came from, and they always seem to embrace life.”

Learning to cook foods from a culture outside of your own can add new depth to your home cooking. You’ll discover new recipes, new flavors, and learn more about another culture’s history and traditions.

Over the next few weeks, In Every Home will explore various ways you can expand your cooking repertoire and bring new cultures into your kitchen. And, of course, we’ll look at the appliances you should have on hand to get there.

We’re kicking off our series with Thai cuisine. Thai food has surged in popularity in the U.S. over the past few decades, becoming a dining staple for those who crave the cuisine’s comforting and filling rice and noodle dishes and unique flavor spectrum.

“Eating Thai food will stimulate your palate,” says Bee Low, a food blogger, cookbook author and native Malaysian whose site, Rasa Malaysia, specializes in Asian cuisine. “A lot of Americans aren’t used to very sharp tastes. Thai food is a good introduction to Asian food in that you get a sharp tang, a sharp sweetness. The tastes are very strong. It gives you a peek into the culture – the food and everything is very exciting.” Low works in Orange County, Calif., and visits Thailand regularly.

Thai dishes are defined by their combination of flavors: sweet, salty, sour and spicy. “Thai cooking is probably the only cooking that uses equal amounts of salt and sugar,” Low says. “That’s probably very distinct. In Asian cuisine, we don’t use so much sugar. But, it’s offset by the tartness and savoriness.”

Thai food is often associated with spiciness, but it doesn’t have to be spicy. “It’s a combination of sour, sweet, salty and spicy,” says Krong Na Songkhla, a Thailand native, cookbook author and Thai cooking instructor who operates San Diego-based True Taste of Thai. “You have to do combinations of flavors. People have the wrong perception that it’s always spicy. It’s not. Thai food has a punch of sweet, a punch of sour, a punch of flavor. Thai food is about the mixing – it’s not only one flavor. I always tell my students: taste it, remember it, and whatever you like, you can adjust. But you cannot go only one way with Thai food.”

The variety of flavors draws from the diverse group of cultures influencing the cuisine. “We’re close to Burma, Laos, Vietnam. It’s a mixed culture,” Krong says. “You have Indian culture, you have Chinese, you have Muslim culture and Muslim food. We have Middle Eastern food. If you look at the dishes, we don’t have our own curry. The curry we have was influenced a long time ago by India.”

“Thai culture is very exciting, very energetic, very lively. It’s moving, all of the time.”

A few key ingredients will help you bring that Thai flavor punch to your kitchen.

• Fish sauce: You won’t find a lot of salt in Thai recipes. The salty flavor comes from fish sauce. “Every single dish of Thai food has fish sauce,” Low says. “If you don’t have that, you basically cannot cook Thai food. If you replace it with salt, it’s just not going to taste the same.” American diners will be better off purchasing the pungent sauce over trying to make their own. The odor will go away as the dish cooks, Low says, leaving the flavor behind.
• Palm or coconut sugar: Palm or coconut sugar supplies the sweetness in many Thai dishes. “I always tell my students that when they make Thai curry, never use the regular white or brown sugar,” Krong says. “Thai curry uses coconut milk, and somehow, it turns sour if you add those. If you use palm sugar, it tastes mild.”
• Thai chili peppers: They’re sometimes known as bird’s-eye chilis, and you’ll need them to add your Thai cuisine’s spicy kick.
• Lime: You won’t find lemons in Thai recipes. The sour flavor often comes from lime juice.
• Tamarind: Another source of the sour flavor, often used in curry, salads or pad Thai sauce, Krong says.

“If you’re a beginner, fish sauce and palm sugar are the two main ingredients,” says Jirayu Poeter, owner of the Mama Thai Cooking Club, where she teaches holistic Thai cooking. “When you have those two things, you can make anything. Once you use those two ingredients, you can add one or two more.” She encourages budding Thai cooks to familiarize themselves with the different types of soy sauces: light soy sauce, seasoning soy sauce and black sweet soy sauce.

Familiarize yourself with the flavor of the ingredients before you start cooking. “If you don’t know the actual taste of the ingredients, you never know how to mix it together,” Krong says.

Appliances and Kitchen Tools

You won’t need to add a slew of new appliances to start cooking Thai. A good range will do the trick. You will use a wok frequently for stir-fries, but a nonstick skillet or deeper pan can also be used. “I like to use a nonstick skillet,” Low says. “It’s just the easiest, especially for someone who is just learning. I don’t want people to get discouraged with stainless steel, with food getting stuck to the bottom.” A deeper saucepan is useful for soups.

Consider adding a mortar and pestle to your kitchen to make curry paste, powder garlic and powder chili. “I always tell my students that if you don’t have it, you can use the blender. But the texture won’t be the same.”

Krong recalled making curry paste with her mother, a tedious process. “I was pounding 10-15 ingredients together and mixing it until it was smooth, just to get two tablespoons.” When she came to the U.S. two decades ago, she was amazed at how much easier curry paste could be made with a blender. “I use the blender to cut up the first round of curry. It still saves time. You use it for 5-10 seconds, then pour it out and pound for another 10 minutes.”

Ready to embrace real Thai flavors in your own kitchen? Our experts provided these recipes to start you off on your new cultural journey.

Crab Fried Rice (Courtesy of Jirayu Poeter, Mama Thai Cooking Club)

“Fried rice is the easiest one,” Poeter says. “It could be chicken, shrimp or even crab. It’s super easy. You can use leftover rice to make fried rice.”

1 cup cooked rice

1/4 cup crab meat

2 cloves garlic chopped

1/4 cup white or yellow onion sliced

2 green onion sliced

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1-2 tbsp. light soy sauce (to taste)

1/2-1 tbsp. white sugar / raw cane sugar

1 tbsp. extra virgin coconut oil

1 egg

1/4 tsp ground white pepper

Garnish with tomatoes 2-3 sliced + 1 sliced lime + 2 stalks green onion

Preparations

Set the pan or a wok onto medium heat add oil. When oil is hot add garlic and onion stir until onion is cooked and garlic turn lightly brown and then add egg.

When egg start to cook then stir well to mix with onion and garlic.

Add the crab meat and stir well.

Add cooked rice, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, grounded white pepper and mix well, add green onion and one last stir then turn off the heat.

Tom Yum Kung – Spicy & Sour Lemongrass Soup with Shrimp (Courtesy of Krong Na Songkhla, True Taste of Thai)

This recipe can substitute shrimp for chicken, fish, seafood, a variety of mushrooms or tofu.

1.5 cups chicken broth (or 1 can 14.50 oz.)

1 cup water

1 lemongrass stalk, lightly pound & cut into 2″ lengths

3 pieces dried galangal

4 kaffir lime leaves, tear in half & remove central stem

14 shrimp 

1.5 cup mushrooms, slice

1/4 cup coconut milk

3 Thai peppers, cut in half lengthwise

Cilantro

Seasoning sauce

• 3 tbsp. fish sauce
• 2 tbsp. lime juice
• 1 tbsp. Nam Prik Pao (roasted chili paste)

What You Need

• Medium pot

Preparations

1. Bring chicken broth and water to a boil.  Add lemongrass, galangal, and kaffir lime leaves.
2. Add shrimp.  As soon as the shrimp is cooked through, add mushrooms and bring back to a boil.
3. Stir in the seasoning sauce, coconut milk, and chili peppers.  
4. Turn off heat and garnish with cilantro leaves.

In a Thai household, you are likely to find similar dishes on the table, regardless of the time of day. “We eat almost the same things at every meal,” Krong says. “We can wake up in the morning and have pork with sticky rice. But, we share the dishes we cook. We rotate them, no matter the time of day.” Family members will serve themselves a few bites at a time, keeping an eye on others’ plates to make sure everyone has enough. “This is the way we share,” Krong says. “We think about others, and what they like and don’t like.”