colorados!?!?!? oh man, let me tell you, i was a black bean guy all my life, but my wife, the area where shes from in brasil, colorados are the norm.. at first i was deadset against it, begged for black beans, i mean quien a oido de frijoles colorados todos los dias, con vaca frita and bistec empanizado and the other cuban staples i introduced them too.. slowly but surely, her and her moms colorados made me rethink my position on them.. enjoy'em val

I'm jealous!

Should have called me...

The Cubanism Val used is pegarle la gorra, or "gluing on the cap." Don't look at me, I'm just translating!

In case anyone is interested I posted an extensive comment on Nitza Villapol (the Cuban Julia Child) and her book COCINA AL MINUTO in "Una mentirita, por favor" [Aug. 4th]. It seems she left out some very important things in the latest edition of her cookbook, published in Havana.

"Pegarle la gorra" can also be translated as "sticking someone with the cap," that is, to engage in some kind panhandling.

Val, you really like to torture us, don't you. Thanks a lot!

Now if you're going to talk food, that obliges you to provide some recipes for the culturally deprived out there.

dude your are soooo mean. Now I'm hungry.

that should be either you are or you're....

evidently I can't make up my mind when I need food...

oops.

After reading Val's postings for the last few months I concluded he is a good guy. However, today I have finally seen a little mean streak gloating about the home made Cuban food he had and we didn't. Val, next time I eat vaca frita at Casa Larios and you eat fast food I will be doing the gloating!

Come to think of it, even when you drive through at Burger King you seem to get rewarded!

VAL SEND ME SOME OF THE FRIJOLES BY FEDEX.I LOVE FRIJOLES COLORADOS MY DAD USE TO BE A CHEF AND A GREAT LITTLE CUBAN REST IN NJ.

Val.
You have a wonderful way of writing about family and food...a very Cuban connection I might add.
However, after your Helado de Coco story a couple of days ago, I was hoping you write more about your mom's frijoles colorados and your experience cuando le pegaste la gorra!!
You make us jealous!!

I ate at a Cuban restaurant in Coco Beach once, and the dish was black beans with yellow corn and shrimp in a tomato sauce. Anyone have a recipe for anything like that?

Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!! Lucky you, Val!

Maximus. Despues de investigar en mis libros de cocina ,los de ahora y los viejos ,llego a la conclucion de que los frijoles negros que mencionas no es nada mas que una adaptacion de nuestra reseta basica con la adicion del maiz y los camarones para satifacer el paladar de la poblacion y clientes anglosajones , algo que en el mundo culinario actual se llama cocina nueva latina, si quieres una reseta autentica de frijoles negros cubanos preguntale a tu mama o abuela o a alguna tia. En caso que no seas de herencia cubana, mi reseta es cubana universal y si te gustaria tenerla dejame saber y te la envio por este medio tan pronto la quiras.Delicioso. Sin mas Felix

That's it Val, toture this poor Cuban-American trapped in the heart of Mexico-Town Chicago.

No no no... I'm not jealous, not jealous at all; I'm JUST FREAKIN' DROOLING at the moment. THAT'S ALL.

BUEEEENO:

If I mail you a small tupperware box, ya think you could mail me some eh? If I send you a small enough box asere? You think could put some potaje in it for me compay? Eh Val? Buuuueeeenooooo?

hehehe...

¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Oye Felix, mandame la receta!!!!!!!!!!!!

"la adicion del maiz y los camarones para satifacer el paladar de la poblacion y clientes anglosajones"

Well maybe so, but the corn and shrimp fit perfectly into the dish, and it was very good. I don't know if it was done so much for Anglo clients though, because when my wife and I went into the restaurant, everyone looked at us like we must have been lost or something, and seemed stunned when we sat down to order. Everyone was nice, but I guess Anglos and Hispanics don't mingle much in Coco Beach, which is unfortunate, but we don't really have that problem where I live, so it kind of caught me by surprise. I'd still love to know what was in that dish; I may have to go back to Coco Beach just to eat there again and try to find out.

Maximus: What Félix tried to tell you was that no Cuban cook in her right mind would mix black beans with corn and shrimp. The mere thought of such a combination makes me sick. Black beans are an incorruptible staple of the Cuban diet. Doubtless God could have made a better bean than the black bean, but surely God never did. Your story reminds me of an episode I once saw of the Frugal Gourmet on PBS. The chef devoted the program to Cuban cuisine. Of course he made congri (after a fashion). He first cooked the rice and then he cooked the black beans, and then he mixed the cooked white rice with the cooked black beans to create something which he represented as "congri." But even this idiot didn't think to add corn and shrimp to his black beans. Something else that I find extremely disgusting in the new Miami-Cuban cuisine is the use of mango or other fruity "gravies" on meat (a borrowing from Indian cuisine). Traditional Cuban dishes do not need to be "improved," and any alteration of the classic recipes will only spoil them. Let us all take a moment to be grateful that we were born Cuban because otherwise we might never have known authentic black beans.

M.A.T. Gracias por aclararle a maximus mi punto de vista , nuestros frijolitos aunque en ocaciones nos puede causar episodios de flatulencia, son definitivamente uno de los tantos platos cubanos que cuando personas que no comparten nuestra definitiva herencia cubana tratan de duplicarlo adicionando ingredientes inesesarios, combirtiendo nuestro rico plato en un especie de gumbo sin fronteras; Tambien existen contradiciones en referencia al congri. Primero porque el congri es orijinal de las zonas orientales de la isla y se utiliza el frijol colorado an vez de el negro, y en las zonas occidentales se utiliza el frijol negro y es lo que conosemos como moros y cristianos. Para todos mis colegas en todas partes , aqui va mi reseta universal. Frijoles negros de tia Pura para 10/p = 1 libra de frijoles negros, poner en remojo por 12 horas con una cucharadita de baking soda ( esto se hace para desacerse de los gases que causan flatulencia) una cebolla amarilla mediana ,1 aji verde quemado en la candela en el tope de el fogon ( open flame roasted bell peper),1 hoja de laurel . Metodo, desaserce de el agua , poner en una cazuela grande con agaua fresca y los ingredientes mencionados( el aji deve quitarsele la quemazon y sin semillas cortados en tiras ) poner a cocinar en fuego alto hasta que suavisen . Una ves suaves ; y aqui esta el truco, en un salten pones 2 tiras de tocino picado y has un zofrito de aji cachucha ( algien se acuerda de cachucha) conservado en vinagre adicionas una cucharada de ajo picado y sin quemar el ajo (pues si lo quemas los frijoles te quedan amargos)adicionas el sofrito a los frijoles y bajas el fuego deja cocinar por media hora a fuego lento, cuando esten listos aqui va el toque final adicionas una cucharada de azucar prieta un chorito de vinagre y una tersera parte de aceite de oliva extra virgen , deja reposar por unas horas y voila listos para disfrutar en buena compania de seres queridos. Disfrutenlos mis queridos hermanos. Si alquien nesecita alguna reseta cubana o no ; yo soy chef de cocina con titulo del CIA, Culinary Institud of America en New York .Not bad for a marielito who had never tasted an apple before 1980, buen provecho. Felix