All aboard the international cruise of flavors.......This crazy cruise ship has embarked upon a world tour, with curious and hungry cachers aboard. The itinerary is every country in the world, one restaurant at a time, all without leaving the confines of Central NJ. 53rd Stop ... Puerto Rico!
Join the Central Jersey Cachers
as we venture to the Carribean!
Tuesday, November 29th @ 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
El Lechon de Negron
1331 Magie Ave
Union, NJ 07083
Although Puerto Rican cooking is somewhat similar to both Spanish, Cuban and Mexican cuisine, it is a unique tasty blend of Spanish, African, Taíno, and American influences, using such indigenous seasonings and ingredients as coriander, papaya, cacao, nispero, apio, plantains, and yampee. Locals call their cuisine "cocina criolla".
Cocina criolla (Créole cooking) can be traced back to the Arawaks and Tainos, the original inhabitants of the island, who thrived on a diet of corn, tropical fruit, and seafood. When Ponce de León arrived with Columbus in 1493, the Spanish added beef, pork, rice, wheat, and olive oil to the island's foodstuffs. Soon after, the Spanish began planting sugarcane and importing slaves from Africa, who brought with them okra and taro (known in Puerto Rico as yautia). The mingling of flavors and ingredients passed from generation to generation among the different ethnic groups that settled on the island, resulting in the exotic blend of today's Puerto Rican cuisine.
Lunch and dinner in Puerto Rico is not particularly spicy, but sweet-sour combinations are popular. Vinegar, sour orange, and lime juice lend a sour touch while dried or fresh fruits add a sweet balance to dishes. Adobo, sofríto and annatto are used in most dishes. Fast foodand diners are common for a quick lunch. Food trucks parked on the side of the street that serve sandwiches, churrasco, juices, and soft drinks. The tropical heat hasn't stopped Puerto Ricans from enjoying a good hot soup, usually with tostones, bread, or slices of avocado on top. Some fritters, like almojábanas and yuca con mojo among others, are served with rice, beans, and meat or fish. Slow cooked recaíto and tomato-based stews are a staple in Puerto Rican cooking, served with a side of white rice, salad, and usually something fried like mofongo. Women can be seen in streets, on beaches, and sides of the roads frying a variety of fritters like alcapurrias and bacalaítos. Jucies, piña colada, hotchata and sodas can also be brought at these locations.
- Albondigón – Puerto Rican style meatloaf made with adobo, worcestershire sauce, milk, ketchup, potatoes, red beans, breadcrumb, parsley, with a hard-boiled egg in the middle.
- Arroz y habichuelas – Rice, invariably accompanied by beans (arroz con habichuelas) or gandules (pigeon peas), is often served as a meal by itself in cheap canteens, and is often considered a stereotype for Puerto Ricans. It's the dish Puerto Ricans feel most nostalgic for overseas and not as bland as it sounds: kidney or pink beans are richly stewed with pork, potatoes, olives, capers, squash, recaíto, spices, broth, and tomato sauce, before being poured over the rice. Arroz junto is a one-pot yellow-rice meat and beans dish. Other rice dishes include arroz con maiz (yellow-rice cooked with corn and occasionally vienna sausage). Coconut ricewith fish, arroz con pollo and arroz mamposteao (Puerto Rican fried rice). Pegao de arroz or pegao is the crusty rice left over at the bottom of the pot after cooking it has the most flavor. Pegao is usually eaten with beans and meat. Pegao with other ingredients are made to make granitos (rice and chesse fitter balls) and other fritters.
- Bistec Encebollao – Thinly sliced and pounded steak with onions marinated in adobo mojado and lots of white wine vinegar over night.
- Chillo frito al Mojito Isleño – A whole red snapper seasoned overnight in adobo mojado and onions. Once ready to fry the fish is pat dry then coated with all-purpose flour and plantain chips made into crumbs. The whole snapper is deep-fried and served with tostones, coconut rice, and mojito isleño.
- Chicharrón de pollo – Chicken thighs cut in half and marinated in lemon, rum and garlic with skin still on. The chicken is then tossed in seasoned flour and deep-fried.
- Chuleta Kan-Kan – Deep-fried or grilled pork chop with rib and skin still attached. When done it reassembles a pork chop covered in pork rinds. The skin is sliced cross wise cut to the meat. The chuleta is marinated in culantro, paprika, onion powder and other ingredients.
- Cuajitos en salsa – Spicy pork intestines in a heavy lemon-tomato sauce base served with tostones and sorullos.
- Empanizado or Empanado – Thinly sliced breaded and floured steak, rabbit, turkey, chicken, or veal with peppers, capers, and onions.
- Guisado – Braised meat or fish is quite a favorite on the island. Meat or fish is seared in a pot with annatto oil. Once meat is brown on all side it is then removed. The addition of searing ham and salted pork are common. Recaíto is cooked with left over oil in pot. The meat is then put back with tomato sauce, olives, capers, potatoes, carrots, cumin, coriander seeds, pepper, bay leaves, orégano, stock or beer with water are then added. Guisados are garnished with sweet peas and poured over white rice or mofongo. Pot roast is known as carne mechada (braised beef eye round stuffed with chorizo or ham).
- Fricasé – Hearty and spicy chicken, beef, turkey, rabbit, or goat braised in butter and olive oil with ajíes caballero, wine, raisins, bay leaves, cloves, garlic, onions, bell peppers, tomato sauce, olives, capers, peas, and carrots. Served with rice on the side and cilantro on top.
- Quimbombó con Funche – Okra with a cheese polenta. The okra is usually soaked overnight this extracts most of its liquid. The okra is then dried and seasoned in a batter and fried or made into a stew with ham. Eather way okra is classically saved with polenta known as funche. This is popular on Puerto Rico's sister island Vieques.
- Pastelón – Puerto Rican version of a lasagna replacing the noodles with sweet plantains or less common cassava.
- Picadillo a la Puertorriqueña – Puerto Rican style ground meat used in fritters but can be served with rice and on the side.
- Sandwiches – The Cuban sandwich has been popular ever since many Cubans immigrated to Puerto Rico right after Fidel Castro. Tripleta is a lunch favorite, the sandwich is made with toasted pan de agua (water bread) a Puerto Rican bread similar to Italian bread. Mayonnaise or mustard is then spread on the bread, beef, ham, chicken, cheese, onions, tomatoes, and lectures are then added. Jíbarito a sandwich using unripe green plantains as bread. Jíbartia a sandwich using ripe sweet plantains as bread. Mixto it consists of sofrito cooked with both skirt steak and chicken topped with lettuce, tomatoes, and potato sticks with a drizzle of a mix of mayonnaise and ketchup known as mayo-ketchup. Sandwiches de Mezcla is a tea sandwich with a spread made with mayonnaise, roasted peppers, spam, American and cream cheese.
- Sopa y asopao – Soups are typically served with bread, tostones, or a small bowl of rice. Puerto Ricos national soup is asopao, similar to gumbo. This soup is made with rice, chciken, chorizo, or seafood or all three together. Gandinga - a rich, heavy stew made from pig organs. The heart, liver and kidneys all go into the dish, along with less frightening ingredients like tomatoes sauce, capers, and recaíto. Asopao de gandules - pigeon pea soup and dumplings. Mondongo - tripe stew with chickpeas, ham, salted pork tail, calffeet, squash, and viandas. Sopa de salchichón o pollo y fideos - salami or chicken noodle soup with potatoes, corn, sofríto and other seasonings. Cream soups made with heavy cream, broth and mashed squash or any kind of mashed vianda. Caldo gallego - soup made with white bean, chicken broth, chorizo, smoked ham, turnips, kale, and potatoes. Sancocho - one of the most popular hearty stew made with a variety of meats, tubers, corn, and squash. Salmorejo - a cold garlicky tomato and crab soup served with bread. Other popular soups include, black bean soup with bacon (influence by the Cuban community in Puerto Rico), chickpea soup with or without chorizo, chicken broth soup with mofongo, and plantain soup.
World Culinary Cruise Itinerary
1 - Mexico - July 16, 2012
2 - Greece - August 23, 2012
3 - Japan - September 12, 2012
4 - India - October 11, 2012
5 - Russia - November 14, 2012
6 - Poland - December 5, 2012
7 - Ireland - January 22, 2013
8 - France - February 26, 2013
9 - Spain - March 13, 2013
10 - Thailand - April 30, 2013
11 - Portugal - May 28, 2013
12 - United States of America - June 4, 2013
13 - Afghanistan - July 11, 2013
14 - Egypt - August 6, 2013
15 - United Kingdom - September 18, 2013
16 - Sweden - October 16, 2013
17 - Peru - November 6, 2013
18 - Germany - December 20, 2013
19 - Ghana - January 7, 2014
20 - Polynesia - February 19, 2014
21 - Sri Lanka - March 13, 2014
22 - Korea - April 22, 2014
23 - Jamaica - May 22, 2014
24 - Vietnam - June 25, 2014
25 - Mexico - July 23, 2014
26 - Mongolia - August 19, 2014
27 - Persia - September 17, 2014
28 - Philippines - October 15, 2014
29 - Dominican Republic - November 19, 2014
30 - Trinidad - December 10, 2014
31 - Nigeria - January 20, 2015
32 - Lebanon - February 18, 2015
33 - Cuba - March 24, 2015
34 - Brazil - April 21, 2015
35 - Turkey - May 27, 2015
36 - Hungary - June 6, 2015
37 - Canada - July 15, 2015
38 - Guyana - August 31, 2015
39 - Ethiopia - September 8, 2015
40 - Pakistan - October 14, 2015
41 - Colombia - November 24, 2015
42 - Malaysia - December 8, 2015
43 - Argentina - January 20, 2016
44 - Cameroon - February 17, 2016
45 - Taiwan - March 22, 2016
46 - Morocco - April 26, 2016
47 - Costa Rica - May 18, 2016
48 - Uruguay - June 15, 2016
49 - Angola & Mozambique - July 12, 2016
50 - Haiti - August 30, 2016
51 - El Salvador - September 21, 2016
52 - Uzbekistan - October 19, 2016
Where will this ship pull into port next? Only the pink flamingo knows....
