Gary, I like Daisy plenty, but she does take license with the non-Puerto Rican things she cooks (chilaquiles, e.g.). That is fine with me, to a point. Her black bean recipe is horribly wrong, and even worse (much, much worse) is the illustration of these "Cuban" black beans garnished with a dollop of sour cream and salsa. Never, no way, nunca, mai. You could melt cheese on BBQ or mix sour cream and salsa with your pasta e fagioli too, but hey.

The jackasses at iCuban presnet a much more traditional recipe. Mind you, good black beans are cooked much longer and have much, much more olive oil. This receta seems to have been gringoed down a bit. But the basic ingredients and process are correct. Note the lack of meat.

http://icuban.com/food/frijoles_negros.html

JeffB wrote:Gary, I like Daisy plenty, but she does take license with the non-Puerto Rican things she cooks (chilaquiles, e.g.). That is fine with me, to a point. Her black bean recipe is horribly wrong, and even worse (much, much worse) is the illustration of these "Cuban" black beans garnished with a dollop of sour cream and salsa. Never, no way, nunca, mai.

I think we talked about this in the chilaquiles thread, and I may have asked this question already, but do you think that the liberties that she takes are her own or are they perhaps Puerto Rican interpretations of non Puerto Rican dishes.

Short version: Are Daisy's iterpretations unique to Daisy or are they cultural interpretations?

Just curious.

Best,
Michael

I think that the modifications smack of korporate kitchen tastemaking, pan-Latino version, and definitely not the Puertoricanization of other cultures' dishes. For example, a traditional-thinking Puerto Rican cook would not put Mexican salsa and sour cream on Puerto Rican bean soup, or Puerto Rican anything else for that matter. I think that the obvious trend is to make non-Tex-Mex Latin American food more "familiar" by adding lowest-denominator cues such as chips n' salsa to everything.

JeffB wrote:I think that the modifications smack of korporate kitchen tastemaking, pan-Latino version, and definitely not the Puertoricanization of other cultures' dishes. For example, a traditional-thinking Puerto Rican cook would not put Mexican salsa and sour cream on Puerto Rican bean soup, or Puerto Rican anything else for that matter. I think that the obvious trend is to make non-Tex-Mex Latin American food more "familiar" by adding lowest-denominator cues such as chips n' salsa to everything.

Jeff,

I've got to disagree with you on this one. I think that Daisy's recipes are originals and are a result of the fact that she is from Brooklyn and has a very cross-cultural background, rather than any sort of insidious corporate plot. Her husband is Italian, for example (she even sprinkles in the occasional Yiddish word in her patter now and then). I think she has taken what she learned from her Abuela and mixed that up with what she learned from living in the great melting pot of NYC and made the result her own brand of Latino tinged cooking. Purists probably hate it. The rest of us enjoy it.

Steve,

None of that explains the salsa and sour cream, really. The ham bone in black beans, I'll happily admit, is completely consistent with the general approach to bean cookery in PR -- and most other places where beans and pig are enjoyed, for that matter. Further, I have no problem with ham and lots of other meats in black beans. It's called feijoada. I also love black beans strained through a colander, frijoles colados, which are common enough in Central America. In fact, I can enjoy refried black beans, smeared on a huarache-like picadita and smothered in salsa and crema, as in Veracruz.

I'm not trying to be purist or a pedant; I take issue with the explicit description of these south of the border beans as Cuban.

From the site linked by Gary (the intro to the recipe):

"A Trip to Cuba
Nothing says Cuban cooking like their beloved frijol negro"

Ole.

PS, I stick to my guess that the serving suggestion of adding sour cream is meant to ring a bell (!) with those who are more familiar with Tex-Mex or Cal-Mex. The proper garnish is chopped onion, oil and vinegar, and possibly some dry sherry.

JeffB wrote:The proper garnish is chopped onion, oil and vinegar, and possibly some dry sherry.

Jeff,

On Daisy's Cuban show, which I have Tivoed, she says many add a little sherry to the finished soup, though she prefers her grandmothers home made pineapple vinegar. This was not, obviously, included in the daisycooks.com recipe. When I served the Black Bean soup for Ellen and I we had little bowls of chopped onion and jalapeno, I meant to break out the dry sherry, but forgot.

I'll make the ICuban recipe you linked to next and post a comparison.

Enjoy,
Gary

JeffB wrote:The proper garnish is chopped onion, oil and vinegar, and possibly some dry sherry.

That's true...unless you happen to like sour cream or crema. Personally, I'd leave it out in favor of something with a bit more punch, like some type of hot pepper and onions, but that's just me.

Steve and Gary, you know I love you guys almost as much as Daisy. It was a small point. Put whatever you want in your beans, but by gum, don't post a recipe with the trappings of authenticity and call it Cuban, if it ain't.

JeffB wrote:don't post a recipe with the trappings of authenticity and call it Cuban, if it ain't.

Jeff,

As someone who can be a bit of a stickler himself, on the rare occasion, I see your point.

Enjoy,
Gary

JeffB wrote:Steve and Gary, you know I love you guys almost as much as Daisy. It was a small point. Put whatever you want in your beans, but by gum, don't post a recipe with the trappings of authenticity and call it Cuban, if it ain't.

What about using the term "Cuban Style", as in "Kosher Style"? Something that is evocotive of the actual thing, but isn't quite.

Attention Steve Z

Daisy's coming to town

G Wiv wrote:Attention Steve Z

Daisy's coming to town

Um, came to town.

The event will be from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Aug. 24 at Kaleidoscope.

JeffB wrote:I think that the modifications smack of korporate kitchen tastemaking, pan-Latino version, and definitely not the Puertoricanization of other cultures' dishes. For example, a traditional-thinking Puerto Rican cook would not put Mexican salsa and sour cream on Puerto Rican bean soup, or Puerto Rican anything else for that matter. I think that the obvious trend is to make non-Tex-Mex Latin American food more "familiar" by adding lowest-denominator cues such as chips n' salsa to everything.

Steve and Gary, you know I love you guys almost as much as Daisy. It was a small point. Put whatever you want in your beans, but by gum, don't post a recipe with the trappings of authenticity and call it Cuban, if it ain't.

I come to this discussion after it's pretty much over but I feel compelled to chime in, for the basic point Jeff is making is one that I very much agree with, have argued myself in the past and (especially in connexion with certain Italian dishes) have been taken to task for sometimes in rather ridiculous ways.

People tend to be far more willing to play fast and loose with recipes and traditional methods when they're making someone else's food and that's both normal and understandable and there's not much to say about it. And let's face it, is the prohibition against meat with black beans in Cuban cooking any stranger than the purist Chicagoan's horror for ketchup on a hot dog?

As I always say, everyone should make their food to their own tastes and enjoy it to the utmost, but it is wrong for someone in a position of teaching (as Daisy is or any of the tv chefs) to teach things that are wrong. When Batali puts garlic in his matriciana or some other tv chef puts cream and garlic in their carbonara and presents the recipe as if it is authentic -- i.e. true to the tradition, they are insulting all the people who really know and cherish that tradition. Is it too much to ask that food writers and television food personalities not pretend to be authorities about traditions they really don't know much about or, if they do know about them and prefer to deviate from tradition, that they briefly say how and why? The best ones -- e.g., Pépin and a few others -- do so and that's teaching.

Bon pro',
Antonius