I’ll link the recipe in the comments. I followed it to a t. I used jarred green Goya sofrito, I was pretty generous. Then I used the other ingredients. But it’s lacking…..something. That depth, that mmmm factor. It smells like strong spice and taste spice too. Idk how to describe. The consistency is great tho! It just tastes..bleh and salty. Help!

I need help -- I cannot make good flavorful beans for the life of me. I've followed a bunch of recipes, etc but they're never very good (not bad, just not great)...

I normally use goya red kidney or pink beans, some sofrito, recaito, tomato sauce , minced garlic, olive oil, adobo, and water and let it simmer for an hour or two

My grandmother used to make them and they were super thick and savory -- I've been told she used fatback but I'm not sure if that's what made it so savory and tasty -- but is that a thing? And if so can bacon grease be substituted?

Is anyone open to sharing some recipes? I'm unfortunately a no sabo who hates cooking, however as I sit here and eat the heavenly leftovers from yet another reunion, I find myself desperately wanting to eat food that tastes like I'm spending time with my family. I miss them, I miss our food.

I want to try cooking, only no one has recipes that they're willing to share. Does anyone have an idea of what I can try? 🙏🏼

Everything I've tried gives me a creamy tembleque. It's fine but I want that firm, almost sliceable consistency. I've watched so many videos and it seems like 65g of corn starch to 2 cans of coconut milk gives them the texture I'm looking for but I can't seem to recreate it.

I've tried anywhere from 50g to 70g of corn starch for every 2 cans of coconut milk. I've kept the sugar to 100g for each test. I've experimented with cooking it until it's almost scoopable and cooking it until its thick but decently pourable and everywhere in between.

Any suggestions on what else to try?

Here are some examples of the consistency I'm looking for https://youtube.com/shorts/zbIzozjz974?is=G0QBVCW7uzzr78e-

https://youtu.be/m0u43w_59lM?is=KHocornXW7hABzct

https://youtu.be/jsKdmhDgSpM?is=lYXqMJvIsay6mqL2

Aloha, beginner attempting to make pastels with Orinoco bananas. What degree of ripeness is best? Plan to grate them with Kitchen Aid grater attachment. Would the KA meat grinder attachment be better? Any other advice to make the best pastels?
Mahalo

I love Puerto Rican food I usually get it a small hole in the wall in Bridgeport ct but theyre prices are so high. want to start making it myself but dont know how, I tried rice and beans one time and it all came out hard I dont know what im doing 😐 I need to start eating at home I love pr chicken but dont know how to make it. I know there a lot of recipes online but dont think I willl ever get the hang of making the rice I love arroz con gandules, the beef and cheese pocket thing, potato balls, pork chops, shish kabob I dont have a grill to make the shish kabobs though, I think its pork they use and they put bbq sauce on it. another thing is I like chicken breast not thighs to much any way to make that work? thanks!

This is for a company potluck, so I'd have to bring it early in the morning for it to be served around 11 am. I joked about bringing Pernil but then everyone lost their minds and now they're betting/counting on me to bring it. It's now become the talk of the office, so now it's too late to turn back. I acknowledge that I absolutely sunk myself on this one.

I could roast it low and slow overnight and just bring it in the morning, but is there any way to keep the skin crunchy for a while afterwards? Or should I face my inevitable defeat and shame and rescind my offer to bring something else instead?

does anyone have a good Puerto Rican bacalao guisado recipe they can share? My grandmother’s was amazing. Whenever I saw the bowl of bacalao soaking at night I knew I was in for a treat the next day. I unfortunately didn’t get the recipe and she passed away years ago. I haven’t had it since,. It might not be the same and may take me 90 years to perfect but id love to try and make Abuela’s bacalao ❤️

The last few times I have made empanadas the
Dough has a toxic, chemical aftertaste. I feel like I’m feeding my family poison! Im sick of these big
Companies putting all these preservatives in our food! I already wrote the company and provided my feedback but I doubt they care.

Any tips for best discos dough or a homemade Recipe )even tho I don’t want to add
more steps to my recipe). Gracias!

Anyone have any good ones? I'm looking up to spice up mine.

I've noticed some recipes online mention putting it in a water bath, akin to flan. I've never seen that done though. It seems like an unnecessary addition.

My recipe in layman's:

• A loaf of sliced bread. Any type, but preferably white.
• Either water or milk
• Raisins
• Cinnamon
• Vanilla

Add all together. Mix well. Let bread sit until it's well-soaked. Put it into a baking dish. Put into a 350 Farenheit oven for about 30-60 minutes.

No sauce. My family always made it plain. It's sweet enough as is.

Edit:

Forgot to mention the sugar.

I already have heat resistant gloves, a coal rake, a chimney, and a large folding table. Might need to get one of those little machetes they use to carve it up lol. But I do have some good sharp chef's knives. Do you need an injector or is a rub fine and just make some incisions to get the rub in the meat like a pernil in the oven?

Hello! I recently made pollo guisado but I have a ton of extra sofrito from it. I've never cooked with it before and was wondering what other recipes I can make with all the extra. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I have about 3 cups left of it...

I really want to sell traditional Puerto Rican desserts but to do that I will have to scale my business. As of right now I can’t only afford to bake at home under cottage food law.

The problem is most traditional Puerto Rican desserts have to be refrigerated and I can’t do that in my state under food cottage laws. (Florida)

What are some items I can sell that would have similar flavors to the classics like flan, budin de pan, tembleque that are not those items? And beyond polvorones or cake?

I know I want to sell Brazo jitanos snd some Cakes but that’s all I can think of right now that’s shelf stable and actually follows cottage food laws where I’m at.

I bought a 10lb pernil for Christmas day and immediately froze it, then took it out on Tuesday (12/16) to start defrosting. I checked it on Thursday (12/18) and it seemed halfway frozen to the touch, now it's fully defrosted. If I marinate it today, will it still be good for Christmas day or am I risking getting everyone sick? Google has only confused me and left me with further doubt. This is my first attempt at making pernil, I CANNOT fail.

UPDATE: PERNIL WAS PERFECT! Cooked it at 300° at 5:30am until about 12:30/1ish. The meat fell right off the bone. My cuero wasn't too crispy though, so I threw that into the air fryer. Thank you everyone for your advice! Feliz Navidad a todos!

Help I’m clueless LOL Thankyou!

I’m going to try making coquito myself for the first time, and I was looking up recipes. I found a couple different ones: ones that seemed to combine the coconut cream, evaporated milk, condensed milk, rum, spices and that was it. And then recipes where they first made a tea with cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves (might be forgetting some things, I’m going off memory) and then added that to the above mentioned mixture.

How do yall make it? Is making a tea a necessary step? I’d like to be authentic when I make it ❤️

Thanks in advance for the guidance!

Edit: thx everyone for your input! I’m definitely gonna try the tea ❤️ I’m excited to make it!

My daughter had this for friends giving and wants to make this as the main dish for Christmas. Unfortunately, my brother is very allergic to garlic. I've search the web using the -garlic tag and have only found an AI recipe that, when reading the recipes it was based on, made no sense. Any help would be appreciated.

I bought my plantains for tostones a little too far in advance and now they are ripe. Im hosting a super bowl party tomorrow and the entire spread will be Puerto Rican food! I need an easy savory replacement app to use the plantains! Any recommendations?

Hi all!

Wondering if you guys and gals can shed some light on which seasoning you use for Arroz con Habichuelas.

My wife is Puerto Rican and she is missing this particular dish and I wanted to surprise her. My friend is in Puerto Rico right now and I´m going to ask her to pick up the seasoning I need and other ingredients if needed.

What would you say is quintessential for this dish of the things I can´t readily get in northern -Europe?

It's creamy which is nice but I kind of want a stiffer consistency. It also gets a little water build up after it cools. Anything I can do to get it a little stiffer other then more cornstarch or a little longer in the pot? In PR it's usually got almost a soft jell-o consistency. And what can I do about the water? Here's my recipe:

1/2 cup or 70g cornstarch

2 400ml cans coconut milk

1 15oz can coconut cream

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

I mix half a can of coconut milk with the cornstarch and set it aside. Mix everything else in a pot over med-low heat until it's warm. Then I mix in the milk and cornstarch and whisk until it's thickened up.

Hey everyone, I’m making a big batch of coquito using a recipe I got from my grandpa, and I could use some help to make sure I do it right.

This version uses egg yolks (I know some people don’t use eggs, but this is how it’s been made in my family). I’m not trying to change the recipe, just want tips on execution.

Ingredients: • 5 cans coconut milk • 5 cans coconut cream • 1 can sweetened condensed milk • 7.5 cans evaporated milk • 6 egg yolks (no whites) • Cinnamon • 1 Tbsp vanilla

I’ve been told to beat the egg yolks first, but I’m not totally sure on the best order to mix everything so it doesn’t curdle or taste eggy. Any advice would be appreciated.

Additionally I would like to know how much rum you guys use in a big batch like this. My grandpa doesn’t drink so he gave me the recipe without alcohol

Also, with this many cans, about how many bottles/containers will I need for storage? What size bottles do people usually use?

Thanks 🙏 just trying to not mess up my grandpa’s recipe.

I want to make a pork belly Puerto Rico style for TG. What is a basic tradition rub recipe for the pork belly. Thinking about cooking it on my charcoal grill, what temperature is recommended.

Thank you

EDIT: Thanks for all your input. Pork belly came out flavorful. Only thing I didn't get right was the skin, it came out very chewy. What could I have done wroing?

Hello all,

I recently started making Puerto Rican food and I've been wondering specifically what type of oregano to use. I know they're not all the same so that's why I'm asking. The types I'm aware of are mediterranean oregano (the type universally sold at american grocery stores), mexican oregano, marjoram, as well as dominican oregano (had to order online)

I've been using the latter (dominican oregano) in my food and it tastes fine. I also have a friend born and raised in Puerto Rico who has tried the food I've made that includes that oregano and she always says it's spot on so I'm assuming it's not clashing that much, but whenever I see recipe videos of Puerto Ricans making food it's never the specific type I'm using but I can't exactly tell which they're using as it just always says oregano.

I also don't live in a place that is widely stocked with Caribbean foods, especially from Puerto Rico, so it's going to be hard for me to shop specifically for that in a Puerto Rican grocery store or anything

Should I just stick to what I've been using or switch?

I'm making a pernil for Christmas for the first time ever. I'm a mediocre to decent Midwestern cook with skills that match.

In honor of my mother-in-law's recent passing, I want to serve this for my husband and his brother who lost their mom (along with my family who will be trying it for the first time) as a way to try to pay my respects. I have eaten her pernil and been in the kitchen with her to help but we moved away some years ago and I haven't had the honor to cook with her or learn from her since then. I'm researching the recipes I find online, and normally would talk with my sisters-in-law for advice but they are grieving her loss and unable to attend Christmas dinner (we live across the country), so I don't know if I should add to the stress of planning final arrangements and grief by asking about how to cook. I want to make this dish to best of my abilities without causing anyone any additional stress or pain.

I make sofrito at home and have been doing that for years so I'm all set there, plan to make arrow con gandules as a side dish. I know the skin needs to stay dry so it can be crispy as possible. I am pretty sure she also used to marinate by poking holes with a toothpick and then placing it in a bag in a pan for at least 24 hours before roasting. I can't remember if she covered it while in the oven, how long, what temp she set the oven, etc. I think she rinsed with vinegar and squeezed lime over for the marinade also, but does the marinade go on the skin then get wiped off- or keep the skin dry the whole time? Any tips or tricks you are willing offer are appreciated.

Thank you!!

I have been searching whenever I’m in a PR neighborhood somewhere but i have yet to find it outside of my tias kitchen…. Who has a recipe or knows where to get them in Arizona/California??