Richard Periut wrote:
>
> AM wrote:
> > J Krugman wrote:
> >
> >>In > "Foxy Lady" > writes:
> >>
> >>
> > wrote in message
> .. .
> >>
> >>><snip>
> >>>
> >>>>I do modify the recipe by adding two ingredients. One leaf of "culantro"
> >>>
> >>>and
> >>>
> >>>>one or two cachucha peppers. I haven't yet figured out what the name of
> >>>>culantro is in English. It is not cilantro. It is a longish leaf, about 4
> >>>
> >>>or
> >>>
> >>>>so inches with a serrated edge and a pungent taste. In Puerto Rico it is
> >>>>called "recao". The cachucha pepper looks a bit like habaneros but it is
> >>>>totally sweet.
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>Culantro!!! How can anyone cook Puerto Rican food without it???
> >>
> >>Tell me about it!!!
> >>
> >>< snip >
> >>
> >>>Culantro is Puerto Rican Coriander... Eryngium foetidum is its botanical
> >>>name... you can buy it in Vietnamese markets where it's called ngo gai... or
> >>>in Caribbean markets where it's called Shadow Benny...
> >>
> >>I am SOOO HAPPY this topic emerged! I have been trying to find
> >>out the English names and sources for *two* similar-sounding
> >>ingredients that I find in Puerto Rican recipes, often *together*:
> >>culantro and culantrillo (see my unsuccessful post in
> >>soc.culture.puerto-rico). Since the two words appear in the same
> >>recipe as distinct ingredients, I have to assume they are not
> >>synonyms, but refer to different plants.
> >>
> >>I have found that both culantro and culantrillo are translated as
> >>"coriander or cilantro". I guess cilantro is *not* culantro, but
> >>maybe cilantro is culantrillo?
> >
> >
> > The culantro I mentioned looks like a long narrow leaf with a serrated edge.
> > The only references I could find to culantrillo is a fern. The articles I
> > found did not mention it being a food or spice. It did mention it being used
> > as an expectorant.
> >
> > Look at http://www.caribbeanseeds.com/culantro.htm for pictures of what
> > culantro looks like. As far as I know you cannot freeze it successfully and I
> > have not seen it dried.
> >
> >
> >>But let me see if I got this right: since "cilantro" and "coriander"
> >>are supposed to be synonyms, if "culantro" and "cilantro" are not
> >>the same thing, then "Puerto Rican coriander" must be different
> >>from plain ol' coriander... (I think).
> >>
> >>
> >>>She also sends me the cachuca peppers (ajies dulces, or
> >>>ajicitos).
> >>
> >>There's a pepper that I have heard my Cuban friends refer to as
> >>"aji", and looks like what I've always known as "Italian pepper";
> >>it resembles an elongated bell pepper, of a lighter, brighter green
> >>color than a usual green bell pepper--closer to a "tennis-ball
> >>green". I have not had a chance to do a side-by-side comparison
> >>of *this* aji with "my" Italian pepper. So now I have potentially
> >>three peppers to sort out: "my" Italian pepper, my Cuban friends'
> >>"aji", and Foxy Lady's "aji dulce". Are they all different? How
> >>do they compare?
> >>
> >
> >
> > I have not found the exact item anywhere in Miami. What I use as a substitute
> > is cubanelle peppers. Aji is a generic name in Spanish for peppers of almost
> > any kind. For example "aji picante" means hot pepper, no particular variety.
> > The aji you probably heard of is colored a very deep green.
> >
> > What Foxy lady was talking about was aji cachucha. This looks somewhat similar
> > in shape to habanero peppers but are much smaller and flatter. They also come
> > in red (riper), yellow (medium ripe) and green.
> >
> >
> >>>All of
> >>>the plants (recao and ajicitos) have thrived here despite the weather.
> >>
> >>One other language-related question I have is the meaning of "recao".
> >>I thought "recao" was a type of sofrito (a mixture of chopped herbs
> >>and aromatics that one uses to add flavor to a saute). In fact,
> >>I think I've seen bottled recao in the store (Goya?), and it looks
> >>similar to bottled sofrito. Please dispel my cluelessness.
> >>
> >
> >
> > Goya's sofrito contains recao which is the culantro I previously mentioned.
> > The bottled stuff you have seen is a sofrito made mostly with culantro. I have
> > never used it, I prefer the fresh stuff.
> >
> >
> >>I'm very excited to find so many knowledgeable fans of Cuban and
> >>Puerto Rican cooking. These are cuisines that I've always *loved*
> >>(don't get me started on alcapurrias!), but never been quite able
> >>to reproduce in my kitchen.
> >>
> >>Jill
> >
> >
> > Cuban and Puerto Rican cooking are fairly different, Cuban food being closer
> > to the original Spanish cooking which has a very strong influence of French
> > cuisine specially in the pastries.
> >
> > If you need help with Cuban cuisine just yell and I will try to help.
> >
> > Bert
>
> Hi Bert,
>
> I have to disagree with you on the last one; Cuban pastries are chock
> full of refined sugar, and don't resemble the the ones from Spain or
> France.
>

But they do! Walk into a quality Cuban pastry shop and examine the different
varieties of pastelitos. They are nothing else than puff pastry. Perhaps if
they were called "pate feuillete avec guava" you may recognize the ancestry?
Also, take a look at some of the lesser known pastries like palmeras and those
delicious layered pastry cones filled with egg custard.

> I only like Pasteles de guayaba y queso; after that, the Cubans (as well
> as the rest of Latin America,) make pasteries that are tantamount to
> eating sugar by the tablespoon.
>

You are talking about native stuff which is heavily sugared and were created
in Cuba. And obviously you don't like deeply sweet stuff.

> And what did the Indian Hatuey say before his execution? "Are those
> there going to heaven (pointing at the spaniards before a priest,) Why
> yes my son they are, for they are Catholic, said the priest"
>
> Answered Hatuey, "then I don't want to be forgiven..."
>

Actually Hatuey said "Then I don't want to go to heaven" or something similar
in Taino.

Look up http://www.famousamericans.net/haytiancaciquehatuey/ for a short bio.

But that is not food related, is it?

Bert