stories : Entertaining
Cuban Christmas Feast
From Miami chef Randy Zweiban
Cubans celebrate Christmas Eve as Noche Buena, complete with a slow-roasted pig served with black beans and rice known as Moros y Cristianos, or Moors and Christians. Miami chef Randy Zweiban, inspired by the Cuban expat community, took the idea with him when he moved to Chicago and opened the pan-Latin restaurant Nacional 27. He gave us a version of the menu adapted for home cooks.
Most of the dishes offered by this chef are very altered from traditional Cuban cooking. I think he should mention that when calling ti Cuban. Cuban inspired at best.
Agree with Lamentocubano....Cuban-inspired. We actually have made pumpkin flan in our (Cuban) household, but trust me, if you brought this to a Cuban party it would be considered "unique"! Also I don't know any Cubans that eat coconut rice. Could be wrong here but that just seems to be a beans and rice dish with an influence from other Caribbean countries. They look interesting; I just wouldn't assume this is traditional Cuban food.
Definitely Cuban-inspired and not traditional Cuban, though the only one that really veers off-course is the eggplant dish.
A suggestion to CHOWHOUND: I would suggest that Chow not call it "Cuban Christmas Feast" and preface the article with that title. The last time I heard of Coconut rice was at a Columbia household that was from the coastal area. Randy's influence might have come from living in Miami but this food is not "Cuban Holiday" by any means. That food might fool the "anglos" in Chicago but not the Cubans in New Jersey or Miami.
Pierna "Roast Leg of Pork", Moros y Cristianos (Moors & Christians) , Yucca with Mojo (Yucca with Garlic Sauce), Tostones (Mashed Grren Plantaines), Maduros (Fired Ripe Plantains), and of course Turron (Marizipan). That is a Cuban Feast.