Читать книгу Cubanisms - Pedro García-Menocal - Страница 12

The popular phrase “arroz con mango” is used to describe something that is a total disaster or any tangled situation. Literally, it means “rice with mango,” which is kind of a weird and improbable food combination. If you’ve made a mess of things, you’ve made arroz con mango.

If you like beef, you can try picadillo, which is ground beef cooked with sofrito, or the very popular vaca frita (literally, “fried cow”), which is shredded beef marinated with mojo, garlic, onions, and lime juice. It is then seared in a frying pan and served crispy and hot. Pretty tasty if done right.

You could accompany your picadillo or vaca frita not just with moros, but also with some yuca, ñame, or malanga, all of which are native Cuban roots of different textures and tastes, used extensively in Cuban cooking. Usually accompanied by mojo when boiled and served by themselves. Also good when fried into fritters, or thinly sliced and fried into chips. In the early days of the colonization of Cuba, yuca was very important because it was hearty and because bread could be made from its flour. Colloquially, ñame is used to describe a stupid, inept or clumsy person. Malanga is frequently given to children or served to someone when they are sick.

The most famous Cuban sandwich is probably the medianoche, made of ham, pork, cheese, pickles and mustard in a special, oval, yellow, slightly sweet roll. The literal meaning of the word is “midnight,” because it was