Kitchen Secrets with Our Cuban Chef – Ajiaco Criollo Cubano
Have you ever heard of the famous ajiaco criollo Cubano? Do you want to know how it is made and taste this delicious Cuban recipe? Well, if you can’t try it first hand by visiting us on our island, we bring you the recipe and how to prepare it so that you can try it and also taste one of the wonderful broths of this hot land.
Ajiaco Criollo Cubano is one of the dishes that identify us culturally. “Cuba is a great ajiaco”, a perpetual phrase of Don Fernando Ortiz and metaphor of the evident cultural amalgam that formed the identity of our nation, inspiration to describe the process of transculturation of Cuban society.
Ajiaco Criollo Cubano is a hot meal of enormous consistency, ideal for the winter. But, honestly, in Cuba, it is prepared at any time of the year, because it is one of those dishes that identify us and make our palate happy.
Why it was so-called is not a clear question. There are many hypotheses about its appearance, but undoubtedly, it is an institution within the national food. Ajiaco is a popular synonym of mixture, and that is precisely what it is made up of: a crossbreeding of cuisines, races and cultures. Some believe that its origin can be traced back to the aborigines, who with a similar word called the water saturated with hot bell pepper where they dipped the cassava to eat it later. Others associate it to the typical Spanish dish “olla podrida”.
Many suppose that it arose as an encounter and combination between the food heritage of the aborigines and the Spanish culture, which allowed the colonists to sustain themselves in the first years of the conquest and colonization. Then came the African slaves, who adapted to the island customs and added their own spices and traditions. Since then, and through the independence wars of the 19th century, ajiaco has always fed the inhabitants of the country.
It came to enjoy such prestige that even the very rich Miguel Aldama served it on silverware during the banquet he offered to honor José Antonio Saco, one of the most influential personalities of the nineteenth century intellectuality.
According to oral tradition, Ajiaco Criollo Cubano was made in the neighborhoods on the night of June 24, to begin the festivities of San Juan. Perhaps because of its Creole identity, it appears together with the denomination of Creole cuisine in a first recipe book of 1958 called “Nuevo manual de la cocina catalana y cubana” (New manual of the Catalan and Cuban cuisine), by Juan Cabrisas.
If you want to know how to make Ajiaco Criollo Cubano, with a spectacular flavor that will never let you down, here we share our chef’s version based on an exhaustive review of other recipes. Each region of the country has its own versions, the recipe we bring you today is the most traditional one. The one that combines most of the ingredients and seasonings used, remember that you can also make your own version of ajiaco. The common factor will always be to cook this delicacy in a big pot, with lots of vegetables, meat and tender corn.
HOW IS AJIACO CRIOLLO CUBANO MADE?
Ingredients:
- ¼ kg of tasajo (salted meat)
- 1 small creole hen
- ½ kg. of pork
- 100 grams of bacon
- 2 ears of baby corn
- ¼ kg. of yam
- 2 green plantains
- ¼ kg. of malanga
- ¼ kg. of yucca
- ¼. kg. of sweet potato (camote)
- ¼ kg. of pumpkin
- 1 large onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 lemons
- 1 cup tomato sauce or creole sauce
- 5 liters of water
- 2 tablespoons of lard
- Salt
SO HOW TO PREPARE AJIACO CRIOLLO CUBANO?
- Cut the tasajo into pieces and soak it for at least 12 hours or since the previous night.
- The next morning we drain it well and cook it for 30 minutes together with the chicken already chopped in pieces, in a large pot with water over medium heat.
- When half an hour has passed and it begins to soften, add the pork meat, chopped in pieces. Cook for another 30 minutes.
- We are going to remove the fat and the foam that forms on the surface.
- In the meantime we make a sofrito in a frying pan with the pork lard, bacon, garlic cloves and onion. Then add the creole sauce and set aside.
- Wash, peel and cut all the vegetables, add them to the pot with the water and the meats, also add the corn cobs, the sofrito and the lemon juice.
- Let it cook for about 45 minutes until the broth has thickened a little. Add salt to taste.
- If you want the consistency to be thicker, remove some pieces of malanga and yam, crush them and then add them back to the pot.
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