Product Description

With more than seventy mouthwatering recipes throughout, Havana Salsa is the vibrant memoir of Viviana Carballo and her extraordinary childhood growing up in Cuba. A collection of stories about her large, extended family -- an eccentric group who conducted their lives against the extraordinary backdrop of Havana -- Carballo recalls the 1940s and 1950s when Havana was a nonstop party, and food and music defined the culture, until Fidel Castro took power in 1959, and she was forced to leave her beloved country.

With each delightful family memory, Carballo showcases the food of her culture and a delectable recipe, beginning with her childhood in the forties (calabaza fritters, sweet plantain tortillas, and oxtail stew), through the sensual fifties (roast shoulder of lamb, Cuban bouillabaisse), and then the first eighteen months of Castro's revolution (mango pie, tamal en cazuela, and papas con chorizo). Havana Salsa tells the history of Carballo's Havana as only she can -- through the intimate and unifying experience of food, family, and friends.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #613382 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

The recipes are an added bonus!
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The last 10 years have brought a wealth of "growing up Cuban" memoirs, most notably "Waiting for Snow in Havana," "Tropicana Nights," and "Finding Mañana." Funny thing is, we just can't get enough of them. We guess it's because they bring memories of a Cuba we can only dream about -- the glory days of Cuba that are slowly fading in our memories.

Viviana Carballo has added to the mix with a delightful account of her own rather eccentric family's experiences both BC (Before Castro) and after. Reading this book is a little like pulling up a stool and listening to the stories of a favorite (albeit a little saucy) great aunt. As in many homes of the time and especially in the better homes of Havana, Carballo's mother cooked only occasionally, mostly for holidays and special occasions. The real culinary magic was performed by Dulce, the Carballo's cook and a devout follower of Santeria -- a religion that combines African mystic belief with Catholic faith. It was here that Viviana Carballo first learned the basics of Cuban cuisine, in a kitchen that was quite literally watched over by the Gods.

For those who survived the "revolution," no Cuban life story is without pain and suffering and Carballo's experiences are especially heartrending. Her father is branded a counter-revolutionary and locked up in one of Castro's gulags where he dies after two years of inhumane treatment. When she decides to flee the island, she must leave her husband behind, a horrible Sophie's choice that no woman should ever be faced with.

Carballo seasons her narrative with some 70 recipes for Cuban dishes, some very traditional, although there is a strong emphasis on dishes from the mother country, Spain. Some are pure Gallego: you'd be hard pressed to find Blue Cheese Circles, St. James Almond Tart, or Christmas Turkey with Catalan stuffing on a traditional Cuban menu, but this broadening of the Cuban food repertoire only adds to this book's appeal. There is even a recipe for filloas, the Spanish version of French crepes. Thick and almost rustic in appearance, these hearty pancakes make a great wrapper for a wide range of fillings both sweet and savory.

Cuban dessert fanatics (and we hear from them weekly at our website) will enjoy several rarely published dessert recipes including one for Brazo Gitano (quite literally Gypsy's arm) a classic jelly roll cake traditionally filled with sweet guava filling and topped with candied fruits and shredded coconut, but here stuffed with a citrus cream and garnished simply with powdered sugar and orange slices. Meringue loving foodies will be inspired by the capitolios, a chocolate cake-like confection topped with fluffy meringue -- although the author does admit to taking the easy way out and using a commercial brownie mix for the cake.

We have only begun to sample the recipes, but one clearly stands out: a new twist on enchilado de camarones, a very typical dish of sautéed shrimp in a creole sauce, here made less typical with the addition of coconut milk and a bit of a spicy kick.

Havana Salsa is an excellent read and the recipes are an added bonus!

Havana Salsa: Stories and Recipes
This is a lovely book full of great stories and great recipes. Loved it!

Great stories....great recipes!
I really like that this is a cookbook that is not a cookbook....she provides such fabulous imagery of Cuba in its hey day. I am mesmerized by the tales and delight in completing an admittedly...."This is the way I remember it" recipe!