The soup was really nice! It was sort of gumbo-esque thanks to the onions and peppers, but with a Creole side to it thanks to the tomato, but then you get the spices from the Adobo and Sazon + the vinegary saltiness of the olives playing against the sweetness of the shrimp, all tied together by the broth-enriched rice. I really, really liked it a lot.
Common PR flavoring/base ingredients include sofrito (usually made with some mixture of garlic, onion, bell pepper, sweet chilies, cilantro, culantro, and/or oregano), usually tossed in and sautéed early on like an Indian masala or the Cajun trinity; tomatoes, vinegar, beer or wine, alcaparrado (mixture of olives, capers, and pimento), Adobo (seasoning blend with salt, garlic, pepper, and turmeric), and Sazon (a similar seasoning blend that also adds cumin, coriander, ground achiote/annatto, and MSG). There’s a good amount of chicken, pork, beef, fish, and shrimp, along with lots of root vegetables (potatoes, taro, yucca), squash (including chayote), beans (esp. pink, but sometimes black), musa (bananas and plantains), corn, carrots, and peas.
What ya wind up with among the “staples” are somewhat heavy dishes with a good mix of earthy and herby flavors, usually lightened by an acidic note. There’s also an unusual acceptance of sweet among the savory, as semi- or fully ripened plantains will often show up where, say, pasta or bread might in other cuisines (e.g., pastellon, which is basically a beef-and-plantain-slice “lasagna”). Partly due to some economic/colonization factors, a lot of the traditional Taino cuisine has been dominated by ingredients brought in by the US in the last century or so, leading to a less healthy cuisine overall (much like what was seen by continental Native Americans) with lots of frying and starches.
This week, I’ll also be preparing (fate and kitchen willing) arroz con gandules (flavorful rice with bacon and green pigeon peas cooked into it), sauteed chayotes (a sort of squash), pastellitos con guava y queso (puff pastries stuffed with guava jam and cream cheese), pernil (a roasted, skin-on pork shoulder marinated in garlic, pepper, oregano, vinegar, and olive oil), garlicky-vinegary green beans, and bacalaitos (fried fritters made with shredded “salt cod” a preserved seafood product).
I’m missing some classics like mofongo (a mashed mixture of–usually–fried plantain, chicharrones [fried pork skins], garlic, oregano, pepper, and oil), guisado (a meat-and-potato stew with olives), habichuelas (stewed pink beans, often with pumpkin and olives), pasteles (the Puerto Rican tamale, made with a base of green bananas and root veggies like taro or yucca), and picadillo (a sort of beanless chili). But there’s always next time :-D
(When I decide to start learning about a new cuisine, I, err, tend to go a little deep)
