This post represents my third special challenge. The previous two posts focused upon peoples -- namely, Tibetans and Palestinians -- who lack their own countries recognized by the rest of the world. They also face significant threats to their cultures and their cuisines from forces within the countries where they live. When it came time to prepare this challenge, I already had a plan in mind. The third post would have followed relatively along the same lines as the prior two special ones.
However, all of my plans went out the window on February 8, 2026 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
At that moment, Bad Bunny began to perform during the halftime of Super Bowl LX. As I was introduced to songs like Tití Me Preguntó, MONACO, LO QUE PASÓ a HAWAii and DeBÍ TIRAR MáS FOTos, Bad Bunny got me to thinking about the Puerto Rican people. When Bad Bunny waived the Puerto Rican independence flag during his performance of El Apagón, that sealed the choice for me.
My third special would be about Puerto Rico and its people (or, as many of them refer to their islands and people, Boriquen and Boricua). The starting point is a familiar one for any non-white people in the United States: Puerto Ricans (or the Boricua) have never had their rightful place within our society, economy, or our history. And, just like every other non-white community in our country, Puerto Ricans get blamed for the failures that are the result of a government that at every level has failed them repeatedly, an economy that exploits their labor, and a white supremacist-based society that refuses to accept or acknowledge (sometimes intentionally, sometimes out of ignorance) that Puerto Ricans are citizens of the United States. (Just look at the racist, right-wing vitriol about Bad Bunny both before and after that Super Bowl performance.) Yet, the United States has benefitted from the many contributions that Puerto Ricans have made to our collective identity.
My goal is to recognize and respect the Puerto Rican culture and cuisine. But, in all reality, it deserves much more than what I can do with a post on this blog.
"Puerto Rican culture is very lively; very lively people, very warm people; and the food is really great. We are all about cooking a lot of food and having family around, we're kind of loud."
-- David Lambert, Actor
The cuisine of Puerto Rico, much like its culture, a beautiful but complex layering of different influences over time. The dishes draw from the indigenous Arawak and Taino peoples, who cultivated root vegetables and corn on the island before colonization. The centuries of colonization also brought influences from peoples who came voluntarily and involuntarily, invited and uninvited to the island. There is a strong African presence in many of the cooking techniques, ingredients, and dishes, which arrived with the slave labor forcibly brought from the African continent to the island. The Spanish also left their mark in other ways, such as the use of olive oil, garlic and the variety of pork dishes. And then there is the American influence, with recipes that call for canned vegetables, mayonnaise, and, as you will read later, canned Vienna sausages.
All of these different influences are weaved together into a cultural fabric that surrounds the family. There are many Puerto Rican dishes -- such as lechon asado (roast pork) and arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas) that are clearly intended to be served on platters placed in the middle of a long table where family and friends gather for a meal. Preparing the recipes and dishes that followed got me thinking to times when I prepared a dinner for family and/or friends.
APPETIZER
The starting point begins with street food. It seems an appropriate point given my increased focus on promoting learning, understanding and empathy through food. After all, street food is universal. It can be accessed by nearly everyone, regardless of class, social standing, citizenship, or any other factor that is typically used to divide people. Street food has also become an important part of my Around the World in 80 Dishes personal culinary challenge. While recipes for particular street foods may not qualify as a main dish, I think that those recipes are an important part of learning about a culture.
So, my exploration into Cucina Criolla begins with Pinchos de Pollo. The recipe originates from the Basque region of Spain, where skewers like these would be served as Pintxos. Puerto Ricans made these skewers their own, drawing from the culinary essence of the island through the use of adobo and sazón. What really sets this recipe apart from any chicken kebab or chicken skewer is the Guava Barbecue Sauce. While I more often than not choose spicy sauces, this sweet sauce is very good and may become a go to sauce as long as I keep guava paste stocked in the pantry.
PINCHOS DE POLLO
Pinchos recipe from Loisa
Serves 4-6
Ingredients (for the Chicken Skewers):
- 3 pounds of chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1-2 tablespoons of sazon (regular or salt-free)
- 1-2 tablespoons of adobo (regular or salt free)
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 lemon, juiced
Ingredients (for the Guava BBQ Sauce):
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 1/2 cup water
- 8 ounces guava paste
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 1 lemon juiced
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 shallot, minced (1 tablespoon)
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons ketchup
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
Directions:
1. Prepare the chicken. Cut the chicken thighs into small cubes. Place in a bowl and season with the olive oil, lemon juice, adobo, sazon, garlic powder and oregano. Mix well and let it marinate in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
2. Prepare the barbecue sauce. As the chicken marinates, you can begin making the barbecue sauce. Chop the guava paste into small cubes. Add the cubes into a skillet at medium high heat. Then add water as the guava begins to melt. Once the guava has melted, add the pineapple juice and all of the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Place the sauce in a container. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.
3. Grill the pinchos. Preheat the grill to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Add the marinated chicken pieces to skewers to build the pinchos like a kebab. Grill the pinchos for 7-8 minutes on each side. Brush the skewers on each side with the guava barbecue sauce for an additional five minutes.
MAIN COURSE
Given this entire post was inspired by Bad Bunny's performance at the Half-Time Show for Superbowl LX, it seems only appropriate that the culinary challenge should be to prepare one of the performers' most favorite childhood dishes. That dish is Arroz con Salchichas, which is a rice dish prepared with Vienna sausages.
This dish is comfort food for many Puerto Ricans, as it has the aromas and flavors that remind them of their home. A kitchen where their mother or grandmother may have been preparing dinner. Without a lot of resources available to them, they would take basic ingredients, like rice, and inexpensive ingredients, liked canned sausages, to prepare a meal that would be filling and bring comfort. But, what really makes arroz con salchicas special are the aromas and flavors that come from fundamental aspects of Cocina Criolla: the use of sazón and sofrito. Indeed, those two ingredients are so iconic to the cooking of Boriquen that I have included recipes for making each at home.
ARROZ CON SALCHICHAS
Recipe from Pop Sugar
Serves 10
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup fresh sofrito
- 1/2 cup white onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
- 1.5 teaspoons sazón
- 1 teaspoon adobo
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 5-7 canned Vienna sausages chopped
- 2 cups parboiled rice
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 2 dried bay leaves
- Salt, to taste
Directions:
1. Heat the sofrito. Heat a cast-iron or aluminum Dutch oven (calderop) to medium heat, then add olive oil and sofrito. Saute the sofrito for 3-4 minutes, or until fragrant. Add the green pepper and onion. Saute until the onion begins translucent.
2. Continue with the dish. Add the Vienna sausages, tomato paste, sazón, adobo and chicken boillon cube to the pot, and stir until combined. Pour in the chicken broth and by leaves and then bring the mixture to a boil. While it is coming to a boil, taste the broth and add salt as needed.
3. Add the rice. Once the mixture is boiling, add the rice to the Dutch oven - make sure all of the raw grains of rice are evenly submerged across the top of the caldero. Let the water and rice boil for a few minutes, or until you see the rice start to absorb the liquid in the pot.
4. Continue to cook the dish. When the top layer of water has been absorbed, stir the rice once with a wooden spoon and then cover the Dutch oven and lower the heat to low.
4. Finish the dish. Remove the lid when the rice is fully cooked, about 20-25 minutes later, and simmer for another 5-10 minutes. You will know the rice is done when all of the additional liquid within the pot is gone and the rice is plump.
SAUCE
I have seen multiple sources describe sofrito - a blend of onions, peppers, tomatoes, garlic, cilantro and culuantro -- as the most important ingredient in Cocina Criolla or Puerto Rican cuisine. The sauce or paste serves as the foundation for a multitude of dishes across the culinary landscape of Boriquen. Yet, its origin comes, not from the Boricua, but the Spanish -- or, more accurately, the Catalonians. The first recipe for sofrito comes from a Catalan cookbook called Libre de Sent Sovi, which was published in 1324 C.E. The Spanish brought the Catalonian flavor base with them and to the island of Puerto Rico.
P.S., if you have left over sofrito, as you will inevitably have if you make this recipe, it also doubles as a great dip for chips, whether tortilla chips or, more appropros, plantain chips.
PUERTO RICAN SOFRITO
Recipe from Serious Eats
Makes 4 cups
Ingredients:
- 2 medium Spanish onions, cut into large chunks (about 2 cups)
- 4 cubanelle peppers, stemmed, seeded and cut into large chunks (about 2 cups)
- 1 large red bell pepper, cored, seeded and roughly chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 4 medium ripe plum tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 large bunch cilantro, washed and roughly chopped
- 18 medium cloves garlic, peeled
- 8 aji dulces
- 4 leaves culantro
- Kosher salt
Directions:
1. Process the onions and peppers. Place the onions and cubanelle peppers in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse until coarsely chopped.
2. Finish the sofrito. With the motor running, add the remaining ingredients one at a time through the feed tube and process until smooth. Season to taste with salt. Transfer to container and store in refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze.
SPICE MIX
The last recipe is another pillar of Cocina Criolla, the spice mix known as sazón. While one can find bottles of the spice mix in stores, as with any mix, there is usually a high amount of salt, up to 7% of one's daily intake. And, when you take into account the various other stages of meal preparation when you add salt, it can really add up.
When you prepare spice mixes at home, you can reduce the amount of salt in the recipe, which makes it healthier. That is certainly the case with this sazón.
PUERTO RICAN SAZÓN
Recipe from Hispanic Food Network
Makes 1 cup
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons ground annatto achiote seeds
- 2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
- 1 tablespoon granultated onion
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, optional
Directions:
In a mixing bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients until they are thoroughly combined. Transfer the mixture to an airtight container and store in a cool, dry place for up to six months.
* * *
In the end, I am glad that I made the switch and did a special featuring Puerto Rico. The islands are a constant reminder of the beauty of the United States ... a place where people can have their own culture, their own cuisine and their own identity, and still be considered Americans (at least by right-minded people). However, to truly honor Puerto Rican cuisine, I need to make my dishes for family and friends, as opposed to just for myself. That effort will be the subject of future posts. Until then, ....
PEACE.
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