Caribbean food expert and long-time fan and proponent of Cuban cuisine in America, Joyce LaFray has included hundreds of recipes from home cooks and restaurants that reflect the vigorous and flavorful cooking of this tropical island. The pages of ¡Cuba Cocina! are fitted with the tantalizing scents of garlic, citantro, tomato, sweet peppers, and those ubiquitous favorites, black beans and rice.Distinctively delicious recipes include fresh red snapper served with a tangy citantro-lime sauce, a crab dish that incorporates crisp plantains and a mango vinaigrette, and a Creole stewed shrimp prepared in the style of the province of Santiago de Cuba.

Alongside the traditional arroz con pollo, ropa vieja, pollo frito and roast suckling pig are recipes for nuevo-style roast turkey with black bean stuffing. ginger-sherried roast pork, and pork medallions with yuca and mojo.To accompany all these dishes are more than two dozen recipes for salsas, and great tropical fruit and vegetable offerings such as fluffy calbaza souffle and eggplant stuffed with ripe tomatoes, peppers, and raisins.On the more indulgent side there are dozens of island cocktails, with and without alcohol. and a sumptuous array of aaah-inspiring desserts: flan with rum sauce, mango-coconut cake, and acreamy custard called natilla. Cuban traditionalists will love the mamey sapote and mango ice cream.

For those new to Cuban cooking. an exhaustive glossary covers the essential terms and ingredients. a shopping list offers Cuban names for major ingredients, and a detailed technique section discusses preparing uncommon fruits, vegetables, shellfish, and more,¡Cuba Cocina! means Cuba Cooks! and as this book so amply demonstrates, that activity is cause for celebration.