Santé
THE GLOBAL PLATE: NUEVO LATINO HECHO A MI MANERA CON LA RUMBA DE NEW YORK
by Aarón Sánchez
Holiday 2005
I thank my mom for many things all the time – for sharing with me her love of food and the importance of how it reflects our family history and culture. I also thank her for making New York our home. And for the dusty Franklin Mountains of El Paso, Texas, choosing as my place of birth a place so special to me that will forever be “mi tierra.” What a contrast with the blinding pace and light of New York. My formative years were spent exposed to so many incredible Latino cultures, each leaving a lasting imprint on my life, and affecting the way I cook every day. The most resonant aspect of those Latino cultures was for me the cuisine and people’s dedication to cooking dishes from their native countries. They cooked for their families at home in a very loving way, preserving such an important part of their identity. In my house, there was no question that food was supreme in the way we came together. Almost everyone in my family is a good cook. When I came of a certain age, I ventured out and ate in neighborhoods all over the city. I found similarities between many of the homes and restaurants I had the privilege of eating at and my family’s home.
What is it about Latin food that I love so much? Is it the constant inflection of rhythm, passion and color that is almost always represented in the food? I guess one can make that argument for all aspects of Latin culture, including the music, art, and movies that have become so popular. Or is it the honest sincerity or the humble origins that the food inspires? Could it be the automatic link people make to their upbringing or childhood when they see a bubbling cauldron of beans or plantains being fried or tortillas being pressed? Or is it the spiritual and cultural contributions that are present in Latino food?
But these are also present in cuisines all over the world. The ingredients of these foods have traveled far beyond their places of origin. Examples of their reach are as follows: The tomato that graces so many Italian restaurants, the hundred different varieties of potatoes from Peru, the creamy flavor of papa amarillo. Squash – whether autumn with orange color flesh, or summer squash, with names from the new world, like spaghetti, calabaza and zucchini. The fresh beans such as cranberry or fava, that are destined to be dried and paired with rice. These are just a few examples of the enormous contributions that have influenced so many of the great foods of today.
When speaking of Latino cooking, I think it would help to define some concepts. Many times, when people speak of Latin food, they are referring to it as “Spanish food,” which is incorrect. Spanish food hails from the country that bears that name. These are some categories that epitomize the kinds of Latin foods I find in New York. First, I look at the cooking of the Caribbean, which in my mind is the food of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba. The diet is based on rice, beans, plantains, tropical fruits, whole roasted meats, mojos or marinades and sauces that are used with pork (pernil and lechón asado). Pork is not shunned by Latinos for religious reasons so, worldwide, they are a huge consumer of it. My friend Alex Garcia is a great chef, also credited with helping to launch the Nuevo Latino movement here in New York. Alex, who is Cuban by birth, spent a good portion of his youth in Puerto Rico. I think the perception is that in Latin households, women do all of the cooking, and that is true the majority of the time. But there is the phenomenon of the backyard barbecue that men seem to revel in. Alex’s father is a gregarious man whose specialty is the famous whole roasted pig (also known as lechón asado). After the beast is roasted slowly in a rub of annatto paste, garlic and sour orange for several hours, he would present it whole on a bed of newspapers. To demonstrate how tender the pork had become, he would cut the pork with a plate instead of a knife. And everyone would be quiet so as to hear the crackling of the crispy skin. Truly delicious!
The African influence on Latino cuisine should not be ignored. Plantain, yucca and cassava, peanuts and okra are all constants in Latino food today. The African influence has even reached places as far away as Brazil and Veracruz, Mexico. Caribbean-Latino food has a very visible presence here in New York in areas such as Spanish Harlem, the Lower East Side, where I live and my first restaurant Paladar is located. Sunset Park (Brooklyn), Washington Heights (Manhattan) and Jackson Heights (Queens) are just a feew more areas wehre you can have an awesome Latino meal. Another enduring story comes from a Caribbean-Latino staple called calabaza. This is a variety of pumpkin, also called West pumpkin. The Essex Street market located in the Lower East Side of New York City possesses a gamut of Latin ingredients and caters to a Latin consumer base. They cut the calabaza into smaller, manageable pieces, and sell it accordingly, as calabaza can range from 2 to 20 pounds in size! Stories and little dichos or sayings are important to the whole experience of cooking food at home because these verbal reminders are passed down just as recipes are.
There are two great gastronomic influences in the New York Latin state of mind, which are the Caribe Latin presence and the Mexican explosion. Some exciting recipes and wine pairings are inspired by these two cuisines. One of my favorite ingredients is salted cod, or bacalao, an enduring staple that has found its way throughout Latin America primarily by the fact that it doesn’t spoil easily. Bacalao is cod that has been heavily salted and allowed to air dry as a way of preservation. It was very important in the diets of sailors making cross-Atlantic voyages and sailing to other ports around the world. In the New York idiom of Latin cooking you find that bacalao encompasses not only northeastern cod, but its Spanish counterpart hake, or merluza, and you also see haddock and Pollack in salted form.
Here are some of my favorite dishes (recipes can be found in La Comida del Barrio), along with Spanish wine recommendations, just to whet your appetite!
Ensalada de Bacalao. Pair with Dona Rosa, Major de Mendoza, or Martin Códax (Albariño).
Fish in Coconut Sauce. Pair with Aldor 2004 (Verdejo), or Chardonnay from Navarra or Penedés (Castillo de Monjardin or Milmanda de Torres).
Birria – Braised Short Ribs with Ancho Chile Broth. Pair with J. Palacios (Petalos), Bierzo or Rioja (Colo de Imaz), Elia Mora (Toro) or Pesquera Reserva (Ribero del Duero).
Former co-host of Food Network’s ‘Melting Pot,’ Aarón Sánchez introduced the nation to his interpretations of classic Latino cuisine. His food can be sampled at his acclaimed New York City restaurants Paladar and Centrico. Today, Aarón is a restaurateur, television personality, consultant and author. His book, La Comida del Barrio, was published in May 2003. In 2004, he was named one of People Magazine’s most beautiful people.