Day 3 – Favorite Latino influenced ;) food

Pernil Asado

 There are plenty of foods I do not eat. I hate chick peas. Mustard can die slow. Don't even get me started on sea food. I respect people's choice to not eat meat, or even be vegan. I do. In Syracuse, the first dorm I lived in, Flint/Day, was known as the place to go for the best salad bar, the most in vegetarian/vegan options of any dining hall and so many types of bread! But, I am someone who cannot live with meat in my life - my favorite is pork - chuleta, pernil, masita de cerdo, sandwich cubano. I could eat it all! When I was younger beef was my favorite but my parents decided to stop cooking it (trying to be healthier in diet) and my stomach grew increasingly intolerant. However, I'm grateful for the shift because red meat is pretty harsh for the tummy. Of course, who doesn't love chicken and turkey burgers are a delightful alternative to red meat.

Chuleta Frita

I hate to admit it, but being away from home and in Syracuse made me realize that the world did not live off of rice, beans, a side of meat, and depending on how Papi felt that night, a bonus of peas, sweet corn, or if we were really lucky tostones or maduros (fried or sweet plaintains). I was genuinely freaked out to find no rice, no meat resembling the cooked meat I grew up with... what was I going to eat?! Pasta for 7 days? Burgers for 7 days .. (yum, but hello freshman 15)?

In our family, turkey is not the meat of choice for holiday - Pernil is the centerpiece for our dinner. For the past 2 years or so I've taken the chef's hat and have made our holiday meat. It has been important to me for the past few years to extract cooking knowledge from my mother so that I can continue the tradition. No offense to the turkey, but there's something about the smell of roasting pork shoulder in a house that beyond amazing!

Hungry now...
Z