The Complete Book of Caribbean Cooking

by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz, Moneta Barnett (Illustrator)

"Mrs. Ortiz can always be trusted to treat her subjects accurately because she has lived and cooked in the countries she writes about." -- Associated Press
"An eye-opener for people who are unaware of the diversity of that region's cooking, which draws on European, African and Asian influences. Caribbean cuisine is documented in 450 recipes organized in 14 chapters. The region's distinctive ingredients, cooking methods and utensils are thoroughly explained by Mrs. Ortiz." -- Kansas City Star
"Scores of recipes that will convince you that, yes, there is something new under the gastronomic sun . . . . I wish space permitted me to tell you about the lamb stew with red kidney beans from Guadeloupe, a marvelous recipe for a large Edam cheese stuffed with beef from Curacao, skewered beef kabobs with pineapple, tomatoes, onions and peppers from Anguilla, a pork and spinach dish from St. Lucia and a Camaguey meat salad from Cuba, but I'll have to refer you to the book for those items." -- Josef Mossman, Des Moines Register

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking

442 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1973

Reviews

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up in a Puerto Rican household, and boy could my grandmother cook! I'm afraid we took her cooking for granted, and a lot of her techniques and recipes were lost with her death. So I bought this book because I wished to rediscover them, and I couldn't find an English language book of Puerto Rican cooking. Not really something this book did for me. It really is a book of Caribbean cuisine in general, and the recipes come from all over, and recipes from specific islands are scattered throughout, and the index won't tell you, for instance, where to find all the Jamaican, all the Cuban--or all the Puerto Rican food.

I only recognized a few loved foods from my childhood: Tostones, Bacalaitoes, Pastelillos, Mofongo, Pasteles, Arroz con Pollo, Picadillo (listed as Cuban) and things I turned my nose up at--like Tripe Stew and Blood Sausage (Morcilla). The Pavo Relleno (stuffing for turkey) listed as Puerto Rican isn't how I remember it. My grandmother didn't use almonds, sherry or a bay leaf, she did use thyme, and the meat wasn't a mixture of ground pork and ham but of ground pork and beef. I am glad I got this though--lots of tasty sounding recipes from all over the Caribbean to try.

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book on regional Caribbean cooking. Doesn't just have recipes from the major islands, but also from St. Kitts, Guadeloupe, St. Lucia, Martinique, Leeward Islands, etc. Also includes dishes brought from Asia and Africa. You can, however, tell that this book was written in the 1960's - for example, the author's reliance on asbestos pads as heat diffusers.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book changed by view of Caribbean cooking, the author talks of all of the areas which Carribean cooking obtained by other countries which persons had migrated from including who brought many of the foods they use and have adapted into recipes of their own and that can be a lot of areas since there are many countries represented in this area. I have always enjoyed foods from many of the islands mentioned and was happy to be able to obtain several of the recipes

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cookbook is a lot of fun! It has recipes from all over the Caribbean, and includes a section on Drinks as well as all of the regular cookbook categories (appetizers, meat, fish, desserts, etc). Each dish is assigned to a particular country or sometimes a group of islands, although I will admit that I'm skeptical when it has a dish that's designated as from Tobago. But, then again, I didn't do the research, so maybe there are dishes that are that specialized. In any case, this cookbook has A LOT of recipes from lots of different places.

The recipes are simple, and the ones that I have made have all turned out well.

There are no pictures at all, and the book is dense, with two or three recipes to a page. There is an introduction to Caribbean food at the beginning of the book, but the recipes themselves only occasionally come with accompanying notes, so if you're looking for a detailed explanation of cultural practices or food pathways, this is not really the cookbook you want.

Also, if you're looking for dishes that come from the same country, you just have to scour the entire cookbook looking for that country's name. The cookbook is organized by course, not by region, and the index doesn't include countries either.