The Puerto Rican Pantry

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The rich and tumultuous cultural history of Puerto Rican cuisine is clearly evident in its pantry. A typical pantry will have cassava (yuca), first farmed by the native Tainos. It will be on the same shelf as rice, brought over by Spanish colonizers. There will be plantains, cultivated by enslaved Africans, on the same shelf as salchichas (Vienna sausages), brought by American colonizers in the 1950s.  

The Julia Child of Puerto Rican Cuisine Deserves More Recognition

The History of the Puerto Rican Pantry

Many of Puerto Rico’s foundational dishes began as survival food. Enslaved African women  would improvise meals with only a few ingredients and food scraps. Ingredients like salt fish— used for fertilizing the fields of the plantation—were mixed with ground corn to make what would become Funche, salt cod served with a cornmeal porridge. And one of Puerto Rico's most well-known delicacies, Mofongo, was first created by enslaved Africans who repurposed scraps from plantation owners.

The Textures of the Puerto Rican Pantry

If there's a favorite texture to Puerto Rican food, it is the airy crispiness achieved by a deep fry. First introduced by Africans, frying became a means of preservation on an island where refrigeration was rare. With the import of American corn oil came the luxury of having that texture every day of the week. 

Sancocho

The Flavors of the Puerto Rican Pantry

With the exception of hot sauces like Pique and Ajilimohili, Puerto Ricans do not incorporate much spicy heat into their traditional dishes. Instead, they develop a flavor known as agri-dulce, or sour-sweet. You will find this juxtaposition of flavors in a plate of savory Arroz Con Habichuelas y Amarillos, rice with beans served with caramelized slices of fried sweet ripe plantain. 

The Essential Cooking Tools of the Puerto Rican Pantry 

There are two essential kitchen tools in almost every Puerto Rican kitchen–the caldero and the pilon. The caldero is a deep, wide pot with a tight-fitting lid made of cast aluminum. It is a prized possession used to make rice dishes and stews and is often passed on from generation to generation. The pilon is a wooden mortar and pestle used to grind spices for adobo or to mash garlic, seasonings, and plantains into Mofongo.

Spices

• Garlic powder 
• Onion powder 
• Cumin 
• Dried oregano
• Coriander
• Black peppercorns
• Turmeric
• Bay leaf
• Achiote Seeds are indigenous to Puerto Rico and were used by native Tainos to give food a reddish hue. 

Spice Blends

• Adobo Seco is an all-purpose dry rub usually made with garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper. It is used ubiquitously on most meats and in soups and stews.
• Sazon is a blend of cumin, garlic powder, oregano, salt & pepper, coriander, and ground achiote, which gives many Puerto Rican dishes their signature golden color. Though it can be made at home, it is usually purchased pre-made. 
• Chicken Bouillon quickly (and inexpensively) boosts flavor. It is often used in many Puerto Rican soups, braises, and stews.
  

Dried Goods

• Medium grain rice is used to make dozens of Puerto Rican dishes, including the national dish, Arroz Con Gandules, rice with pigeon peas.
• Cornmeal is typically used for funche, a cornmeal porridge, to make guanimes, a dough wrapped in a plantain leaf and stuffed with meat or beans, or sorullitos.
• Pasta de Guayaba, guava paste, is usually sliced and served with a simple white farmer's cheese as a dessert and used as filling for traditional pastries like Pastelitos de Guayaba. 
  

Canned Goods

• Beans are an essential convenience, the most popular being rosados or pink beans. They are integral to Arroz con Habichuelas
• Milks like evaporated and condensed milk. They are traditionally used to make flan.
• Meats like Spam, Salchichas (Vienna sausages), and Corned Beef. They are often mixed into rice dishes or served fried with eggs.
• Olives, specifically manzanilla olives, are added to meat-based preparations like Picadillo
• Roasted red peppers are sliced and added to rice dishes like Arroz con Gandules and to Picadillo.
• Tomato sauce is used in sofrito, as a base for beans and stews, and as the base for Salsa Criolla.
• Crema de Coco
• Coconut Milk is used to make drinks like coquito, sweet and savory dishes like caldo santo, and desserts like Tembleque, a molded coconut milk dessert.

Oils, Vinegar, Condiments

• Annatto Oil is olive oil that has been infused with annatto seeds. 
• Olive Oil is used to make many sauces and to dress simple salads.
• Corn or Vegetable Oil is used for deep frying.
• Lard is used for deep frying.
• Distilled White Vinegar is used for pickling, dressings, and as part of many fundamental condiments and marinades.
• Mayonnaise
• Ketchup 
  

Produce

• Aromatics
• Garlic
• Yellow onion
• Aji Caballero is a hot chili pepper used as the basis of some Puerto Rican condiments, such as Pique 
• Aji Dulce is a small sweet pepper with smoky notes. Native to the island, it's used in many authentic Puerto Rican sauces, including sofrito and ajili mójili.
• Cubanelle Pepper is a sweet, mild pepper used in foundational sauces like Sofrito.
  
• Calabaza is a Caribbean pumpkin with yellow-orange flesh and a slightly sweet nutty flavor. It's used in soups, stews, and desserts. If it can't be sourced, a great substitution is butternut squash.
• Viandas is the collective name for the most commonly consumed root vegetables and tubers. These include: 
• cassava (yuca) 
• malanga (yautia) 
• taro 
• ñame (yam)
• apio (celery root)
• batatas (sweet potatoes)
• Plantains, when green, are mashed and fried and made into Mofongo or fried twice and made into Tostones. Ripe, it is mashed or sliced and fried, then used to layer Pastelon or served as a side dish of Amarillos or Maduros.

Condiments To Make

• Sofrito is a flavor-building technique that consists of frying chopped aromatics. Puerto Rican sofrito begins as recaito, a blend of aromatics and a herb called recao. Though sofrito and recaito can be purchased pre-made, it is best to make this flavor base at home and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
• Adobo Mojado is a pungent wet rub made with crushed garlic, oil, citrus juice or vinegar, oregano, salt, and pepper. 
• Ajili mójili is a hot and sweet sauce used for dipping or a marinade. There are many different versions throughout the island. Usually, it's a blend of recao, raw garlic, olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, oregano, cumin, cubanelle peppers, plus aji dulce and aji caballero, the sweet and hot peppers native to the island.
• Escabeche is a pickling liquid consisting of thinly sliced onions pickled in oil and vinegar with black peppercorns, garlic, and bay leaves. It is used to add flavor to starchy root vegetables like yuca.
• Mayo ketchup is a dipping sauce that is a blend of these two condiments with garlic powder or Pique added. 
• Pique is vinegar based hot sauce that includes Aji Caballeros hot peppers, recao, garlic, black peppercorns, and pineapple rind. Other versions add other acidic tropical fruit like passion fruit, tamarind, or sour orange.

Equipment

• Tostonera is a wooden or plastic press used to make tostones, which are plantain or breadfruit rounds that are fried, smashed with the tostonera, and then fried again.
• Caldero is a deep, wide pot with a tight-fitting lid made of cast aluminum. It is a prized possession used to make rice dishes and stews.
• Pilon is a wooden mortar and pestle used to grind spices and mash ingredients. It is used to mash garlic, seasonings, and plantains into Mofongo.
• Box grater is used to grate the root vegetables and coconut meat that are the base of many recipes like pasteles and alcapurrias.