Soul Food.

Funny how “soul food” means different things to people from different cultures. I’m inclined to think that it means whatever food groups we grew up eating for family gatherings or on special occasions. Or maybe it just pertains to certain cultural foods that really just hit you to your core when contact is made with the taste buds. In any case, when I think of “soul food”, I think of Puerto Rican soul food. That means my dad’s family sofrito recipe used in a big pot of rice and a separate pot of beans, a dry rubbed, slow roasted Pernil (pork shoulder) with crunchy skin, banana leaf wrapped pasteles, fried sweet plantains… and not a green vegetable to be found lol. My mom is a vegetarian though, so she’s always taking care of us in that regard. What's so funny is that the people reading this who know what I am talking about either have watering mouths or they are humming “mmmmmm'' after they read each word. For those of you that don’t know what I am talking about, don't try and find it at a restaurant. Instead, find a Puerto Rican friend with family recipes that go back 100 years, only then will you truly understand.

I don’t bring this up to make any claims that my cultural foods are better than anyone else's, but simply to admire how unique they are and how no matter how many years pass, they never change. For my fathers family, meals had to be affordable, and my Nana had to make enough to feed 8 people every evening (my dad is one of 6). I think the beauty in all of this is that culturally, Latinos took what they had no matter how cheap the ingredients, and made meals that would knock the socks off of Gordon Ramsey. Combine central American/Caribbean immigrants with lovers of food, and you have a cuisine that is internationally unmatched – in my opinion of course.

Fairly recently, I made my first Pernil roast with my family’s recipe; I had one of my best friends over for the weekend visiting, at the time. I tried to explain to him what we were having, and he just nodded without any sort of excitement. Later on he told me he thought I was making a ham or something, smh. We baked the 10 pounder for 7.5 hours – prior to cooking, I had this thing sitting in the fridge coated in Adobo and Sazón, with about 10 whole cloves of garlic stuffed underneath the skin via diamond cuts, for about 48 hours.

My dad knew I was making it, and even though he typically only eats meat once a month, he made an exception. He stopped by just as I was pulling the roast out of the oven and helped me carve it. I shouldn’t even really call it carving it, it's more like separating the meat from the bone with a spoon and tossing away the cartilage and excess fat. We stood their sampling absolutely mouth watering, stringy pork, with nibbles of the crunchy skin as he pulled it apart on the cutting board. This reminds me of my childhood. Whenever the pork came out of the oven, people would gather nearby my dad as he effectively gave taste tests to passersby. If you weren't quick, you could miss out on all the crunchy skin!

Anyway, back in real time, my friend could not even believe what he was tasting. He kept saying how it was like candy that he couldn’t stop picking at. As we made our plates, my dad stood over the cutting board munching away. As my friend watched my dad, I saw him put down his fork and start grabbing with his hands, as my dad was doing. I looked over at him and he shook his head and said, “it honestly tastes even better this way.” I couldn't help but chuckle when he told me that he thought I was making some kind of ham.

A few weeks after this event, my buddy came up to visit again, and I suggested we slow cook a nice cut of meat. Unexpectedly, he responded by asking for the Pernil again lol – I forgot to mention that that 10 pound roast was $11 at the grocery store. Fortunately for him, I don't think I could ever say no to that kind of roast. And so, we had the roast again, with rice, plantains, etc. – soul food at its finest.

Over the past year, I’ve been really diving into my family’s culinary traditions. While I can say this has made my Nana proud, I think it has made me even prouder. I love the rich tradition associated with my culture, and I am proud to carry on recipes that have been with the family for ages. Whether you are aware of it or not, I think most families have unique traditions and recipes they would love to pass down. In my own family (including my wife’s), I’ve experienced some grandparents more vocal than others about passing down their traditions, nevertheless, it’s always appreciated and supported. Believe it or not, the story about my friend trying the pork roast all started because he mentioned to me that it is German tradition to have pork on New Years. I don't think I prepared the pork he was expecting, but still, we satisfied the century old German tradition, with a little PR twist: what’s better than that!

Hope you enjoyed the week end read,

Dionisio III