As someone who grew up with Villapol, this insight into modern Cuban cooking was fascinating for its cultural value alone. I also cooked several of the recipes and enjoyed each one!

The food is fantastic but the photos and layout let's it down. For some reason its very old fashioned

Cuban recipes are so delicious that too if we make on our own...... wonderful recipes.......

Anyone familiar with award-winning cookbook author Anya von Bremzen will be excited to pick up Paladares: Recipes from the Private Restaurants, Home Kitchens, and Streets of Cuba . Cuban food is one of the most notable food trends, and when von Bremzen writes a cookbook, she not only includes recipes, but also invests in countless hours of research and gives readers and cooks enough background, history, and facts that while cooking they actually feel that they are part of the culture. She has teamed up with Megan Fawn Schlow, an accomplished photographer to make this cookbook good enough to belong in every cook’s personal collection; readers will find themselves reading for hours.

This cookbook includes all of the well-known Cuban dishes such as Ropa Viejo, tostones, and a classic Cuban sandwich. It also has dozens of mouthwatering dishes that aren’t so well-known, but are just as good. The first recipe in my queue was Picadillo a la Habanera with white rice and Sweet Fried Plantains. My whole family loved it. Although the classic Ropa Viejo is delicious, I really loved the Pork version with raisins. After preparing several recipes, I found that the recipes are easy to follow – the instructions are perfect for both beginning and experienced cooks – and the photographs make it so it’s easy to know how the recipes are supposed to turn out. Cuban food is quite simple, and every recipe I have tried so far has turned out picture perfect.

Cuban Polenta has become a family favorite, and is a cold-weather comfort food. I found that I could substitute pork tenderloin for the ribs, since I had it on hand, and it was fabulous. Other dishes in the queue are Plantain Fufú with Pork, Adobo Chicken, Arroz Frito, and Fried Chickpeas with Chorizo. Of course there are several good bean recipes as accompaniments to the main dishes. Desserts include classic Flan, rice pudding, and Guava and Cheese Pasteles to name a few.

You absolutely can’t go wrong with this cookbook. It is nice enough and has enough excellent photographs of both Cuba and food, that it’s suitable for a coffee-table book. It would also make a good gift for a Cuban food aficionado. This cookbook has everything and is highly recommended.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

I really enjoyed reading this cookbook. The author traces the history of food and restaurants in Cuba. She interviews many current chefs of Paladares and how they adopt their recipes based on ingredients available to them. There were a few recipes I was tempted to try but I enjoyed reading the stories more. The book also included lots of wonderful photographs of Cuba and the food. Enjoy reading these fascinating stories.

Inspired by private restaurants of CUBA!

Cuban culture…Cuban history…

…an amazing book of stories and recipes, along with many vibrant and BEAU-tiful photos! (Well done, Anya Von Bremzen!!!!)

Of course I decided to try some of these recipes out, due to the fact that everything just looked REALLY GOOD (!) …plus, I feel that the author explained this book and the recipes well -which to me makes Paladares a nice and easy cookbook to follow!

See my full review on my blog at https://mycholsfabulousplayground.wordpress.com/2017/12/09/greta-magic-herbs-and-cuba/

Very good recipe book with pictures of cuisine that is Cuban influenced. Not only do you get mouth-watering recipes you also get culture and history. Recipes are easy to follow and have different degrees of difficulty, but not so difficult it will have you not wanting to attempt. I actually did a few dishes and I must say not bad for my first attempt. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return of my honest review.

The author did a wonderful job of creating this feeling of being in the kitchen listening to stories being told as you can imagine the fragrance of food wafting around you.

Beautiful and realistic looking photographs of the dishes are interspersed to help give you a better idea of what your creation should look like.

This cookbook contains recipes inspired by the private restaurants of Cuba. But this is so much more than just a cookbook! It chronicles the recipes, stories, and images of the new Cuban cuisine. The introduction gives an interesting history of how paladares came about in Cuba. Paladares are small, homegrown eateries that are officially licensed by the government to sell food to locals and tourists. This lengthy cookbook contains delicious recipes that are sure to please your taste buds. There is beautiful full color photography of the Cuban towns and landscape, as well as pictures of each dish. You will also find spotlights on chefs and restaurants sprinkled throughout the book. Kudos to the author for putting together such a fascinating book that is rich with history, amazing photography, and mouthwatering recipes.

The beginning of the book has a table of contents to make recipes easier to find. There is also an alphabetical index at the end of the book. Each recipe comes with an explanation or story about the dish, as well as a full list of ingredients and cooking instructions. The ingredients for the recipes are not that exotic and should be relatively easy to find. The categories of recipes are as follows:
1. Snacks and Appetizers
2. Soups
3. Vegetables and Roots
4. Rice, Beans, and Tamales
5. Fish and Seafood
6. Chicken, Duck, and Rabbit
7. Meat
8. Sweets
9. Drinks

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Cuban history, culture, and cuisine. I received this as a free ARC from Abrams, New York on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Photographs and art inspired by the Cuban culture greet and entice you to flip the pages of this delicious, mouthwatering cookbook. It is so much more than a bunch of recipes, it is a journey into an entire country.

An introduction filled with historical background to help you appreciate the people and the food along with recipe that have both their name in Spanish and English further entrench you into the mindset needed to recreate these delectable dishes. You’re also treated to inspiring and true behind the scene stories that add a sense of family to the book.

The author did a wonderful job of creating this feeling of being in the kitchen listening to stories being told as you can imagine the fragrance of food wafting around you.

Beautiful and realistic looking photographs of the dishes are interspersed to help give you a better idea of what your creation should look like.

Don’t let the simple cover deceive you because inside is a true piece of art that will have you running to the grocery store and busting your budget to try out as many of these as possible.

The instructions are easy to follow, have tips along the side for additional info and include amounts in cups, grams and mls so no conversion fun is needed.

Despite not being a huge fan of the cover, this book is absolutely beautiful. The photos of Cuba really bring the book (and the recipes) to life. Being familiar with Caribbean/Cuban food, I was happy to see some of my favorite recipes, mixed with new ones. The chef stories were incredibly interesting (cooking for Castro!) and show the diversity of Cuban food. A great book for food-lovers!

I knew nothing about Cuban cooking and loved reading this book. I thought the photography and editorial content was magnificent. This is a beautiful book and deserves a place on any cook's shelf.