Cuba Cooks: Recipes and Secrets from Cuban Paladares and Their Chefs

Award-winning chef Guillermo Pernot and acclaimed author Lourdes Castro unveil authentic Cuban recipes for home cooks, celebrating the bold flavors, creative techniques, and unique inspirations of the country’s finest paladares.

Pernot and Castro explore Cuba, collecting dishes and stories that reveal a vibrant contemporary cuisine. Each dish has been adapted from the best private restaurants from Old Havana to Santiago de Cuba and Pernot’s own celebrated restaurant, Cuba Libre, marrying traditional foundations with modern influences.

Divided into chapters for fresh seafood (“Mar”), meat (“Tierra”), vegetables (“Granja”), and delectable desserts (“Postres”), Cuba Cooks includes recipes for Arroz con Bacalao, Charred Snapper in Coconut Sauce, Oyster Ceviche, and elegant Stone Crab Mojito; Ajiaco (Cuban stew), Cuban Fried Chicken, Duck Ropa Vieja, Honey-Glazed Lamb Ribs with Cachucha Vinaigrette, Pork Belly Fried Rice, a traditional whole pig roast, and a legendary smoked chicken from the side of the road; Black Bean Gnocchi with Culantro Butter, Green Plantain Soup garnished with Popcorn, and Malanga Tacos Stuffed with Eggplant; Old Havana street vendors’ roasted coconut Cucuruchos, and Cuba Libre’s Chocolate Tart with Caramelized Bananas.

Guillermo Pernot is a two-time James Beard Award–winning chef and author (Ceviche: Seafood, Salads, and Cocktails with a Latin Twist, 2001), and chef-partner of the Cuba Libre restaurant group in Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Washington, D.C., and Orlando. Lourdes Castro is a professor, recipe developer, and author of three cookbooks, recurring judge on Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay, and contributor to Food & Wine, Latina magazine, and the New York Times. José Andrés is a celebrated Spanish-American chef, author, and restaurateur with restaurants in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, South Beach, Puerto Rico, and Mexico City.