Hemingway Daiquiri Update

Here is an update on my previous post about the Papa Doble (Hemingway's Daiquiri).  This new Hemingway Daiquiri recipe, from a post in the Houston Press by John Kiely, is less sweet, more tart, and a lot better than my previous recipe.  I think an excerpt from Kiely's post describes the experience very well:

Whoa. The Papa Doble shut down my face for a long 10 seconds, and put my tongue's sour buds on blast. The second taste wasn't much easier, but halfway through, I enjoyed it, and by the end, I preferred it.

Why so tart? Hemingway's father suffered diabetes, so Ernest simply avoided sugar in his drinks. Brilliant move, at any rate. Once your palate adjusts to a lower level of sweetness, the flavor of liquor and other ingredients take up the slack, usually resulting in a better cocktail.

I went through my menu of sixty-nine cocktails, removing sweetness wherever possible, but ironically, not so much from the Hemingway Daiquiri, just half of a teaspoon of simple syrup, as Maraschino keeps the tartness at bay. Thank you, Ernest Hemingway.

I think this is now one of my favorite cocktails...

Chicken and Yellow Rice (Arroz Amarillo con Pollo)

You may have figured out from my previous posts that Cuban food is among my favorites, and this Arroz Amarillo con Pollo is near the top of my list. It is a meal that everyone likes - very flavorful, but not spicy, and safe to serve to everyone except your strictest vegetarian friends. Every Cuban restaurant in Tampa makes this dish, but none are any better than this version which is an authentic Spanish recipe used at the famous Las Novedades restaurant in the Cuban Ybor City neighborhood from 1890 until the restaurant closed in the 1970's.

When you make Chicken and Yellow Rice, I would suggest using only the dark pieces of chicken, which will not dry out as easily as chicken breasts, and which will have a lot more flavor.


Also - very important- spring for a good quality saffron. It is expensive, but you don't need much. Do not use any kind of saffron powder, and absolutely do not add turmeric to make the rice more yellow like some recipes call for.  If you use good saffron, it will almost certainly be yellow enough, and it will definitely have a very fine flavor. (Saffron can be pretty choosy, though, about who it turns yellow for.)

Serve this with a red sangria, but choose a recipe that is not so sweet as the Sangria Mexicana I gave you with the recent Shrimp Ceviche post.  A good one to try would be my sister Alice's Sangria that she shared with Kathy and me a few years ago.

Papa Doble (Hemingway's Daiquiri)

Thinking about Cuban Sandwiches also made me think about Black Beans and Rice, Chicken and Yellow Rice, Filete Salteado (all on my list to talk about sometime) and Caribbean cocktails.  And what more appropriate than this week's cocktail, the Papa Doble or Hemingway's Daiquiri.  It was served to Ernest Hemingway at El Floradita Bar in Havana, although the version served to him was said to have been made with 6 ounces of rum.  A variation on a standard daiquiri, it contains grapefruit juice and a hint of cherry provided by maraschino liqueur in addition to the standard white rum, lime juice and simple syrup. I have provided two versions, and both are excellent, but you will have to experiment and decide whether you like the sweeter version or the one that is more tart.

I like 10 Cane Rum, which is made directly from sugar cane juice, instead of the more common molasses, and the maraschino liqueur is Luxardo, made in Italy using the flesh and pits of marasca sour cherries cultivated exclusively by Luxardo.

Cuban Sandwich

Kathy and I first learned to love Cuban Sandwiches when we lived in Tampa in the early 70's and had the benefit of living in a city with a major Cuban heritage. I never really thought a recipe was necessary - they are about as simple as a sandwich could be.  But someone asked and I realized that there are a lot of people that have not been so lucky as to have experienced the Cuban foods that are such an integral part of life in Tampa and Miami.

As with many traditional foods, there are those that will get pretty snooty with you if you don't follow their idea of what the traditional recipe is. Some say that you should butter the (inside) bread before putting the sandwich together.  Most recipes say that mayonnaise does not ever belong, but I like mayonnaise anyway.  I also like additions and substitutions like provolone or some hot sauce or slivers of hot green chiles.

The cookbook from the Columbia Restaurant, a very famous century old Spanish restaurant in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa has this to say: "The authentic Cuban sandwich has roast pork that has been marinated Cuban-style with sour orange juice, garlic, and oregano.  Sugar-cured ham cut in thin slices is a very important part of this delicious sandwich.  And it has to have hard salami, not bologna which some people use.  There's also Swiss cheese and sour pickle.  Most everyone today uses dill pickle, but it should be sour pickle.  Yellow mustard is spread on one of the slices.  It has to be cut diagonally, and it has to be wrapped in tissue paper.  If it's not wrapped, with a toothpick through the paper, it's not right."

If you feel like taking the effort to make the sandwich like the Columbia Restaurant does, you can't go wrong.  My advice though, is to use the general recipe idea and enjoy whatever variation you like.  The one in the picture above was as good as any I ever had in Tampa.