Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Cuban Chicken Fricassee - Fricasé de Pollo

My Mom had been in Cuba for over a month and I not only missed her but I missed her cooking. I have been craving my Moms Chicken Fricasse and as soon as she got back from Cuba she came over and shared this long time family recipe. As with any traditional Cuban recipe you will find some variances on some of the ingredients used. I have seen many Chicken Fricasse recipes use a tomato base, but my mom never used a tomato base and I'm fine with that. To me this dish was perfect as is.

Cuban Chicken Fricassee

Ingredients

5 Lbs of Chicken (bone-in, skin-on)
Olive Oil (enough to cover pan)
1/4 Cup vinegar
1 Cup white wine
3 Tablespoons of Capers
1 Tablespoon Caper Juice
12 Manzanilla Olives
2 Bay Leaves
1 Tablespoon Cummin
6 Whole All Spice
1 Tablespoon Peppercorns
1 Whole Chopped Onion
1 Whole Green Pepper
1 Whole Red Pepper
6 Garlic Cloves
1 Pack of Sauzon Goya
Salt to taste

Season individual chicken pieces with salt. Add all ingredients in a container, cover and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours.

Cuban Chicken Fricassee

Remove chicken from the marinade.

Cuban Chicken Fricassee

Strain and reserve marinade juice.

Cuban Chicken Fricassee

Warm the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat and brown the chicken pieces. Pour into the pot all of the remaining ingredients , sauteing with the chicken until onions are translucent, about 3 -5 min.

Cuban Chicken Fricassee

Add reserved marinade juice. Reduce heat to low, cover pan and simmer for 30 min.

Cuban Chicken Fricassee

Serves well with white rice

Cuban Chicken Fricassee

Chicken Fricasse

12 comments:

  1. Byte64August 26, 2009 at 2:22 PM

    Hombre,
    it looks delicious and believe it or not, it resembles in many aspects a renown recipe of this part of Italy, "pollo alla cacciatora" (chicken in hunter's style).
    How curious!

    I have now at least 3 cuban recipes in my backlog, and it's all your fault!
    ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. KirkKAugust 27, 2009 at 9:02 PM

    Hey MA - I love the colors and the rustic look of Cuban Chicken Fricassee.... it's hard to resist!

    ReplyDelete
  3. NathanAugust 28, 2009 at 10:56 AM

    Hey interesting recipe :) Must be from Oriente area of Cuba because I see you use "Allspice" which is common in Oriente and absent in Western cuba.

    My grandmother also makes a version that has no tomato sauce (it's super easy, brown chicken with salt, set aside, make a sofrito with no tomato, then add white wine, some water, bring to boil, add bay leaves, black peppercorns and cumin. Then add chicken back. Finally here's the weird part add some soy sauce, or salsa inglesa (Worceshire) to darken the sauce then simmer til done.)

    I haven't blogged about that one.

    I prefer tomato based though.

    Keep bringing in the Cuban recipes, great job :D

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  4. caninecologneAugust 28, 2009 at 6:09 PM

    wow, talk about mouthwatering! thanks for sharing the recipe...i always enjoy your posts! : )

    ReplyDelete
  5. Byte64August 30, 2009 at 7:58 AM

    Gracias hombre!
    Fricasé de pollo a la cubana.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousAugust 30, 2009 at 3:32 PM

    Your craving is my craving bro...I am making this recipe right now. I usually make it with a tomato base but I wanted to try this one. There is nothing better then the smell of Cuban cooking in the house! Mitch

    ReplyDelete
  7. ChristinaAugust 31, 2009 at 3:11 AM

    I LOVE your blog! Keep posting!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Gabby EborallAugust 31, 2009 at 2:31 PM

    Grandma Gina needs her own Blog : )
    Thank you for showcasing Mom's Gift for cooking Bro. We were soooo lucky to be raised on FLAVOR!! Our palates are spoiled from the Cuban and Mexican dishes served up in our home. I still remember the smell of Cuban Fried Chicken on a Saturday morning...that's when we knew we were going to the beach!

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  9. Masa AssassinAugust 31, 2009 at 7:38 PM

    Ho Byte…..I was so excited to see you made the recipe even without all the ingredients available in Italy.

    Hi Kirk….. Thanks I think you would really enjoy this recipe.


    Hi Nathan….. your insight on Cuban Food is always great to hear, would love to see the recipe with Salsa Inglesa.

    Hi CC…. Thanks I also enjoy your post.

    Hi Mitch…. that’s so great to hear let us know how it came out.

    Hi Cristina…..Thanks so much

    Hi Gabby….Cuban Fried Chicken and the beach ahhhh memories

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  10. Byte64September 5, 2009 at 6:12 AM

    Hombre,
    the last minute news is that this morning i went to a little shop specialized in spices where i eventually found the famous all-spice so now i have enough for at least 50 chicken fricassee...
    I'll update my blog post adding a photo of the pimento.

    Ciao!

    ReplyDelete
  11. bathmateDecember 27, 2009 at 2:41 PM

    As always an excellent posting.The
    way you write is awesome.Thanks. Adding more information will be more useful.

    Bathmate

    ReplyDelete
  12. SoniaDecember 12, 2010 at 6:08 PM

    I know I'm coming in late to this post, but Nathan just shared it with me...
    I had never heard of using allspice (pimento) in fricase de pollo until this one...but in another post I read you said your mom was from Santiago...maybe that is the difference. My family and I are from Cienfuegos and our fricase calls for tomato sauce and no allspice...
    Here is a link to our family's recipe - which my sister and I tweaked a bit for this particular event:
    http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977271054

    ReplyDelete