country Essentials · 12 foods
Puerto Rico Essentials
A considered first route through Puerto Rico: the foods that carry its everyday habits, celebrations, ingredients, and memory.
Explore all Puerto Rico foods →THE
ESSENTIALS
The complete shortlist
12 foods to know.
Each selection includes the reason it belongs here—so this is a guide, not just a pile of names.
Puerto Rico
Mofongo
Plantains pounded with garlic and chicharrón in a pilón, then served with broth, meat, or seafood.
Puerto Rico
Rice with Pigeon Peas
Arroz con gandules
The national plate, and the scorched pegao at the bottom of the caldero is fought over.
Cayey, Puerto Rico
Guavate Roast Pork
Lechón asado
Whole pigs turned over coals along Route 184, carved by the pound on Sundays.
Puerto Rico
Alcapurria
Grated green banana and yautía fried almost black, sold from the kiosks at Piñones.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rican Pasteles
Pasteles
Green-banana masa tied in leaves in December assembly lines and boiled all year after.
Puerto Rico
Coquito
Bottled by every family at Christmas and argued over — whether egg yolk belongs in it.
Puerto Rico
Tembleque
Coconut set with cornstarch and turned out of the mould so it actually wobbles.
Puerto Rico
Salt Cod Fritters
Bacalaítos
Salt cod batter spread wide in the oil until it fries lacy and bigger than your hand.
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Piña Colada
Invented in San Juan in the 1950s, with two bars still holding rival plaques.
Jamaica
Mauby
Antiguan Mauby
Fermented tree bark poured from jugs at mountain roadside stands, sharper the older it gets.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rican Pernil
Pernil al horno
Salted and garlicked a day ahead so the skin lifts off the shoulder in one crackling sheet.
Puerto Rico
Quesito
Puff pastry rolled around sweet cream cheese and lacquered, bought warm in threes.