Frita Cubana Recipe + History (2024)

FAQs

What is the history of the Cuban Frita? ›

Background Of Frita Cubana

This distinctly Cuban take on a burger started as a street food, mainly sold in Havana from the 1930s onwards. The meat-based creation came together on small, propane-fueled carts, which were operated by friteros -- or fryers in Spanish -- lending the dish its name.

The original Frita is a Cuban dish with a seasoned ground beef and pork patty (sometimes mixed with chorizo) on Cuban bread topped with shoestring potatoes. Variations also include lettuce, onions, and a spiced ketchup sauce.

El Rey De Las Fritas traces its roots back to when Victoriano "Benito" Gonzalez and his wife Angelina "La Gallega" Gonzalez embarked on a Frita journey in Miami. However, the story begins earlier in Cuba, where they honed their craft of creating Frita Cubanas until 1968.

Cuban cuisine has roots in the indigenous Taino culture, but its evolution has been shaped by waves of colonization, migration, and cultural exchange. The Spanish colonization of Cuba in the 15th century introduced ingredients such as rice, citrus fruits, olive oil, and livestock.

Cuban Fritas or Cuban hamburgers as they are sometimes referred to a a delicious latin burger. This burger is filled with spices, crispy potato strings and secret sauce on a soft Cuban bread roll.

However, ropa vieja is considered the national dish of Cuba, where residents hold a special affinity for it. The name ropa vieja translates to “old clothes,” likely because it's traditionally made with tough cuts of meat that break into long, thin fibers—resembling well-worn threads—when cooked.

Corn fritters are fried cakes of a dough or batter made of, or containing a featured quantity of maize (corn). Originating in Native American cuisine, they are a traditional sweet and savory snack in the Southern United States, as well as Indonesia where they are known as perkedel jagung or bakwan jagung.

It's also a shredded beef dish, but it has no tomato sauce and gets cooked in oil to produce a crispy final texture. The origins of vaca frita trace back to enslaved people in Cuba and the Canary Islands, another colony of Spain. Flank and skirt steak was the meat reserved for slaves because it was cheap and tough.

What is El Rey known for? ›

An Ancient Mayan City.

El Rey's golden age was between 1200 A.D., when the coastal city flourished as a Mayan maritime hub. But it was also an important spiritual destination, as evidenced by the temples and pyramids you'll see here.

Queso Nabacoa

Although Cuba is not a country famous for its dairy production, small-scale local farmers have always transformed milk in to cheese for self-consumption. Nabacoa Cheese has been made for at least a century, but only in recent years has it found a place on the restaurant tables.

Hacienda Torta Cubana (1 serving) contains 184g total carbs, 172g net carbs, 34g fat, 63g protein, and 308 calories.

It's also a shredded beef dish, but it has no tomato sauce and gets cooked in oil to produce a crispy final texture. The origins of vaca frita trace back to enslaved people in Cuba and the Canary Islands, another colony of Spain. Flank and skirt steak was the meat reserved for slaves because it was cheap and tough.

Cuba. The origins of the Cuban sandwich can be traced back to neither Tampa nor Miami, but Cuba. While Tampa and Miami significantly influenced the modern day Cuban, it was invented in Havana, Cuba. In Cuba, there is a popular street food called “sandwich mixto”.

Many stories credit Juan Moré with bringing Cuban bread to the United States. He was a soldier, originally from Catalonia in Spain, and he was dispatched to Cuba to fight in 1875, eventually landing in Ybor City, a neighborhood just northwest of downtown Tampa in 1895.

Plantains, originally from India, were brought over by Spanish settlers to Cuba. They grew so well in the tropical region that they became an essential part of the Cuban diet. Plantains aren't tasty in their raw form, though, so there are many ways to cook them.