Mami Always Knows

For years – many more years than I’d care to admit to – I would call my mom with cooking questions.

I remember my first attempt at Arroz con Pollo. “Do I have to use the pressure cooker?” (I got over my fear of pressure cooking pretty quickly, but that’s not important right now.) “Canned asparagus. Really?” and “Is the beer at the end really important?” (FYI – it totally is!)

It turns out that when it came to cooking Cuban food Luza was always right. She had been cooking for our family since forever and knew her way around the kitchen pretty well. And, of course, I learned to cook at her side, so it was natural for me to call asking for advice. 

And now, it’s my turn. I’m on the receiving end of those calls. It’s the circle of life, isn’t it? 

My friends over at We are MiTú did a web cooking show series where young people call their moms to ask how to make a favorite dish. My friend, Stephanie Lorenzo is the genius producer behind this web series. 

Here is my youngest son, Jon calling me to ask How to Make Cuban Picadillo. 

I’m so pleased that they captured this exchange. For one thing, now Jon is pretty confident when he makes Cuban Picadillo. So there’s a win right there. Also, we are pretty natural here, even though we did this with cameras rolling. 

You can find my Cuban Picadillo recipe right here. It was handed down to me by my mom, who was taught how to make it by her mom, and I, in turn have taught my kids how to make it using the same family recipe. 

And so our culture lives on…

It’s kind of beautiful, isn’t it? 

We’ve come full circle. And that’s as it should be. 

Buen Provecho!

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