Frita Cubana: A Staple Street Food

What is Frita Cubana?

This is one of the most popular dishes in Cuba, specially in La Habana, also known as the "Cuban Hamburger".

 

It is told that Frita Cubana, was created by Sebastián Carro, a Galician man who used to sale coal in the 1940’s, that when gas appeared as domestic fuel, decided to open a food kiosk in the intersection of streets Zapata and A in la Habana, and then moved it to Paseo and Zapata and became more prosperous; more than he could ever imagined. Today Frita Cubana is known all over the country, became a popular street food and is demanded either by Cubans or foreigners when visiting the island, since it has become one of the staple dishes of the country which could be consumed at any time of the day.

What makes an authentic Frita Cubana?

Besides the chorizo butter with paprika that was part of the original recipe, there are 3 things that distinguish a Frita Cubana from any other sandwich or hamburger:

1. Frita Cubana Bread: even though it is a round soft bread and might look like a Hamburger bun, it is very different! Frita Cubana bread is made by design to hold a lot of moisture and don’t fall apart.

2. Frita Cubana recipe: obviously the mixture of ingredients used in the recipe you choose and how it is cooked will make it more or less authentic.

3. Potatoes and sides: potatoes have to be cut into very thin julienne strips and fried. Then put them on the Frita (just like the picture). Mustard and ketchup, that’s it. No lettuce or tomatoes, or other kinds of vegetables have a place here! Neither mayo or other sauces.

Ingredients for a great Frita Cubana!

These are the ingredients you will need to prepare an authentic and delicious Recipe! 

Frita Cubana Bread		Paprika	½ tsp
Bread crumbs	80 g	Salt
Whole milk	120ml	Canola Oil (enough to fry)
Ground Beef	460 g	Mustard
Chorizo fresco	60 g	Ketchup
Onion	1 1/2	Black pepper
Garlic (crushed)	3 cloves	Cumin
Egg	1

How to make the internationally famous Frita Cubana?

Regarding the Potatoes: assuming you are going to make your own fries. This is the first thing you have to do, since it will require some time, if you want to make them really crunchy!...

1. Potatoes must be peeled and let rest in cold water with white vinegar.

2. Rinse off the vinegar from the potatoes and repeat this operation as many times as necessary, until the water is clear. The idea? Take the potato starch off... and get very crunchy fries!

3. In the meantime… you can go to “Preparing the meat”!

4. Once the water is clear, drain the water from the potatoes, and dry them with some paper towel.  Be careful! Remember they will go into hot oil; if they are wet when you fry them, oil will splash and you will get burnt.

5. Cut the potatoes into very thin julienne.

6. Fry the cut potatoes until “delicious golden”. 

7. Take them out and put them on a paper towel to let it absorb oil excess. Add a little salt over them.

Preparing the Meat:

1. Mix the milk with the bread crumbs in a bowl, and let it soak while preparing the rest of the recipe.

2. If you do not have any kitchen aid appliance, then you may cut the chorizo and the onions as thin and small as possible.

3. Mix the meat and the chorizo, then add the bread crumbs -soaked in milk- the onion and garlic, until you get a mix.

4. Whisk the egg with salt to taste, paprika, cumin and black pepper.

5. Add the egg with condiments to the mix prepared in step 3 and mix it very well using a spoon or your spare hands, until you get an homogeneous mix.

6. Let the mix rest for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator to let the flavors of condiments and ingredients savor the meat.

7. Make balls and then smash them with your hands until you get “hamburgers” the size average of the size of the breads.

8. In a pan with a small quantity of canola oil, cook the meat on both sides up to your desired doneness.

Assembling the Frita Cubana:

1. Cut the Frita Bread and toast it a little beat.

2. Spread ketchup on one side and mustard on the other.

3. Put the frita on one of the sides. 

4. Then, on top of the Frita, put some thin sliced onion and as many fried potatoes as you want! Close the Frita Cubana with the other side of the Frita Bread.

Serve it -ideally with “tostones” (salty fried plantains) and your comensal’s cold favorite beverage; beer, soda or malta... and enjoy!!!!!

Tips and Tricks to prepare your amazing Frita Cubana!

1. Pick the right kind of bread; Frita Cubana Bread!! As we mentioned before… It is not just about taste, texture and shape, but performance as well!!!

2.   

   If you are not going to use all the meat on one day, you can put it in the fridge. After seasoning and shaping the fritas -but prior to cooking them- you can wrap the Fritas using wax paper or similar to separate the fritas one from each other and prevent them from sticking together.

3. If you decide to freeze the fritas as recommended in the step before, you have 2 options to cook them. Either partially defrost and cook them slowly to prevent them from burning, or to defrost completely prior to cooking them as usual, using a few oil in a pan.

4. The Frita Cubana in the picture is a special one; it has a fried egg inside!!