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Heading to Puerto Rico and not sure what to eat? Well here we give you some of the best food to eat in Puerto Rico. From the incredible lechon to the pique to the drinks and so much more. Puerto Rican food everyone loves to eat. Mofongo is a must.
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0:00
Hey, I'm Jocelyn and I am in Rincon, Puerto Rico, and this is the Eats of Puerto Rico
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I want to start out by saying there are so many amazing dishes in this country that I
0:16
can't name them all because this video would be way too long. So I'm going to ask right away that all of you who love Puerto Rican food, put that down
0:23
in the comment section because I know I'm missing things. I'm doing it intentionally
0:27
I'm just trying to get the highlights. So my first food of Puerto Rico is mofongo
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Mofongo is mashed up plantains. They've been kind of put into a little dish of some sort and smashed all together
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And sometimes they're just served on a plate. And you've got like mariscos, the, you know, seafood, or you have pork or beef
0:49
There's like all sorts of meats that go in with it. You get to choose what you want
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Sometimes it has like a caldo, like a sauce around it in a bowl, which is really good because it keeps it really, really moist
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I'm going to say this. The very best that you'll find is in some abuela's house
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So if you make friends with a little old lady, that's probably the best place to eat your mofongo
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Next is lechon. Lechon is roast suckling pig. And it's got this beautiful crispy skin on the outside and juicy, yummy meat
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There's actually even ruta del lechon. and you can, you know, drive down the road and buy it at these little kioscos, just little kiosks
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People are selling it, you know, making it right there, selling it. Amazing, amazing meat. But if
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you can't get that, if you don't go down the Ruta del Lechon, then maybe when you're in a restaurant
1:39
you'll see pernil. Pernil is roast pork shoulder. So you give up that, like that skin when you get
1:44
just the shoulder, you don't have that crispiness, but you still have a really juicy, tender cut of
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pork and it's really good. Also note on the lechon, it's available by the pound. That's how good it is
1:57
But the pernil you can get as just like, you know, a plate, like a dish, not necessarily 16 full
2:03
ounces. My next is a category more or less, plantains. Plantains come in many forms, like
2:09
when they're all mashed up together in mofongo. There's also tostones. So tostones are savory
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plantains. They're green. They are fried, smashed down, fried again. They're thick
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almost like a cracker sort of thing. You can use them to scoop stuff up like you would a chip or
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something, or you can just eat them plain just the way they are. And they're really excellent
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but don't expect them to be sweet. Tostones are one version of plantains. Another is amarillos
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and they're the sweet version. They're like lightly fried, more like pan fried
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where they're kind of mushy and stuff like that. You get that really sweet
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banana-y sort of flavor and those will come, you know, as a side dish
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and things like that as you order dinners. I also really like them
2:57
at breakfast time. I really recommend that you eat at Cieloscos here in Puerto Rico They just little roadside stands and you find everything from lechon to sometimes burgers or smoothies or you know like any number of different things
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but really good food you know it's like a home it's like a home restaurant i don't know how to
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describe that but i always find that it is a little bit closer to homemade than what you get
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in a restaurant and i love to eat as local as i absolutely can so please try eating at a kiosco
3:28
So we talked about the Puerto Rican love for plantains, right? So they have these things called pasteles
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And I want you to picture a tamale, but instead of like the normal masa, it is actually made from plantain
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It's stuffed, it's got stewed meats inside, and it's wrapped in a banana leaf
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And it's really excellent food. And, you know, that plantain part just changes it up so much and it gives it a whole different consistency
3:55
And I really like the mouthfeel on it. Another fun category of food in Puerto Rico are fricturas
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They're like lots of little fried foods. Our family's favorite is empanadillas
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They're kind of like empanadas. They're small. They can be stuffed with different kinds of meats
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You'll find a variety of them, sometimes chicken, sometimes beef. Mark had rabbit last night
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Seafood. So you'll find all sorts of different little, you know, they look like a little bun sort of that have been put together
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and actually those are not fried, they're baked. But sometimes you find things that look just like a panadillas, but they're fried
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Then there's a caporillas, which kind of look like a corn dog, but they're not a corn dog
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How do I describe that? It's like two feet of fried yucca and it's got meat stuffed inside
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So yeah, it looks just like a corn dog, but it's totally not a corn dog. But it's a really fun food, especially to get at a kiosco somewhere throughout the country
4:54
Great road trip food, in my opinion. Just, you know, kind of chow down on that as you're driving across the country to see more cool stuff
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If you have a little too much to drink in Puerto Rico, which could happen, because I'm going to talk about the drinks in a little bit
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there's something called tripletta. And it's basically just this massive sandwich with three different meats
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And it's really good for you when you need to soak up that extra rum
5:17
that's floating around in your belly the next morning. So let's talk about sauces
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My family's favorite is pique. Pique is hot sauce and it's, you know, something different
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I can't even describe all the stuff that goes into some of the piques I've seen
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And there's a thousand gajillion different varieties probably, but it's like a vinegar base
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It's got a lot of black pepper. Sometimes there's red pepper. There's just apple cider vinegar
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Maybe there's all sorts of different stuff in there, depending on where you're getting it
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Sometimes it's, you know, made by that restaurant. I actually bought some really great pique from a restaurant that we were at the other day. It
5:55
literally came with a dropper because it's that hot and it's also that tasty. Another sauce is
6:02
sofrito Sofrrito is basically stewed up onions garlic peppers It just like a great thing that they kind of use for all their stews and things like that but I also seen it topped over different meats and like rice
6:18
and beans and things like that. So sofritto is something to be aware of because, well, it's
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pretty tasty. So because there's water surrounding this beautiful country, there's lots of great
6:29
seafood. I am a huge fan of fish and seafood in all its many forms, but here you particularly find
6:36
a lot of grouper and red snapper along with like shrimp and octopus and lobster. There's just
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there's so many different things, but those two main fish are usually red snapper and you'll
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usually find that like a whole fish and it's grilled. Although sometimes you'll find fillets
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too. And then grouper, I've always found that as just a fillet. If you can get it whole, get it
6:58
whole because oh my gosh is it good and they'll have all different kinds of toppings like garlic
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or maybe like mango and pineapple or maybe it'll just have some hot sauce on the side
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if you're me you're gonna add some pique anyway you'll find a variety of great little snacks
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around the country bakeries are like kind of important to this culture in my opinion just
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from what i've seen and our family's favorite are casitos they're basically puff pastry and they've
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got cheese inside. You'll find a lot of different little things in like a puff pastry with maybe
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fruit inside or meats or cheeses or, you know, maybe a combination thereof. Anyway, there's a
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lot of great snacks. Again, like we're driving through the country. So we've actually stopped
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at grocery stores and just picked up, you know, a ready to go handmade thing from the grocery
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store. It's probably not as good as Abuela's, but you know what? It's great for my kids while
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they're sitting in the back seat. Of course, you can usually find those at kioscos too
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So you don't have to go to the grocery store. I also kind of want to give you all a tip about eating out in Puerto Rico
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Not only are you going to find amazing foods, you're also going to find kind of slow service
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This is kind of island time here. So have your patience. Service has always been good for us, but it does take a lot longer usually than what we're expecting in the States
8:13
Definitely tip 15 to 20 percent. That's what they do here. And so we go right along with that
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actually our service has been so good we've been tipping more than 20% in most cases because our
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servers have been just so helpful and the food has been damn good. As we're talking about
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restaurants I also want to say this ask locals where to eat ask the people at your hotel ask the
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people you meet on the street they're going to be really helpful in telling you the best restaurant
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in the area because quite frankly I don't always trust those online reviews because they're often
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written by people not from here and so when you're getting visitors remarks their ideas of what's
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really great may not be the same as what a local is so we always try to eat where the locals tell us
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to go and i think that you'll experience even better puerto rican cuisine if you do that two
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really wonderful desserts and there are many more but i want to talk about flan and flan comes in
9:09
many forms it it a custard and sometimes you find it with just caramel over the top Other times it will have other things mixed into it There actually a special kind that has its own name
9:21
and it's got coconut in it. Oh my gosh, if you love coconut, try tembleque. Another dessert that
9:26
I kind of can't ever pass up is a roast con dulce. It's basically, it's rice pudding with cinnamon
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raisins. It's just creamy and it's so filling. I kind of feel like I could eat that for breakfast
9:39
every day. I don't know why I think I should have it for breakfast, but I do. Okay. And now onto the
9:45
drinks. So we all know that like Caribbean rum is like a thing, right? Well, Puerto Rico has some
9:51
really great rums and they also some really great cocktails with rums. Did you know that the pina
9:56
colada was made here? There are two different places that claim it. Both the hotel and the
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restaurant that lay claim to it are in San Juan. So while you're there, try to go check those out
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Anyway, you're going to find pina coladas all over the island. There's probably a twist on them
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Some are more coconutty. Some are more rummy. You know, keep trying until you find the one you like
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Kind of like Goldilocks. So there's also really great coffee culture here. You're going to find great stuff
10:20
Medalla. It's the beer from around here. And it's amazing. And you know what
10:25
They're cleaning up over here. And it's getting really loud. Okay, it got kind of loud over at the beach with the weed whackers and stuff
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So we're over here. And we're in front of one of those little kioscos. And I kind of felt like it was a good idea since I talk about them so much that you kind of get an idea of what to look for when you're driving down the highway
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Anyway, so this is one of those. But I want to finish talking about the drinks in Puerto Rico
10:48
Another great drink here is Coquito. It's kind of like eggnog. And yes, it's a Christmassy sort of drink
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And you might not be able to find it all times of the year. But if you do, try it because it's incredibly good
10:59
It's evaporated milk, condensed milk. there's some cinnamon, just all sorts of good stuff put together. And it's really flavorful
11:07
And I think that you should have some if you're lucky enough to find it. Another thing that I
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think you should know is that you can drink the tap water and eat the ice and drink, you know
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drinks with ice in Puerto Rico, no problem. You'll still often be given a bottle of water when you
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order water, but just be aware that the water here is completely perfectly fine to drink
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Also coffees. You know, everybody has coffee, right? Well, Puerto Ricans have this amazing
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there's a yellow and black bag. I forgot the name of it, but that's my favorite coffee that I've had
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while I've been here. And I've tried several different kinds, but that one's my favorite
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So if you find it, get it, take it home with you. There are a couple of different beers here
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that are local from Puerto Rico. The main one you're going to find is Medalla
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and they'll have light and they'll have ultra and all that good stuff. Best drinking, super duper cold
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And just note that the cans are 10 ounces and the bottles are 12 ounces
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I thought that was a funny little difference, but I kind of like it. So that's my list
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I know there's a whole lot more. Please put it in the comment section because, oh my gosh, the cuisine here
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I think I've gained like four pounds, like at least four pounds since I've been here, if not more
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I'm going to have to go home and get on the treadmill. See y'all later
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