Cuban Soul: 100 Vibrant Recipes from Mi Cocina
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For a limited time we have copies signed by Mika Leon.
For Miami chef Mika Leon, Cuban cooking has always been a family affair. After leaving Cuba in the 1970s, her grandfather opened a restaurant in Valencia, Spain, before eventually settling in Miami, where the family operated a backyard cantina. Leon grew up surrounded by that cooking, later drawing on it for her own food truck and restaurant, Caja Caliente. In Cuban Soul, she gathers 100 recipes that reflect both the traditions she inherited and her own experiences cooking in Miami.
The book covers the foundations of Cuban home cooking, from arroz blanco cubano and slow-roasted lechón asado to vaca frita, crisp shredded beef finished with lime, and camarones enchilados, shrimp simmered in a Creole-style sauce. Her picadillo combines ground beef with olives, capers, and raisins, while empanadas de carne put that same filling to another use. There are also recipes for Cuban bread and pan con bistec, the familiar steak sandwich, along with desserts such as arroz con leche de abuela and drinks including the strong, sweet Colada Cubana.
Alongside the recipes, Leon shares memories of her family and explores the influences that have shaped Cuban cooking. Much of what she learned was passed down through generations without written instructions, and preserving those dishes for her daughter became an important motivation for the book. The result is an accessible collection of Cuban home cooking that acknowledges both the importance of maintaining family traditions and the ways those traditions continue to evolve.
Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.
Published on October 6, 2026
