Math. I hate it.

In cooking, as in life, math is a necessary evil. In my experience in sourcing recipes I have found that the measurements are not always in tablespoons, pounds, cups or ounces. Sometimes you’ll see a “wine glassful” or “preheat the oven to 20C” and you know, the oven is not in celsius. Or, one of my favorites, 2 tablespoons of butter and the package doesn’t have those nice tablespoon indicators on it. Yes, I have tried to cram butter into measuring spoons when it’s still too cold. It’s messy. Don’t do it.
To combat this frustration, I have linked to this handy guide that answers all your conversion questions. A big thank you to epicurious.com for doing the work for us!

Favorite Cookbooks: Cocina Criolla

Everyone has a different approach to following a recipe. Personally, I like to follow to the letter on the first attempt and then get creative on the second try. In my experience, this works especially well in most savory recipes. Don’t try to be cute and creative when it comes to pastry or baking, unless you are an experienced baker. I, for one, am not, so I don’t even go there.

Cocina Criolla by Nitza Villapol.

As you can see, this one gets a lot of use. Well, this particular edition was my grandmothers, which I inherited. Yes, it is held together with scotch tape and rubber bands. Don’t judge.
This is the bible of Cuban cuisine. You’ll also find some interesting interpretations of other dishes like lasagna and rather disturbing treats of the mid 20th century like tomato and tuna aspic. In any case, if you need a solid basic recipe for your black beans, pork roasts and yuca, this is the place to go.
Mine is particularly special because it is filled with little notes and other recipes from my grandmother. Sadly, the regular edition does not come with those.
Here is a really lovely article from Saveur about the “grande dame of Cuban cuisine” and how the lady, and the book, have become cultural icons on and off the island.