Saturday Sancocho

I kept this book for my children. We occasionally enjoy rereading it now. The artwork is fabulous and the storyline is always entertaining. A must have for those who like the smell of Sancocho, Arroz con Dulce, Flan, Pescado de fillete, etc.

A mother and daughter go to the open market and barter a dozen eggs into a splendid chicken stew! The recipe is incorporated in the story. This might seem like a girl's book only, but my son loved the book when we read it together in the Spanish edition. He was around kindergarten age, and a voracious eater with very accomodating tastes. (He's now a teenage acrobat in a professional circus, but he occasionally speculates about becoming a chef.) After we read the book, we actually went to the Latin American shopping street of our city, and searched for all the ingredients for the sancocho. Then we cooked it together. It was a grand father & son project and one of my most cherished memories. Plus the sancocho was really, really tasty! Sancocho is a gumbo-like stew, a hearty meal in one pot, typical of the various "national stews" of Latin America and of provinces of Spain. The ingredients might be hard to find in some parts of the USA, but any decent chef will be able to make substitutions. The Spanish language edition is called Sancocho de Sabado.

I really enjoyed reading "El Sancocho". It reminds me of stories that my mom tells me when she lived in Puerto Rico, she would visit her relatives on Saturdays. This Summer I visited my great grandmother in Puerto Rico and she made Sancocho for the entire family. It was delicious! Guess what? Her name is also Petrona, my mother couln't stop laughing when we read the story. It was great! By the way, the Sancocho recipe I will help my mom to make it at home. Does anyone have a biography on Author, Leyla Torres that you can share? Her illustrations are great. Some day I would like to be a Mark Brown or Leyla Torres.

This book was a delight to read, and I learned about the Latin culture