Mofongo

Mofongo is the island's defining plate and its method matters more than its ingredients: green plantain is cut, fried until it gives, then pounded in a pilón, a heavy wooden mortar, with garlic, olive oil and chicharrón, the pork crackling that carries most of the flavour. It is packed into a dome and served either plain beside a broth or hollowed and filled with stewed chicken, shrimp in a creole sauce, octopus or beef. The technique descends from West African fufu, brought by enslaved people and adapted to the plantain that grew here. Trifongo adds sweet plantain and cassava. Every cook insists their pilón version beats anything made in a machine.

What you actually see

• The pilón - the wooden mortar the plantain is pounded in.
• Mofongo relleno - the dome hollowed and filled with shrimp or stewed meat.
• Chicharrón - the pork crackling worked through the mash.
• Trifongo - the version with sweet plantain and cassava added.

When to go

Year-round and at any meal, though it is most often lunch. The best versions are usually at unglamorous places away from the tourist streets, and roadside stops on the mountain roads and the west coast are reliable. Ask whether it is pounded to order.

Honest expectations

It is heavy, and a filled mofongo is more food than most visitors expect. Made in advance and reheated it turns dense and dry, which is what happens at many tourist restaurants; the difference between a pilón made to order and a pre-made one is enormous. The classic version is not vegetarian because of the chicharrón, though plain versions exist if asked for.

Nearby

Every town has its own; the west coast and the mountain roads are particularly good.