Just when you thought you were done eating pasteles (Puerto Rican tamales) or drinking coquito (Puerto Rican eggnog) on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, comes Pa’ la Parranda on January 5th. It is also known as Three Kings Day or Los Tres Reyes.
Growing up in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico, my mother fondly spoke of how Three Kings Day was their Christmas. Every child would go out into the fields and collect some grass and sticks to place in a shoe box for the camels. The Kings would ride in on the camels and in return, were rewarded with a gift. While most families celebrate Christmas the way we do in the States, some still continue the traditions practiced in Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries.
Los Tres Reyes was the day of the Big Feast. Back then, my grandmother didn’t make turkey or pernil (pork), it was gallina (hen), taken straight from their farm and cooked for the celebration supper. My mother laughs when she talks about my grandmother’s caldero because she said that it looked more like a witch’s cauldron. I guess that’s what they used back then. Of course, now IMUSA’s calderos are front and center in my home and in my family’s homes. My mother and I, however, share the same superstition that our rice won’t come out as good if we use someone else’s. So, we travel with our own IMUSA calderos wherever we go. Silly I know, but then every good carpenter works with their own tools, right?
We’ve come a long way since the calderos. Now, we have the IMUSA arrocera, the electric rice cooker. Similar to a crock pot, it is a one pot machine that works wonders if you don’t have the time to stand around and watch. Simply add all of your ingredients and set it to cook! This holiday, I made arroz con coco or arroz con dulce for dessert. I simply added all my ingredients and switched it on. While setting the table, the dessert cooked quickly and with less fuss. I will still cook my old fashion way, using my IMUSA caldero, but if you don’t want to keep the Kings waiting, try the arrocera for less cleaning and more time pa’ la parranda…