Baracoa Specialty · Plantain & Pork Tamale

Bacán

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Instead of the corn dough used almost everywhere else in Cuba, bacán is made from grated green plantain — so it's technically not a corn tamale at all.

Grated green plantain is mixed with coconut milk and seasoned pork or crab, wrapped in banana leaf, and boiled until the plantain sets into a dense, savory dough. It's a Baracoa specialty going back generations, sold from home kitchens and market stalls around the town.

Why it's made this way: Baracoa's cooking blends Taíno, African, and Haitian influences more than anywhere else in Cuba, and bacán's plantain-and-coconut-milk dough, in place of the cornmeal used in tamales elsewhere on the island, reflects that distinct culinary mix.