An orange question

[dianeduane]

When out in Athy the other afternoon, we managed to score some plaintain from the local African grocery. This is a good thing, and calls for a brief swerve into something Caribbean for dinner.

So the breaded version of Cuban steak (with twice-fried plantain on the side) is on the menu. One thought, though. The recipe calls for the steak to be marinated in "sour orange juice". Other similar recipes give a workaround for faking it with orange and lime juice. No problem: we have those.

The question, though, since I have an interest in rare/unusual citrus: what's the standard source fruit for "sour orange juice" in Cuba?  A Seville, perhaps? Anybody have an idea?

 

Comments

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

Almost any rootstock orange is sour; you need to graft to get something edible. We also have a calamondin orange bush/tree in our front yard, and it's perfect for cooking purposes: the tiny fruits are quite sour, but the peel is perfect and comes off the fruit almost effortlessly.

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

Forgot to say that we live in Tampa, Florida—not quite Cuba.

[crissachappell.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you're making a mojo sauce (the cuban version of bbq). Make two parts orange to one part lemon and one part lime to substitute for sour orange (which used to grow in my backyard until a hurricane killed it).

--from crissa in miami

[anandimide.livejournal.com]

Strange--I'm from Phoenix, and my neighborhood is in what used to be a sour orange grove. We still have sour orange trees separating each of the properties, and there are sour oranges everywhere (bobbing around in the neighborhood swimming pools, and so forth). We never called them by any other name than "sour oranges."

Sevilles seem to be a good bet, though. Most of my sources don't differentiate between varieties. Wikipedia says that the Seville orange is "the orange used in Canard à l'orange (Duck in orange sauce)," but also stipulates that Sevilles are grown primarily in the Mediterranean.

[brambleberry.livejournal.com]

Ahhh you want a fruit by the name of ... "sour oranges" ;> Seriously, sweet oranges were bred from sour oranges. You can get sour oranges at some Middle Eastern grocery stores and imported from Italy. Sevilles are a variety of sour orange, although not my favorite. I prefer Bergamot oranges when I can get them.
You can also find sour oranges listed as "bitter orange."