Warmth Beyond Sun, Sand, & Sea: Cuisine of the Caribbean

Despite its geographical importance as one of the crossroads of the world, and the diversity of cultures that have passed its way on merchant ships through the centuries, the Caribbean in general has not exactly been renowned for its food over the years.

Caribbean food uses lots of hot sauces and a large dose of inventiveness.

This reputation was highlighted to me on my very first visit some years ago. Having dropped anchor in English Harbour after enduring a 31-day transatlantic crossing, and desperate for some fresh produce, I rowed ashore to find the nearest food store despite the late hour. I proudly returned to my yacht brandishing a box of chicken pieces only to find that, in my haste to get back to the galley and rustle up a fresh meal for the hungry crew, I had purchased three kilos of “parsons noses.” Now, I am resourceful, spontaneous and adventurous in the galley, but in this instance I was devoid of initiative to make this indistinguishable from what it actually was. I wondered at the time what the kitchens ashore would do with it.

Caribbean cooks combine a mixture of herbs and spices, such as coriander, parsley, chives, thyme, allspice and garlic.

I have since discovered that West Indian food has its own strong traditions and the best of it is delicious, with a good use of local fresh fish and exceptional spices and fruits. Caribbean cuisine is founded on many influences, combining those of the indigenous Caribs with French, Spanish, Dutch and British settlers, and indentured Chinese and Indians, although probably the strongest influence has been that of the enslaved African people. They had to be imaginative cooks as they usually had to suffice with the remnants from the kitchens of plantation owners, as evidenced in dishes such as cow heel soup and pig-foot souse – slow-cooked pigs’ feet pickled in a mixture of Pickle and Peppers lemon juice, cucumbers, peppers and coriander, breadfruit oildown cooked with coconut milk, salted meat and herbs. This is probably where the parson’s noses would also have made an appearance in the culinary repertoire, although the most commonly known extension of this cuisine is jerk: the traditional Jamaican way of curing meat using a variety of spices.

Sailing from island to island is undoubtedly the best way to sample the diversity of Caribbean cuisine, and the British Virgin Islands are no exception, with an astonishing variety and abundance of fresh local seafood available. Surrounded by ocean with numerous bays, cays and coral reefs, as well as the more protected waters of the Sir Francis Drake Channel, the area is world famous for game and fly fishing, and is visited annually by thousands. Fish, such as tuna, swordfish, mahi mahi, flying fish, grouper, snapper, shark and kingfish, are abundant and are found on most restaurant menus. Salt Island to the south of the channel was an important stop for the British Royal Navy, and salt was harvested from the pans on the island until relatively recently. One of world’s best wreck dives, and now a National Park, lies in the lee of the island – a 310-ft 1865 Royal Mail Steamship which sank on 29th October 1867 in a ferocious hurricane with 300 passengers and crew. Only one passenger and twenty-two seamen survived and rescue was aided by inhabitants of the island. The Queen of England awarded guardianship of Salt Island to these original inhabitants and their descendants in exchange for annual dues of one pound of salt. Salt-based seasoning is still favoured in the British and US Virgin Islands and elsewhere. A basic recipe, ground in a mortar and pestle, would include a half cup of salt, a couple of cloves of garlic, a small onion, celery stalk with leaves, parsley, ground black pepper, and a quarter teaspoon of cloves, nutmeg, thyme. Great for dry marinades!

Salt fish, peppers and ackees served with Caribbean-style vegetable dumpling.

Essentially Caribbean food revolves around fresh produce using lots of herbs, hot spices and a large dose of inventiveness. The colourful displays of the market stalls, where the bright fruits of sweet mangoes, granadillas and papayas lie top to toe with root vegetables such as yams, eddoes, sweet potatoes and cassava, form the basis of a wide variety of dishes. Vegetables such as okra, breadfruit, plantains, pumpkins, chayote and ackee are relatively cheap and Caribbean cooks tend to combine a mixture of herbs and spices, such as coriander, parsley, chives, thyme, allspice and garlic all readily purchased from local barrows or improvised upturned wooden crates. Although there’s a commonly held belief that Caribbean food is spicy, a more a frequent practice in Caribbean homes is to make green seasoning, which is a fine blend of all the herbs mentioned above, for use as a basic marinade for meat, fish or as a seasoning for soups and stews.

Having said that, hot pepper sauce plays an integral part as a condiment and no table would be complete without a bottle of fiery home-made relish. A variety of hot peppers are harvested locally, but the key ingredient, grown and used throughout the Caribbean, is that of the fiery Scotch Bonnet Pepper shaped like a lantern and wrinkled like a walnut, commonly known as wiri wiri in Jamaica. This is finely chopped or minced and blended with varying quantities of vinegar, onion, ginger, garlic, spices and seasoning. Served as an accompaniment it is not unusual to be handed condiments in the form of salsas, chutneys and hot pepper relishes. Chutney, brought by the East Indians, is the perfect culinary accomplice to curry, balancing the hot, spicy flavour with its own sweet and sour nature. When made with sweet tropical fruits, tamarind, cucumber or more especially mango, chutney is doled out in bountiful spoonfuls with the local Roti, a tortilla-like flour pancake traditionally wrapped around meat or potato curry – the regional fast food. Salsa can refer to various sauces or, more strictly, that brightly decorative condiment based on colourful yellow and red bell peppers in lime juice or vinegar with onions, tomatoes, chilli peppers and seasonings, or alternatively diced mango, avocado, onion, and coriander spiced with a smattering of jalapeno.

Naturally, in an outdoor tropical climate, barbecuing is one of the best ways to cook, and charcoal and local wood fires contribute to the food’s distinctive flavour. The famous lolos in Grand Case, St Martin’s are a good example. “Lolo” is local jargon for an outdoor barbecue café, where tender meats and fresh fish are grilled on oil drum BBQ pits before your eyes and seating is at picnic tables. Several lolos cluster together just a few yards from the water’s edge on main street, competing passionately for customers and serving land crab stuffed with breadcrumbs and spices. If you don’t mind eating on paper plates using plastic cutlery you can have a cheap but delicious dinner; menus constantly change depending on the fresh ingredients that have been hauled from the sea that day.

Conch fritters are an island staple, though the recipe varies a bit.

Conch fritters can be found on most islands and while the local recipes will change somewhat from island to island, most are a variation on a theme. These fritters are traditionally a mix of conch and batter seasoned with chilli, garlic and onion, and deep fried. What does seem to change more than the fritters themselves is what they’re served with, varying between a marie rose type sauce, home-made pepper relish or even a local fruit chutney. It has always been a mystery how conch fritters can be so tasty and succulent, when, in its natural state, conch is tough and leather-like. Once you have extracted the muscle from its shell you need to spend a good ten minutes in an arduous and somewhat messy process pounding a piece of conch to flatten and tenderize the flesh; once achieved, the gastronomic reward seems even greater. In many areas of the Caribbean and Florida it is now illegal to harvest conch and recently the Bahamian government made conch harvesting off-limits for non-Bahamians. If you want fresh conch you will have to barter with a fisherman.

As a speciality and the national dish of Barbados, flying fish is lightly breaded, pan-fried and served as “Flying Fish Bajan Style” and served with cou cou, a unique blend of cornmeal and okra mixed with salt, peppers and Bajan hot sauce. These sleek, silver-blue flying fish with fins that resemble dragonfly wings, propel themselves in the air at speeds up to 30 mph to escape predators, much to the delight of sailors. Flying fish, which grow to around 15 inches long, live in the surface waters of the ocean and do not actually fly. They leap into the air and spread their enlarged pectoral fins allowing them to glide over the ocean’s surface at recorded distances of over 600 feet. If the unfortunate is unlucky enough to land on a deck it will quickly be transformed into a delicious breakfast. Many transatlantic sailors have been rewarded with a fresh donation to their depleted larder in the form of landed flying fish during the night.

Salt fish, occasionally mackerel but usually cod, is another speciality of the region, and is popular throughout the Caribbean. Originally a method of preserving food, salting is a centuries-old process, and one which was used especially during long ocean voyages. Jamaica’s national dish is Salt Cod and plantains with ackee, a bright red fruit that grows on trees that reach about 30 feet high. The fruit ripen to reveal pods of yellow edible ackee, each with a black seed.

A typical recipe for this Jamaican dish might be combining 1lb of salt codfish, previously soaked, in a pan with three large tomatoes and a large fried onion: season with black pepper and hot pickled peppers, toss in a handful of ackees, and serve with sliced fried plantains and boiled green banana. Bacon can be substituted for the salted cod, resulting in a flavour and texture somewhat like scrambled eggs – delicious! It’s an ultimate favourite as a start to the day in Jamaica, especially when the ackees are fresh – there is nothing quite like this.

The fiery Scotch Bonnet Pepper is commonly known as wiri wiri in Jamaica.

One of the most popular and probably one of the most commonly known dishes is the Jamaican spicy jerk chicken, and for many people this sums up the true flavour of the Caribbean. But ask any West Indian and they’ll tell you that there’s a lot more to Caribbean cuisine than jerk chicken. The islands, tropical fruits, roots, and a bewildering range of ingredients and techniques from around the world combine with the ethnic and cultural diversity of the region to integrate the international with the exotic, and create an exciting range of hybrid cuisines that is Caribbean cooking.

Tags: Caribbean, conch fritters, hot pepper sauce, jerk chicken, peppers, pickles

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 4:59 pm and is filed under Commentary.