Jamaican Cuisine

• Ackee and Saltfish - The Jamaican National Dish
• Coconut Milk
• Jerk
• Jerk Spice
• Rice & Peas
• Pattie
• Pumpkin Soup
• Pumpkin Soup 2 - Sunrise Soup  
• Jamaican Chicken, 1  

Things to try in Jamaica that you may never have had before.

• Ting - A grapefruit drink like Squirt in the US. Goes good with overproof rum!
• Overproof Rum - Goes well with just about any fruit drink or punch. For a real thrill, try it with Spumante! I find that mix to be almost on a par with Moet & Chandon's Petit Liquor but much less expensive.
• Malta - A non-alchoholic malted grain drink. Tastes sort of like chocolate soda to me. Odd at first. Then you can't live without it. Doesn't taste at all like beer. Perhaps a tiny, tiny bit like stout.
• Champaigne - Cream soda, often colored pinkish orange. I think some Jamaican soft drinks are made with cane sugar instead of corn sugar so they taste different/better.
• Pikapepper Sauce - Like Worchestershire but hot and with tamarind. A must with eschoviched fish.
• Banana Chips - They come sweet or salty like potato chips.
• Soursap - a fruit. Tastes sort of like a citrus pear.
• Guineps - A fruit. The size of a marble to a golf ball. Mostly seed. Eat 'em by the quart. Sort of lime like.
• Fruit Punch - If they don't make it fresh, buy some fruit at the market and bring it to your bartender. Ask him what fruits to get. They WILL make it for you and it's so much better than the canned stuff you'll be glad you went to the trouble.
• Yam - Not sweet potato.  Yam is a huge brown root in the proportions of a sweet potato that turned into a tree root.  The outside is as brown and crusty as tree bark, though not as thick.  The flesh is white to off white and more starchy than Irish potato (as white potatoes are called in JA)
• Dasheen - A root like yam but even more starchy, if you can believe it.  Yam and Dasheen should not be dismissed as just fillers.  While they are a staple, and they do help thicken a sauce, they are Jamaican delights in themselves.  Sometime, for breakfast, try a plate of boiled plantain, yam and dasheen.  Generally you would think of this as a bowl of 'tastless', but it is a delight to be savored just as surely as on might appreciate a piece of fine white bread all by itself.  These starchy offerings are unique tastes in and of themselves.

Jamaican Tie a Leaf -- Blue Draws

• 12 green bananas
• 2 T flour
• 1.5 lb. sugar
• vanilla
• nutmeg
• 1 dry coconut
• pinch of salt

Paratha Roti

• 1 lb flour(4 cups)
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 oz. ghee, margarine or butter
• water (approx 1 3/4 cups)

Jerk

• 1 jar of Grace or Walkerswood Jerk spice. (found in Jamaican, Phillipino & Indian stores)
• A whole mess of pork (loin, ribs, shoulder, butt) or chicken (any part but the pope's nose) or fish

Real Jerk is tough to find. It takes a lot of smarts to figure out how much chicken or pork you have to spice in the morning to sell out (you don't have a refrigerator, remember) that afternoon. Usually you run into vendors selling it on the street at night. Port Antonio is a good place for it. On the street by the market at night. Or the shop where the east end of Harbor St and the bayside street come together just east of where West Palm Avenue (which should be called East Palm Ave here) heads away from the bay. Stand on the shore with your back to the sea. Look for a place all rasta colors just as the two streets merge.

The best Jerk spice on the island is sold in Port Antonio by a vender at the mouth of the West St. alley behind the bank which faces the courthouse square at the corner of Harbour & West Streets. Unless I'm mistaken, this is the 50% red pepper stuff. Jerk is not usually served this hot, though.

Boston Bay area is another place for good Jerk. Watch out for the two obvious places on the north side of the coast road. They're just a ways before you get to Boston Bay Beach. They charge quite a bit for one legged chicken. Just ASK HOW MUCH

Jerk Spice

• Hot Peppers to taste - AT LEAST 1. If you use less than 1 cup of hot peppers, add another large onion. Jerk Spice can be fully 1/2 hot red pepper.
• 2 Tsp Garlic, crushed
• 2 large onion. 5 cups of chopped escallion is better.
• 1 cup celery
• 2 Tbsp Cracked Pimento Berries (allspice)
• 1 Tbsp Thyme
• 4 bay leave, crushed
• 2 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice
• 2 Tsp Salt
• 1 Tsp Sugar
• 1/2 Tsp Cloves
• 1/2 Tsp Nut Meg
• 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon

Rice & Peas

• 1/2 Cup Beans (Kidney is traditional)
• 2-4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tsp thyme
• 3-5 escalions, chopped
• 1/2 tsp season salt (monosodium glutamate)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pepper or hot pepper to taste (I use 2-3 shakes of dried red pepper flakes)
• 1 cup Coconut Milk (See below)
• 2 cups rice
• water

Pattie

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 1 - 2 Scotch Bonnet Hot Pepper (or to taste)
• 1 tsp paprika
• 4 escallion, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• salt & pepper to taste
• (At local stores in Jamaica there is something called Pattie Spice which replaces the above spices.)
• Pie crust pastry for two pies (top & bottom crusts)

Make crust from scratch or use premade pie crust sticks. You can also use frozen pie crusts removed from the aluminum pans. Each pattie will need a crust equal to 1/2 the top (or bottom) crust of a pie. Put 1/8 of the beef mixture into a crust. Fold over and seal the three sides of the crust. Prick the top of the pastry with a fork. Bake approx 30 min at 350 degrees until crust is done. Makes 8 pattie.

Pumpkin Soup

• 2 cups Pumpkin (may use canned pumpkin or flesh of a squash)
• 2 cups Irish potato
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 small onion, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper
• 2 oz buttermilk
• pinch salt & pepper to taste

Jamaican Chicken, 1

• 4 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp cummin
• 2 tbsp tumeric
• 2 tbsp coriander
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 2 oz coconut milk
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 lb skinless boneless chicken pieces
• large pinch salt & pepper to taste

Heat coriander, cinnamon, tumeric and cummin in 2 tbsp oil for 2 minutes. Add chicken stock & boil 1 minute. Add coconut milk and spices. Simmer while cooking chicken.

Salt & pepper chicken pieces. Fry chicken in a small amount of very hot oil, 30 seconds on 1 side, 3 minutes on the other side.

Roast Pork Loin

• 2 Whole pork loins
• 2 tsp minced ginger
• 2 tbsp diced escallion
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 oz white wine
• 1 pint of pork stock
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1/2 cup diced carrots
• salt & pepper to taste

Saute salted & peppered loins in hot oil for 2 minutes on each side. Then cover & cook for 5 minutes. Remove pork loins from pan.

Curry Whatever

• 1 Lb meat prepared in bite sized pieces
• 1 large onion, large dice
• 1-2 tbsp curry powder
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• 1 tbsp oil
• salt & pepper to taste

Cook the meat. Saute chicken in oil, stew goat in broth, fix whatever you've got. Yesterday's leftovers are great if they're not highly seasoned.

Mango Chutney

• 6 firm ripe Mangoes
• 1 onion
• 1/2 of a large Cho-Cho
• 1/4 cup preserved gimbilin or rasins
• 1 hot pepper (optional)
• 1 piece of fresh ginger (prox 1 oz)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup vinegar
• 2 cups brown sugar

Peel and large dice Cho-Cho. Boil for 12 minutes. Drain. Mince hot pepper, onion and ginger. Peel mangoes and cube flesh.

Guava Squares

• Ripe Guavas
• Sugar

Rub guava pulp through a sieve. Add 1 cup sugar for every cup of guava pulp. Simmer stirring constantly until mixture leaves sides of pan.

Scotch Bonnet Pepper

Scotch Bonnet peppers are reputed to be the hottest peppers around. Be that as it may, they are hot. The reason they are called Scotch Bonnet, and the way you can recognize them, is that they look like a tiny Scotch Bonnet. Think of a regular green pepper. Then think of it as only 2 inches in diameter. Then think of it compressed by about half with someone squeezing from the blossom end toward the stem end. Ah, ha!! you say to your self. I've seen those before!

In truth these peppers are hot. I enjoy hot peppers and I work with a number of people who also enjoy them. One year, at the Manley Airport in MoBay, I picked up a bottle of sliced hot peppers. It turned out that these peppers were the hottest thing any of had ever tasted. One small sliced ring (prox 1 inch diameter x 1/4 inch high) was enough to make a large (1 quart) bowl of soup hot. Not just the touch of pepper needed for any recipe that says "salt and pepper to taste." I mean HOT! The 8 oz jar lasted almost a year and would have lasted longer but for the fact that we began using them to discourage the one or two guys at work who used to steal other people's lunches.

I'm not much for claiming to be king of the mountain, but so far that bottle of Scotch Bonnet peppers was the hottest thing I've ever seen.

It is often recommended that, when cooking with Scotch Bonnet peppers, one should put the pepper in the pot whole rather than chopped and then remove the pepper from the pot before serving.

Ackee and Saltfish

• 1# Saltfish soaked overnight & rinsed (weight after soaking I'd think)
• 2 thick slices of bacon, fried & crumbled
• 1 small onion diced
• 3 scallions
• 1 medium tomatoe
• 1 small onion
• hot pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 can ackee

Saltfish is cod fish that's salted and dried. It is available all over Jamiaca in local markets. It's actually available all over the world. Ackee is a fruit that grows on a tree. It looks a lot like scrambled eggs when it's cooked. The fruit is poisonous until it ripens & opens up.

Saute vegetables lightly. Add saltfish, break into bight sized pieces & heat. Add ackee & heat.

Curried Goat

• 1 whole BULB of garlic
• 2 escallions
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp salt
• 4 tbsp curry powder
• 1/2 cup wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp oil
• 3# goat meat chunks

Marinate all ingredients overnight.

Brown meat in skillet with some oil. Add water to cover meat. (Not too much water. Water to cover a full pot. Less in a skillet that's not full of meat.)

Simmer 2 hours or until goat is tender and doesn't bray any more.

Pumpkin Soup 2 - Sunrise Soup

• 2# calebasse squash peeled, seeded & cubed (Calabash is what I've been told. I've seen the hats, buttons and other things that are made out of the hard shell of the calabash but I didn't know that it was an edible squash. Anyway, any yellow squash will do.)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp oil
• 1 large onion
• 2 clove garlic
• 2 medium tomatoe
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1 cup chicken stock
• salt, cayenne, nutmeg to taste

Stamp & Go aka. Fish Fritters, Bacalavitos (Puerto Rico)

• 3/4# Salt fish soaked & drained
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup flour
• 1 minced onion
• 1 egg
• 1 minced hot pepper
• salt (depending on the saltiness of the saltfish)
• 3/4 cup water

Mix all ingredients to thick paste.

Drunk Chicken

• Half of a chicken cut into small pieces
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 onion
• 2 escallion
• 1 heaping tbsp brown sugar
• scotch bonnet pepper to taste
• 1 small sprig thyine
• 2 oz. green ginger
• Two thirds cup coconut milk
• Half cup sherry
• One third cup rum (white or red)
• 1 tblspn. vegetable oil
• 2 ozs. margarine
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp cornstarch

Dice escallion, garlic, pepper, ginger and thyme.

Place chicken in large bowl and add seasoning, salt. Add sugar to coconut milk and stir till disolved. Pour this onto chicken and marinate for at least one hour. Combine sherry and rum and set aside.