Cooking Jamaican style
As an avid cook, I have enjoyed tasting the wonderful
cuisine of Jamaica. The food runs the gamut from escovitch fish to curried
chicken to oxtail. The flavors are robust and rich. The local cooks are
wonderful but sometimes, you just want a hamburger! So what is an expat to do?
Cook Jamaican Style!
That is not to say I cook Jamaican foods. All the
restaurants and chefs are experts in that but rather that I adapt my
Mississippi recipes to local ingredients. It was a while before I realized that
for baking, I had to buy American flour at twice the price of the local flour.
Fortunately, I can freeze or refrigerate it to prevent weevils! The local flour
is good for many things but popovers, cakes and pie crusts need
Pillsbury.
The local white granulated sugar is a larger granule than
what I am accustomed to in the US but putting it in the food processor quickly
turns it into the correct consistency for my baking. Many times, I can
substitute brown sugar but not for certain cakes or pies. Since I have not yet
found bread flour, I bring in gluten to add to the flour when I make bread.
Works great.
Fruits are wonderful here in Jamaica. If one grates the
fresh coconut and adds a bit of icing sugar, it becomes even better than angel
flake sweetened coconut and readily available. Mangoes become a wonderful
topping for cheesecake when they are in season. The honey bananas do something
special for cream pies and banana cakes. Lemons are a bit more of a challenge.
A friend whined that he was dying for a lemon meringue pie and asked if I could
make him one, I immediately offered to make one as soon as he found lemons
which I had not seen in Jamaica. I have since learned they do have a very short
season here so when I find them, I squeeze the juice into ice cube trays. One
cube is about a tablespoon so I have fresh frozen bags of juice. Lemon zest
also freezes well.
The biggest problem has been pecans. I can bring them in
from the states but do run out at times. Recently, Pricemart in Kingston has
started carrying them but the price is twice what I would expect to pay in the
states. But what is a pecan pie without pecans? Same with chocolate chips
although I still have to buy the 60% cocoa chips in the states. The cocoa
powder in Jamaica is excellent however.
Another required import is natural vanilla and vanilla
bean. I have yet to find them here although they may be available at gourmet
shops in Kingston.
The only other food group I routinely bring in is cheese.
As a major cheese lover, I cannot do the canned Jamaican cheese. It doesn't
melt! I agree with my friend who says she doesn't trust a non-melting cheese. I
have found goat cheese, fresh mozzarella and romano cheeses freeze well.
Cheddar, swiss, provolone and brie do not freeze well but if put in a vacuum
sealer will last several weeks or even a couple of months.
The seafood is to die for. The best crabs I have ever
eaten are the Jamaican sea crab. They are named the red hairy crab because of
their rough exterior. A local fisherman brought me some lobster as a thank you.
I appreciated the thought but do not really care for lobster, so I asked if he
ever got crab. He was astounded that I would eat crab from the sea. In Jamaica
they eat land crab and blue crabs from the rivers but not sea crab. The first
time I had Jamaican sea crab, I covered the veranda dining table with newspaper
and offered, nut crackers to the guests By.. the end of the night we had
resorted to hammers, wrenches and veal pounders to break the shell! In fact, my
table still carries little dents where the shell was harder than the table!
(Now everyone gets a cutting board and a hard tool)
Chicken here can be had from the local chicken farmer and
it is truly free range. The egg yolks are the deepest yellow you have seen and
most are fertilized. It is important to get a good egg source for many eggs are
not stored in refrigeration. I learned the necessity of cracking an egg into a
cup before putting it into the bowl. It was terrible to be making a pound
cake and realize the last egg was rotten as it hit the batter! So much
for that expensive flour and two sticks of butter.
There is nothing better than going to market for this
week's fresh produce right from the farm. I do not eat US tomatoes any more for
their taste cannot compare with the plummies at the market. They are small but
the flavor is exquisite. Scallion and thyme are phenomenal too. My grandson
thinks the pineapple here is candy , it is so sweet. It seems the flavors
are more intense than what we could buy in the south.
In conclusion, by trial and error, I have learned to cook
"Jamaican Style".
