Category: Food

Food and History in New York City’s Chinatown

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

One of the perks of living in a city the size of New York is the diversity it offers, not only in things to do but also in culinary offerings. Food from almost every nation is represented here.

Last weekend, my friend Joan and I joined Ahoy New York for their Food Tasting and Cultural Walking Tour of Chinatown and Little Italy. We started in Little Italy and ended the tour in Chinatown. 

New York City’s Chinatown is a bustling neighborhood that is home to the largest population of Chinese outside of China – approximately 100,000. The neighborhood now occupies an area of about 2 miles stretching south roughly to Chambers Street, east to the Lower East Side, north to Little Italy and west to Broadway/Tribeca.

A Short History of Chinatown

In the mid-1800s, Chinese immigrants, men mostly, headed west to California, Gold Mountain as they called it, lured by dreams of striking it rich. Instead of gold, they found limited opportunities for work. Their dreams evaporated and with no money to return home or to send for their families their dreams they moved east.

Arriving in New York City, these former residents of Canton, settled in the area around Mott, Pell and Doyers Streets and worked as cooks and launderers, jobs usually done by women. They brought their language, culture and culinary traditions like dim sum, bite-sized foods served steamed or fried. Dim Sum has its origins in the famous Silk Road when tea houses opened to accommodate weary travelers.

Food and History in NYC's Chinatown
Liz pointing out pastries in a store on Mott Street

Our first stop was Pongrsi Thai Restaurant on Bayard Street, the oldest family-run and operated Thai restaurant in New York City. Started by Khun Pongrsi and her husband Khun Prasit Tangchakkrachai, Pongrsi has been serving authentic Thai food in the same place since 1972. It is credited with popularizing Thai food in the city.

After walking around for the better part of the morning, the chance to sit and enjoy the meal was quite welcome. We sampled Orange Chicken, Chicken Pra Ramm (peanut sauce/curry dish) and a Pad See Ew.

My favorite, the Orange Chicken, was unlike any I’ve had. The orange was subtle enough to provide a delicious balance to the chicken. By the time the plate got to me, though, only a few pieces were left – it was that good. I really love Thai food so you can bet I’ll be back to Pongsri very soon.

Leaving Pongsri, we walked through Columbus Park, and made a brief stop on Mulberry in the Five Points section of Lower Manhattan. You might remember Five Points, that notorious section of the city that was the setting for the movie, [simpleazon-link asin=”B004SIP7TE” locale=”us”]Gangs Of New York[/simpleazon-link].

Five Points got its name from the five-pointed intersection created by Orange now Baxter Street, Cross now Mosco Street, Anthony now Worth Street and Little Water Street, which or no longer exists. Today, that part of Mulberry Street is lined with funeral homes that serve the community.

Soon we arrive at Tasty Dumpling, 54 Mulberry, for our first Chinese tasting. Can you guess what we sampled at Tasty Dumpling? Why, dumplings, of course!

Tasty Dumpling’s dumplings get rated consistently as the best dumplings in Chinatown – and at 5 for $1.25, are a tasty bargain. That probably explains why nearly all the tables in this small eatery were occupied when we arrived so we crowded into the only free space – at the left of the counter.

A woman was at the stove loading freshly made dumplings into a huge steamer while in the back two others were adding the filling to the dough.

Our dumplings were still warm when they arrived. Liz added a soy-white vinegar sauce and passed them around. The wrapper was nice and firm and so translucent I could see the filling, and when I took a bite, it was moist and tasty, the dipping sauce adding a nice kick.

Leaving Tasty Dumpling, we crossed over to Mott Street then to Doyers to Nom Wah Tea Parlor, our last stop on the tour. Nom Wah, the oldest dim sum restaurant in Chinatown has been around and on the same block of Doyers Street since the 1920s.

The Choy family owned the restaurant until they sold it in 1974 to Wally Tang, a longtime employee. Mr. Tang started working at Nom Wah in the 1950s when he was 16 and began managing it when he was 20.

Little has changed to the exterior of Nom Wah but Wilson Tang, the new manager and the next generation of Tangs, has upgraded the interior. Wally and his team of dim sum experts still keep an eye on things though.

It was about 1:00 pm when we arrived and diners were clustered outside in groups of twos and threes waiting for tables. Someone from the restaurant would come to the door and call the next name on the list as tables became free. Good thing Liz had placed our order ahead of time so we didn’t have to wait.

Nom Wah’s original egg rolls are round and fat. Stuffed with chicken and vegetables, they are rolled in egg crêpe then fried in homemade batter which makes them crisp and flaky. Despite being fried, they aren’t greasy. Each egg roll was cut in two and each of us got half but after all the food we’d sampled, one piece of this delicious treat was enough.

We had come to the end of our three hour tour and it was time to say goodbye to Liz, our very enthusiastic tour guide. I’m sure all of Ahoy New York’s tour guides are knowledgeable, warm and sociable but Liz makes you feel like she’s giving a tour with long time friends.

To recap, we visited Alleva Diary, DiPalo’s Fine Foods, Grand Appetito and Ferrara Bakery & Cafe in Little Italy, and Pongsri Thai Restaurant, Tasty Dumpling and Nom Wah Tea Parlor in Chinatown. We did a quick stop at the Italian American Museum, which I’ll cover in another post.

Joan and I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in Chinatown. We had dinner at one of the cellar restaurants on Mott Street that Liz had pointed out then ended up at a wine tasting at Enoteca DiPalo’s. (More about these later.)

One thing I forgot to mention: my friend Joan has severe allergies to shellfish and Ahoy was able to arrange other dishes for her to sample on the Chinatown part of the tour.

Please note: I found this recipe for Thai Orange Chicken at Allrecipes.com.

Thai Orange Chicken


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Prep Time
15 min

Cook Time
25 min

Total Time
40 min

Prep Time
15 min

Cook Time
25 min

Total Time
40 min

Ingredients
  1. 2 tablespoons olive oil
  2. 3 carrots, cut into matchsticks
  3. 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
  4. 1 clove garlic, minced
  5. 2 tablespoons olive oil
  6. 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into small pieces
  7. 1/2 cup water
  8. 1/2 cup peanuts
  9. 1/3 cup orange juice
  10. 1/3 cup soy sauce
  11. 1/3 cup brown sugar
  12. 2 tablespoons ketchup
  13. 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  14. 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
  1. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat; cook and stir carrots, ginger, and garlic until carrots are slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer carrot mixture to a bowl. Add remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil to the same skillet.
  2. Cook and stir chicken in the hot olive oil until no longer pink in the center, about 10 minutes. Add carrot mixture, water, peanuts, orange juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, and red pepper flakes to chicken; stir to combine. Cover and simmer until sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes.
  3. Remove about 1/4 cup sauce from the skillet; whisk in cornstarch until dissolved and sauce is smooth. Pour cornstarch mixture back into chicken and sauce; cook until sauce is slightly thickened, about 5 more minutes.
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

Disclosure: We were guests of Ahoy New York on this Chinatown and Little Italy Food Tasting and Cultural Walking Tour, but as usual, the opinions expressed here are our own. Thanks to Ray and Alana, and Liz, our very knowledgeable, very entertaining and very enthusiastic tour guide. 

Recommended Reading

[simpleazon-link asin=”0738550183″ locale=”us”]New York City’s Chinese Community (Images of America: New York)[/simpleazon-link], Josephine Tsui Yueh Lee

Can you name one popular Chinese dish that you won’t find in China?

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Food and History in New York’s Little Italy

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

I’ve been to Little Italy and Chinatown many times to eat and to shop but never thought of doing a food tour. That is, until this past Saturday when I joined six other women for Ahoy New York’s Chinatown and Little Italy Food Tasting and Cultural Walking Tour.

It was the perfect day to be outside. The temperature that had stayed stuck in the 20s during the early part of the week had moved a full 20 degrees more – almost a heat wave. My friend, Joan, and I met Liz, our guide at the address Ahoy gave us. Liz was all smiles and greeted us as if we were old friends. We chatted for a while and as soon as the others arrived, we were off to Little Italy, the first leg of our tour.

Food and History in Little Italy
Welcome to Little Italy

Little Italy, which once spread from Canal Street north to Houston Street, is the area where early immigrants from Italy made their first homes after coming through Ellis Island. At its peak, in the early 1900s, New York’s Italian population numbered about 390,000. Approximately 10,000 lived in Little Italy.

As newcomers in a strange land, they found comfort with others from the regions they’d left, others to who they were bound by dialect, culture and food. So you’d find former residents of Calabria on Mott Street, Silicians on Elizabeth Street and Neapolitans on Mulberry Street.

Food and History in Little Italy
Our group in the courtyard of the Church of the Most Precious Blood

Life in the US wasn’t easy. They crowded into tenements and cold-water flats, did menial jobs to support their families here and back home. And as their economic situation improved, they spread out to Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, New Jersey and Long Island.

Through gentrification, the movement outward of Italians, and the growing population of nearby Chinatown, Little Italy has shrunk. Today, the community takes up only four blocks on Mulberry between Broome and Canal Streets. But what it’s lost in geographic size, it’s more than made up for in heart and soul and good food in over 40 restaurants, cafes and bakeries, that draw thousands of New Yorkers and visitors each year.

In 2010, the National Park Service designated Little Italy and Chinatown a Historic District.

Little Italy Food Tasting and Cultural Walking Tour

Leaving our meeting place on Canal Street, we walked northeast on Mulberry Street, stopping briefly at the historic Most Precious Blood Church, a Roman Catholic Church that has served the community since its founding in 1891.  

Continuing on Mulberry, we made our first stop Alleva Dairy at 188 Grand Street. Alleva was established in 1892, by Pina Alleva, the matriarch of the family, who came to the US from Benevento. Alleva, the oldest Italian cheese store in America and is still run by the family.

Food and History in Little Italy
Alleva

Alleva does not use artificial flavors. They sell cheese as well as pasta, salami, sausages and imported olive oil, among other items.

Food and History in Little Italy
Prosciutto and Mozzarella

At Alleva, we sampled prosciutto and homemade mozzarella. I’ve had mozzarella on pizza but never by itself – its blandness doesn’t make it very appetizing to me. But I was curious to see how the homemade tasted — not that I expected one tasting to change my mind — but I’ve always preferred to start with the best.

Food and History in Little Italy
Di Palo’s

Continuing on Grand, our next stop was at Di Palo’s Fine Foods. Another family-run establishment, Di Palo’s has been serving Little Italy since 1910, when Savino Di Palo, a cheese maker, opened his latteria or dairy store.

Now run by the fourth generation, Di Palo’s sells select traditional products that are imported directly from Italy. They carry foods from every region. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, the counters were designed low enough to give customers the feeling they’re in someone’s kitchen. Di Palo’s believes in educating their customers and has a chef in house and an enoteca (wine shop) next door. (More about this later.)

There were only a few people when we arrived but Liz, our tour guide, said it’s quite different later in the day and on Sundays. (Joan and I saw that when we returned around 5 p.m. to buy cheese. The store was crowded but it took about 20 minutes for us to fill our order.)

At Di Palo’s, we sampled two different cheeses – a piave and a moliterno (pecorino). Piave is made from cow’s milk while the moliterno is made from sheep’s milk with a small percentage of goat’s milk. To keep its moisture and flavor, olive oil is rubbed into the moliterno during the aging process.

Light yellow in color, almost like butter, the piave is hard and has a mild taste. It would be perfect with grapes and other fruits, or on its own. In contrast, the moliterno was sharp and slightly salty. It definitely woke up my tastebuds. I would use it in salads or add it to a cheese platter.

Leaving Di Palo’s, we crossed the street to Grand Appetito for a slice of pizza. As you can imagine, this isn’t any old pizza. Angelo, Grand Appetito’s owner, believes in making pizza the old-fashioned way and uses only homemade mozzarella in his pies.

We made our final stop for cannoli next door at Ferrara Bakery & Café, another family run business. Ferrara has been a fixture in Little Italy since 1892 and is famous for its cannolis and Italian pastries. My cannolo was sweet and creamy. Thankfully, we were on a schedule as I could have easily gotten lost feeding my sweet tooth at Ferrara’s.

After we completed the Little Italy segment of the tour, we crossed Canal for the second half of our tour in Chinatown.

Thanks to Ahoy New York for hosting us on their Chinatown and Little Italy Food Tasting and Cultural Walking Tour, and to Liz, our very knowledgeable, very entertaining and very enthusiastic tour guide.

Liz’s Book Recommendations

[simpleazon-image align=”left” asin=”0547744943″ locale=”us” height=”110″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51iB21JPGzL._SL110_.jpg” width=”73″]Elizabeth Street, Laurie Fabiano

 

 

[simpleazon-image align=”left” asin=”0061288519″ locale=”us” height=”110″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51z6LYIXhSL._SL110_.jpg” width=”73″]97 Orchard Street: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement, Jane Ziegelman

 

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Super Snacks for this Sunday’s Super Bowl

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

If you’re in Manhattan this week, it’s difficult to ignore the increased activity in the city as New York and New Jersey get ready to host this year’s Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The Super Bowl was not on my mind as I walked through midtown yesterday but as I got to Bryant Park, I noticed trailers and work crews. At first, I thought they were preparing to shoot a movie or television show. But as I approached Broadway, I knew it had to be the Super Bowl.

Work crews had erected barricades which blocked off Broadway from 34th to 47th Streets, creating a pedestrian-only thoroughfare that I found out later goes by the temporary name, Super Bowl Boulevard. They had also started installing giant television screens and stages for performances.

The whipping up of the winds reminded me of the prediction that the temperature would dropped significantly from the morning’s balmy 40 degrees to the 20s. As I hurried to the subway, I thought about the weekend’s forecast and the thousands of football fans who’d be watching the game from these giant screens on Super Bowl Boulevard, those who’d be sitting in the uncovered stadium and the players who’d be playing outside.

If the predictions hold, it’ll be a cold weekend — the first time the Super Bowl will be played outdoors in a cold environment. So as I settled into my seat for the ride home, I began thinking about the kinds of snacks I’d prepare if I had to host a Super Bowl party.

Whether we get the snow and 20 degree temperatures is anyone’s guess. Either way, it’s still winter so my super snacks will be warming, filling, tasty and most importantly, can be all prepared ahead of time.

I’d keep a pot of chicken soup on a low flame and ladle it out as guests arrive. Then I’d have jerk chicken wings, ackee and saltfish bruschetta, Festival, spinach or vegetable cocktail patties, stewed peas (meatless), roast pork, coleslaw, and macaroni and cheese. For dessert, I’d make a fruit cake and ambrosia, and have lots of Red Stripe beer and rum punch on hand.

Jerk Chicken Wings


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Ingredients
  1. 3 pounds chicken wings
  2. ½ cup Jerk Rub
  3. 1 onion, finely chopped
  4. 1 Scotch bonnet pepper, minced (optional)
  5. 1 spring fresh thyme, minced
  6. 2 scallions, finely chopped
Instructions
  1. Mix together the jerk rub, onion, pepper, thyme and scallions. Rub mixture thoroughly into the wings. Cover and refrigerate for 4-6 hours or overnight.
  2. Heat oven to 350°F, cook covered for 1 hour or until done. Remove the cover and let wings bake another 15-20 minutes until it turns dark in color.
  3. If you’re using a gas grill, preheat it to 225° to 250°F. Place the wings on the grill and cook, covered, for about 1 hours, turning every 5 minutes. Wings will take on a very dark color and the juices run clear when they are pierced.
  4. Serve with Festival and coleslaw.
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

What snacks are you making for Sunday’s Super Bowl?

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Ugli, the Fruit

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

With its lumpy peel and lopsided shape, the UGLI® is the ugly duckling of the citrus family. But don’t let appearances sway you. The ugli proves the adage: beauty is skin deep, ugly goes to the bone, or in this case, the core.

Peel back its yellow-green skin, which is soft and surprisingly easy to remove, and the ugli reveals several light pink pegs bursting with an unusual amount of sweet and slightly tangy juice and few, sometimes no seeds.

Ugli Fruit
Ugli

The ugli is a cross between the Seville orange (which gives it its dimpled skin), the grapefruit (from which it derives its color), and the tangerine (from which it gets its loose skin), was developed by Jamaican agronomists.

Called ugli because of its appearance, the fruit was found growing wild near Browns Town in the parish of St. Ann about 90 years ago. A commercial variety was later developed. Ugli is registered under trademark and is exported to the US, UK, Canada, Scandinavia and some Eastern European countries.

The ugli has 45 calories, 2 grams of dietary fiber and 70% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C.  It can last up to 6 days unrefrigerated, and a week or more in the refrigerator.

If you’re in Jamaica during the citrus season (November/December to April/May), you should ask to try the ugli. It’s not as common as its forebears and because of that, is typically more expensive.

On the other hand, you might be lucky to meet someone who’s got a tree or two in their backyard. I hope you get to try it.

Ugli is perfect for sweet and savory recipes. I’ve used it mainly in juices and fruit salads but I’d love to try this Ugli Duckling from ugli.com. 

UGLI® Duckling


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Ingredients
  1. 4 - 4½ lb (1.8 - 2 kg) plump duck, fresh or thawed frozen
  2. A little salt
  3. 1 medium sized UGLI® tangelo
  4. 4 tbsp Cointreau
To garnish
  1. Small bunch watercress, washed and drained
  2. 6 - 8 potatoes
Instructions
  1. Prick the duck all over with a fork. Rub a little salt into the duck skin and place on a trivet in a roasting pan.
  2. Roast for 1½ - 1¾ hours at 375 deg F (180 deg C) without basting.
  3. Meanwhile cut the skin including the pith off the UGLI® tangelo.
  4. Carefully slice the fruit into slices and cut in half. Gently poach the fruit in Cointreau for 4-5 minutes then pour the remaining juice over the duck when cooked on the serving plate.
  5. Garnish with fruit slices, watercress and Duchess or mashed potatoes.
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

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Tamarind Season

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

Tamarind season runs from roughly January to March in Jamaica. The sour tasting fruit grows four or five in a pod, each with a small, flat black seed. When ripe, the pod becomes a light brown brittle shell that breaks easily to expose the sticky fruit.

Tamarind is indigenous to Africa and likely came to the Jamaica and the Caribbean with enslaved Africans. It is high in tartaric acid, B vitamins and calcium. Tamarind grows easily and can be found in tropical countries around the world. Is a favorite with children and adults who savor its sour taste. 

Tamarind Season
Ripe fruit
Tamarind Season
with and without shell

There are many ways to enjoy tamarind, which we call tambrin. The best way by far, is to peel off the shell and eat it. Once the fruit hits your tongue, maybe even before, your mouth will begin to pucker. But that doesn’t stop the tamarind lover who can’t eat only one.

We also separate the fruit from the shell to make tamarind paste, and remove the pulp, add sugar and spices and roll it into tamarind balls (above), or make it into a drink, which is quite refreshing.

I hadn’t seen tamarind balls for a long time after I left Jamaica. Then I noticed them in a grocery store in the Washington, DC area, bought some and started eating them before I got to my car. As expected, my mouth began to water when the tamarind hit my tongue but it was the pepper that shook up my taste buds. I’d never had tamarind balls with pepper before. Ours is typically made with sugar and one or two spices. Curious, I looked at the package – it was made in Malaysia.

Tamarind Season
Tamarind Balls

At one meeting of my book club, the discussion turned to tamarind. One of the members mentioned that she had found sweet tamarind in the supermarket. That shocked all of us — our group was mostly women from the Caribbean who were used to sour tamarind. So she promised and brought sweet and sour ones to the next meeting. We set aside the book we were supposed to be discussing, ate the tamarinds and reminisced about our childhoods. Almost everyone said they preferred the sour ones.

I love to use tamarind in cooking as it goes well with fish, seafood or meats. One of the dishes I prepared for Christmas dinner last year was roast pork with tamarind reduction. I did it on the fly so I don’t have a recipe but I found a Tamarind Jerk Pork recipe at yummily.com that I’m sharing below.  

You can find tamarind in grocery stores or supermarkets that sell tropical or Asian foods. It is one of the ingredients that give Worcestershire sauce its flavor and color.

Tamarind Season in Jamaica – the period after Christmas

In Jamaica, the period after Christmas, when consumers have less to spend and stores experience a decline in sales, is called the tamarind season, possibly because it is the beginning of the planting season and only a few fruits, mostly citrus, are in season.

Tamarind Jerk Pork
Serves 4


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Cook Time
2 hr

Cook Time
2 hr

Ingredients
  1. • 800 g piece lean boneless pork
  2. For the jerk marinade
  3. • 2 tbsp tamarind paste
  4. • 2 tbsp dark rum
  5. • 1 tbsp lime juice
  6. • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  7. • 2 tbsp allspice berries, crushed
  8. • 1 cinnamon stick, ground, or 1-2 tbsp ground cinnamon
  9. • 2-3 chillies, chopped
  10. • 2.5 cm ginger, grated
  11. • 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
  12. • 1 tbsp finely chopped thyme leaves
  13. • 1 tsp light brown sugar
Instructions
  1. 1. For the jerk marinade: place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
  2. 2. Make small incisions in the pork using a sharp knife and rub the marinade into the meat. Cover with cling film and chill for up to 48 hours, depending on the desired intensity of flavour, but at least overnight.
  3. 3. When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6. Place the pork in a medium ovenproof baking dish, cover with foil and roast for 1½–2 hours, or until it is soft and well coloured. Alternatively the pork can be cooked on a barbecue.
  4. 4. Remove from the oven, leave to rest for 10-15 minutes then carve and serve.
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

 

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Sorrel, a Popular Jamaican Christmas Drink

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

There’s no Christmas in Jamaica without sorrel, a drink that is infused with ginger, sweetened with sugar and spiked with white overproof rum. It is as ubiquitous at Christmas time as rum cake, curried goat, and rice with pigeon (gungo) peas.

A hibiscus variety, sorrel came to Jamaica from West Africa. According to the National Library of Jamaica website, references to Jamaican sorrel date to the 1700s.

How to Make Sorrel Drink
Sorrel plant

Sorrel is an excellent source of Vitamin C. It is also rich in copper, calcium, magnesium, iron and phosphorous. Researchers at Jamaica’s Northern Caribbean University have found that three varieties of sorrel that are grown on the island could be effective in fighting some forms of cancer.

Many Jamaicans have the plant in their backyard gardens and some use it not only to make the popular Christmas drink but also to cool fevers, cure colds and lower blood pressure.

Sorrel Drink
Sorrel sepals

Its popularity as a Christmas beverage likely stems from the fact that it is harvested around November/December – just in time for the festive season. For many years, sorrel was only available at that time but as the numbers of Jamaicans and other Caribbean nationals living in North America and the UK swell, you will find several different brands of the dried sepals for sale in supermarkets and health food stores. You can also find the bottled beverage available in some Jamaican/Caribbean restaurants.

Sorrel is also popular in Latin America. A few years ago, my boss’ Mexican wife introduced me to flor de Jamaica. I was so fascinated by the name of the blood red tea she’d made, it took me a while to realize that the color and vaguely familiar aroma was really sorrel.

Unsweetened, sorrel has a sharp, tangy taste. Add a little sugar and it becomes a refreshingly delicious drink. Sorrel can be used to make jams, jellies and chutneys, the leaves can also be used in salads.

Sorrel Drink


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Ingredients
  1. 6 cups water
  2. 3 cups sorrel sepals
  3. 2 oz ginger
  4. 6 whole pimentos
  5. 1 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
  1. Bring water to boil.
  2. Pour boiling water over sorrel and ginger. It should be enough to cover the sorrel
  3. Cover and let steep overnight.
  4. Strain and sweeten.
  5. Add rum, if desired.
  6. Add pimento berries and refrigerate.
  7. Serve with ice.
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

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Carrying on a Tradition of Making Jamaican Christmas Cake

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

Just before Christmas 2000, I walked into the Korean grocery store in my neighborhood, like I’d done many times before. But seeing the packages of raisins, currants, mixed fruits, cherries and brown sugar stacked in neat piles in the store that day, momentarily transported me back to the days when I used to help my mother bake. Before I knew it, I was walking home with a bag full of baking ingredients.

In the years after I left home, I never once thought of baking. I had no reason to. I don’t like rum cake – too many fruits. When I was younger, I hated raisins, and wouldn’t so much as look at currants or prunes, which is exactly why I made the perfect assistant. We did almost everything by hand then so Mama had me grind the fruits with a little handheld meat grinder while she chopped nuts and cherries. She knew I loved cherries and nuts, so she never trusted me not to sneak some while she wasn’t looking.

Mama, the last time she visited me
Mama, the last time she visited me

When we spoke the following day, I told Mama about my purchase. I told her proudly I’d do the baking that year since I’d be home for Christmas with her and my grandmother. Mama burst out laughing.

“But you don’t bake!” she said as if she was telling me something I didn’t already know.

I had to agree: I didn’t bake even after all the times I had helped her. Even after she’d given me her favorite Christmas cake recipe. Written in her own firm handwriting, each time I looked at it, I felt as if I were girl again back in our kitchen.

I made two cakes that year before I left New York, which I gave as gifts, but Mama was still skeptical about my baking ability. On Christmas morning, I woke at 5 a.m. just like we did years before. Unlike the times we baked together, this time, I had a food processor to mix the batter.

Mama was in her room. I didn’t realize she was awake and listening until she called out to tell me that the sugar and butter were creamed sufficiently. She knew I was using a food processor for the first time and was helping me out even though she wasn’t in the kitchen.  I scooped some batter into a spoon and asked her to check. She agreed that it was ready. By the time we had breakfast, my cakes were done and cooling.

Between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, we go from home to home to visit relatives and friends. The Christmas cake takes center stage as gifts and we also serve slices of cake with glasses of sorrel or homemade ginger drink when guests arrive. Everyone said my cake was light, moist and rummy and Mama proudly announced that “Marcia did the baking.”

I’ve always admired my mother, a multi-talented woman who excelled at everything she did. Her approval sent me over the moon. Unlike prior Christmases when she’d bake early in December and take every opportunity to snack on a slice of cake, Mama didn’t eat after the small piece she had on Christmas Day. 

I didn’t know it then but that Christmas, Mama passed her spatula to me. Four months later, she left suddenly followed seven months after by my grandmother. Their passing almost took the joy out of Christmas for me that year. I had no desire to bake. But when December came, I knew I had to. I gathered the fruits that I had left soaking in rum since the previous December and the other ingredients and baked. It gave me strength and flooded my heart with warm memories.

I revived an old tradition that year and started a new one in my home. And even though I don’t have a daughter to share it with or eat any of the cakes I make, I still make them in honor of her. Every time I bake a Christmas cake, it’s like we’re baking together.

Rum Cake


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Ingredients
  1. 6 oz flour
  2. 8 oz butter
  3. 8 oz brown sugar
  4. 4 eggs
  5. 1/2 lb raisins
  6. ½ lb currants
  7. 4 oz prunes
  8. 4 oz cherries
  9. 1 tsp cinnamon
  10. 1 tsp baking powder
  11. ½ tsp salt
  12. 1 tsp vanilla
  13. 1 tsp almond essence
  14. 1 tsp Rosewater (optional)
  15. I tsp lime zest (finely grated lime peel)
  16. 4 oz almonds, chopped (optional)
  17. Browning (optional, as the brown sugar and fruits will give the cake a rich, brown color)
Instructions
  1. Remove any pits or stems from raisins and currants, wash, place in a glass container and cover with white rum. Or, bring fruits and rum mixture to a boil. Turn off and let cool. Set a few whole fruits aside then grind the rest.
  2. Grind prunes and chop the cherries. Add to the fruit mixture.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 9” baking pan with butter and dust with flour or line bottom and sides with grease paper.
  4. Sieve flour, add dry ingredients - cinnamon, salt, baking powder
  5. Beat eggs, add wet ingredients – vanilla, almond, rosewater, lime zest
  6. Bring butter to room temperature and cream with sugar (and browning, if used) until soft. Alternate adding flour and fruits to butter and sugar. Fold in chopped almonds. Mix thoroughly.
  7. Pour into baking tin and bake at 350 degrees for 1½ hours.
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

Apologies: I haven’t been able find any of my cake photos.

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The Jamaican Cookbooks I Can’t Live Without

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

Many of us learn to cook while watching the women in our families – our mothers, grandmothers, and aunties. Many others learn from using cookbooks.

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen in my early days – but I was doing homework rather than actively watching my mother cook. Frankly, I wasn’t very interested, maybe because I was a picky eater, but she also wouldn’t let me near the stove.

So the kitchen wasn’t alien territory to me and as soon as I was old enough, I was helping her bake the rum cakes that are synonymous with Christmas in Jamaica and the Caribbean. I loved those days in the kitchen with her. It was a little game with us – me trying to sneak and eat some of the nuts she had to put in the cake, she trying to catch me with the evidence.

Maybe because of all those years in the kitchen, I wasn’t worried about not being able to cook when I moved away to attend school. Part of it was common sense – I knew, for example, that if I planned to cook rice and peas, I’d have to boil the peas before adding the rice. The most important part, I think, was memory — I knew how the food was supposed to taste.

I was confident. Fried chicken was one of the first meals I tried. It was a Sunday and I remember thinking that my kitchen smelled just like the one at home.

And as time passed, I perfected the meals I tried and added new ones to my repertoire. Each time I visited home, I brought one or two  Jamaican cookbooks back with me.

Jamaican Cookbooks on My Kitchen Counter

These Jamaican cookbooks come in handy,  when I’m baking, when I need to look up ingredients or recently, when I was researching the history of homemade peppermint candy.

Norma Benghiat’s, [simpleazon-link asin=”0140465987″ locale=”us”]Traditional Jamaican Cookery[/simpleazon-link], my first purchase, reminded me of a little cookbook my mother used. Benghiat’s book features all the traditional dishes and provides background information on many ingredients in the extensive glossary.

Enid Donaldson’s, [simpleazon-link asin=”1894020863″ locale=”us”]The Real Taste of Jamaica, Rev. Ed.[/simpleazon-link], is the book I refer to friends who want to learn more about Jamaican cooking. A larger than Benghiat’s book, it’s full of attractive color photos that make the foods jump off the page. I turned to Donaldson when I started to make Easter buns and use it frequently to check ingredients when I try something new.

[simpleazon-link asin=”1580088422″ locale=”us”]Jerk from Jamaica: Barbecue Caribbean Style[/simpleazon-link], Helen Willinsky – As the name suggests, all the recipes are about jerk and were created in Walkerswood, a local company’s kitchens. My favorite recipe from Helen is the Stir Fry Vegetables and Jerk Tofu, which I wrote about recently.

A Collection of 19th Century Jamaica Cookery and Herbal Recipes – a lovely collection of old recipes, I check this cookbook out when I need herbal remedies.

Lucinda’s Authentic Jamaican Recipes, Lucinda Scala Quinn – I love Lucinda’s cookbook more for the photos than the recipes. I use for presentation ideas.

[simpleazon-link asin=”9625932283″ locale=”us”]Food of Jamaica: Authentic Recipes from the Jewel of the Caribbean (Food of the World Cookbooks)[/simpleazon-link], John DeMers and Eduardo Fuss – Again, another Jamaican cookbook I love for the color photos of the food. When I feel adventurous, I check for variations on recipes or presentation.

[simpleazon-link asin=”9768215801″ locale=”us”]Nyam Jamaica a Culinary Tour (Nyam Jamaica)[/simpleazon-link], Rosemary Parkinson, at coffee-table size and 425 pages, this isn’t just a cookbook, it’s a culinary tour de force through all fourteen of the parishes that make up Jamaica. Beautifully photographed, Nyam (an African word for eat) Jamaica looks at the history of the food, it features interviews with the cooks who make the foods, and offers unique recipes, like ackee cheesecake.

JamaicanEats, while not a Jamaican cookbook, this magazine features articles on cooking, stories, and reader recipes.

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Jerk Roast Turkey for Thanksgiving

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

For many Jamaican families in the U.S., the traditional baked turkey will not take center stage at this week’s Thanksgiving dinner. Instead, it will be replaced by jerk roasted turkey.

It started a few years ago. I suspect, because somebody got bored with the traditionally baked turkey and decided to add little kick to it. When you think about it, jerking a turkey makes sense. If you can jerk a chicken, why not jerk a turkey?

Well, that idea has caught on. Several Jamaican restaurants now prepare and sell jerk roasted turkeys on order.

Type ‘jerk turkey’ or ‘jerk roast turkey’ on your computer and the search will return several pages with recipes, how-to information, and videos. You can even buy a jerk roast turkey from Nieman Marcus and jerk turkey from Boars Head.

I’ve never had jerk turkey, mainly because I don’t like turkey.  I’d curious to give it a try but it won’t be this Thanksgiving. I’ve been invited to join a family for dinner and I expect the turkey will be baked and accompanied by the normal Jamaican fare  – curried goat, jerk chicken or pork, escoveitch fish, rice and peas, etc.

If you’d like to try making jerk turkey for your Thanksgiving this year, here’s a recipe I found at Saveur.com.

Jerk Roast Turkey


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Ingredients
  1. ¾ cup olive oil
  2. ½ cup packed light brown sugar
  3. ½ cup chopped scallions
  4. ¼ cup freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
  5. 2½ tbsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
  6. ½ tbsp. dried thyme
  7. 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  8. ½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
  9. ½ tsp. ground cloves
  10. ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice, plus wedges for serving
  11. 1½ tbsp. soy sauce
  12. 6 cloves garlic
  13. 2 Scotch bonnet or habanero chiles, stemmed and chopped
  14. 2" piece ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
  15. 8 tbsp. unsalted butter
  16. 1 (12-lb.) turkey
Instructions
  1. 1. Heat oven to 500˚. Combine ¼ cup oil, sugar, scallions, ¼ cup pepper, 2½ tbsp. salt, thyme, cinnamon, nutmeg cloves, juice, sauce, garlic, chiles, and ginger in the bowl of a food processor; puree until smooth and set aside. Melt butter and mix with remaining oil; set aside. Rinse turkey and pat dry with paper towels. Season turkey inside and out with salt and pepper and let come to room temperature.
  2. 2. Transfer turkey to a rack set inside a roasting pan, tuck wings behind turkey and tie legs together with kitchen twine. Brush turkey all over with butter, reserving some for basting. Pour 2 cups water into roasting pan and roast turkey, brushing once with more of the butter, for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350˚ and continue roasting, brushing occasionally with butter, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into a thigh, without touching the bone, reads 150˚, about 2 hours. Remove turkey from oven and baste completely with reserved sauce. Place back in oven and continue to cook until internal temperature reaches 165°, about 20 to 25 minutes more. Transfer turkey to a cutting board, and let sit for 30 minutes before carving; serve with lime wedges if you like.
Adapted from Saveur
Adapted from Saveur
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

Nigel Spence, one of my favorite Jamaican chefs, does a deep fry jerk turkey and has created this video demonstration for how to make it. Chef Nigel owns a restaurant, Ripe, in Mount Vernon, where he makes and sells his jerk turkey. Deep frying a turkey is best left to professionals or cooks with a lot of experience.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

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5 Ingredients That Fire up Jamaican Cuisine

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

Jamaican cuisine draws heavily on the culinary traditions of the people who have called it home – the Tainos, the original people, Africans, Spanish, English, Portuguese, Indian, Chinese, and our own Rastafarians.

However, almost everyone associates our cuisine with pepper, specifically Scotch bonnet. But you’d be wrong to believe that we rely solely on Scotch bonnet to fire up our food.  Here are five ingredients that you’re guaranteed to find in every Jamaican pantry.

Scotch Bonnet pepper – One of the hottest peppers in the world, Scotch bonnet got its name because it resembles the tam (bonnet) a Scott wears. The mature pepper can be green, red, orange or yellow. You’ll find Scotch bonnet in just about every dish, from soups to stews. Along with several other spices, it gives jerk its heat.

Pimento – Pimento is the dried fruit of the pimento tree. Jamaica is one of the main producers of pimento. In 1693, it was introduced to the market as a “sweet scented Jamaican pepper” but you might know as “allspice” because it has the combined flavor of cloves, nutmeg, pepper and cinnamon. We not only use the dried fruit, which we use mostly whole, we also use the wood. It is what gives jerk its distinctive, smoky flavor which you won’t get in packaged jerk sauce. We also use pimento to make a delicious liqueur.

Thyme – Another ingredient that revs up the flavor in just about every dish we prepare, from rice and peas to stews, soups and meats. Thyme is typically used fresh, sometimes dried but rarely ever bottled. You’ll find it in local markets bundled with a bunch of scallions, or you can buy it on its own. Let it dry naturally, away from sunlight, and store it in a glass container.

Curry – Curry here refers to the mixture of spices that is used to make curried goat, chicken, etc. Indian indentured servants, who came to island to work on plantations following the abolition of slavery, added curry, as well as roti, to our cuisine. However, the type of curry that is popular in Jamaica is a powdered blend that pales in comparison to the rich, textured curries that India is known for. The Jamaican curry powder has pimento, turmeric, cumin, coriander, fenugreek and anise.

Jerk sauce/seasoning/rub – Like curry, jerk refers to the sauce/seasoning as well as a way of cooking. To jerk is to slow-cooking meat, traditionally pork, over a fire made of pimento wood. The fire releases the oil from the wood, which give the meat its distinctive flavor. In addition to the pimento flavor, the meat is also seasoned with a mixture of spices. That mixture, was until a few years ago, a closely guarded secret. After almost disappearing from local cuisine, jerk made an explosive return around the 1970s with an expanded menu which included chicken, fish and sausage. For many years, Boston Bay in Portland, was the place to go for authentic jerk. Now, jerk stands are as common as patty shops. The main ingredients in jerk sauce/seasoning/rub are thyme, nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar, and Scotch bonnet peppers.

Homemade Jerk Seasoning


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Ingredients
  1. 1 onion, finely chopped
  2. ½ cup finely chopped scallions, including green parts
  3. 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
  4. 2 teaspoons salt
  5. 1 teaspoon ground pimento (Jamaican allspice)
  6. ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  7. ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  8. 4-6 Scotch Bonnet or habanero peppers, seeded and deveined, minced fine
  9. 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Using a mortar and pestle or a food processor, combine all the ingredients and grind to a paste. Store leftover paste in the refrigerator in a tightly closed jar for about 1 month.
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

Other ingredients you’ll find:

Nutmeg – The dry seed is used primarily in baking, while its outer shell is dried and ground to produce mace, another spice. Nutmeg is indispensable in Jamaican baking.

5 Ingredients that fire up Jamaican cuisine
Nutmeg

Coconut /Coconut Milk – In our house, we never made rice and peas without coconut milk, and it wasn’t the processed kind either. Whether you use the milk that has been extracted from shredded coconut or the packaged version, coconut milk is a must have in Jamaican cuisine.

Vinegar – Typically made from cane sugar, vinegar is a key ingredient in escoveitch fish. Vinegar, like lime, is also used to wash meats and fish prior to cooking. It is also used to pickle Scotch bonnet peppers.

Ginger – Introduced into Jamaica around 1525. By 1547, Jamaica was exporting ginger and was one of the three largest producers of ginger in the world between the 1930s and 1960s. The variety of ginger we have in Jamaica is thinner and several times more potent than that in the U.S. We use it in cooking and baking, and also to make homemade ginger beer and sorrel – two drinks that are popular around Christmas.

5 Ingredients that Fire up Jamaican Cuisine
Limes

Browning – Most Jamaicans use browning, which is really burnt sugar, in their Christmas or fruit cakes to give it that rich brown color. Some people also use it in oxtail. Use sparingly. Too much and foods will come out with a bitter taste.

Limes – used to wash fish and meats prior to cooking, to make lemonade, rum punch and sorrel.

 

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