Stewed Peas (Meatless)

Posted on November 5, 2013November 5, 2013 by Marcia Mayne

I love legumes and turn to them whenever I feel like taking a break from meat. Mostly, I make stewed peas, which is red kidney beans that’s cooked with spices and coconut milk.

Traditionally you make stewed peas with meat – pig’s tail, corned beef or pork, or chicken. But a few years ago, perhaps as a result of the popularity of the Rastafari’s ital way of cooking, which excludes meat, a meatless variation started cropping up on restaurant and cook shop menus.

Stewed Peas (meatless) — Stewed peas with brown rice and salad

But you don’t have to be vegetarian to like meatless stewed peas. Red kidney beans are so flavorful, you can enjoy it as a meatless stew or soup without much loss of flavor.

Making stewed peas

Soaking the peas overnight reduces cooking time. But if you’re unable to and have a pressure cooker, you can have them cooked in about twenty minutes. I love having a pressure cooker handy precisely for this reason.

The main ingredient in stewed peas is red kidney beans. As I explained in a previous post, what we call peas are really beans so I apologize for any confusion. Sometimes, I add carrots and spinners or potatoes, other times just carrots, especially when I’m watching my sugar intake as spinners (long dumplings) and potatoes raise blood sugar. Carrots can too, so keep that in mind if you’re diabetic.

For seasonings, I use scallion, thyme, Scotch bonnet peppers, pimento berries, garlic and a few thinly sliced strips of ginger. I love slightly sweet taste that coconut milk adds to any dish but you can leave this out if you prefer.

Stewed peas is really an abbreviated version of red pea soup. It is always served with white rice but it’s just as great with brown rice, and greens – steamed callaloo, spinach or broccoli, or a garden salad.

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Simple, Tasty Bully Beef (Corned Beef)

Posted on October 29, 2013October 30, 2013 by Marcia Mayne

Last weekend, I had such a craving for bully beef and rice that I decided to make it for dinner. As I was chopping up the onions, scallions and tomato, I began thinking. Why is it called bully beef? Why is it red? How did it get to Jamaica? And why do we love it so much?

Bully beef is how we English speakers say beouf bouilli, which is French for boiled beef. It’s the brisket cut that is cooked in brine, shredded, and canned (think Spam) with a coat of gelatin or crystallized oil that melts when you cook the beef.

Bully beef was, until 2009, part of the rations that British soldiers received. I suspect the reason for its popularity in Jamaica and the Caribbean might be that the men who fought during the war brought it with them when they returned home.

Bully beef is the name that was popular back in high school, when we made and sold bully beef sandwiches to raise money for our graduation. Corned beef is what almost everyone calls it now. But it’s not the same corned beef that’s a favorite of Irish and Jewish diners.

Once in a while we’d have bully beef for breakfast and sometimes, with white rice for dinner but it wasn’t a staple in our home. I can’t remember how my graduating class agreed to use it to raise money and considering how popular patties and coco bread were, I’m surprised we made money. But we didn’t have enough hands to sell those tasty little rolls that we stuffed with bully beef mashed with chopped onions, black pepper and mayonnaise.

I had another memorable bully beef meal when five of my aunts and uncles turned up in the same city at the same time. The next morning for breakfast, my uncle’s wife fried up green plantains, which she masked with a fork, and bully beef.

That breakfast took my aunts back to their youth and that all started chattering not only about breakfast, which was a hit, but also about their mother and the women in their community used to make the best cakes, the best sweets. It was the first time I was having green plantains and was delighted how well it complimented the slight saltiness of the bully beef. Weeks after I returned home, I ate nothing but plantain and bully beef.

Bully beef is like Ramen noodles – quick, tasty, filling and, at the time, inexpensive. It’s also very versatile. I ate a lot of it after I got my first apartment. I’d make bully beef with cabbage, green or ripe plantains, dumplings, green bananas, even pasta.

Much of the bully beef that is on the supermarket shelves comes from South America. About two years ago, a US Department of Agriculture recall took it off the market.

When the ban was lifted, the price jumped from roughly $3-4 to almost $6 a can. (In Jamaica, you can buy smaller sized cans for about $2-3.) That’s when I swore off bully beef. It made better sense to buy a pound of fish or even chicken instead. Maybe that’s why last weekend the taste came back so strongly.

I found two pages dedicated to Rice and Bully Beef on Facebook. Between them, they have almost 2,000 likes. Who knew so many people liked this simple dish?

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Travel Memories: Sometimes, it’s the Characters You Meet

Posted on October 24, 2013October 28, 2013 by Marcia Mayne

Most times, travel is about a destination. But what about the people and other characters we meet along the way? Sometimes, it’s all about them. Sometimes, they help us make lasting travel memories.

I had several ideas and a few half-written posts that I could have used for this week’s photo Thursday but I kept going back to this photo of a Rastaman I took on the beach in Negril. Then I found other photos of people I’d taken and a theme began to take shape.

Sometimes it's the Characters that Make Travel Memories — Negril Rastaman

It was his hair that caught my friend’s attention – she’d never seen locks as long as his. I was surprised how white his hair was since he didn’t seem to be that old. He stopped when I asked what he was selling and gave us an entire lesson on herbs and spices. I ended up buying turmeric, which now I can’t live without.

I didn’t have time to speak with this man in Accompong. As soon as he saw my camera, he stopped, posed then walked away. If he’d stayed, I’d have to find a way to open the conversation without asking about the oversized glasses or the flashlight on his head.

Jamaica has been a magnet for people from all over the world but I’d never met anyone from the Philippines here before. On this excursion, I met not one but two Filipino women. One’s married to a Jamaican and has lived on the island for about 15 years. Her friend had arrived a few months before so she was showing her around. I was surprised to learn that there’s a “large” Filipino expat community in Jamaica.

Their stories about adjusting to life in Jamaica and their observances of us kept us laughing almost the ride back. Each time they saw something interesting, they’d asked the driver to stop so they could take photos. This stop was probably our fourth or fifth. When we got back into the bus, the driver said it’d have to be the last as he’d be late returning to our drop off point.

All but two of the photos I took of this flower-bedecked donkey and his owner came out blurry because I couldn’t stop laughing. I’ve seen donkeys similarly dressed up but this one just had us cracking up. When I stopped laughing, my friend would draw my attention to something else and we’d both be laughing all over again. We took photos with the donkey wearing these goofy straw hat the owner gave us but those were out of focus. Even the day after, we’d look at each other and burst out laughing about the donkey.

Donkeys are everywhere in the countryside. Farmers use them take them to their farms and produce to the market. In the old days, the donkey operated the machine that squeezed the juice from sugarcane. The donkey in these photos from Appleton demonstrates how it was done then waits to be fed and petted.

Sometimes traveling alone as a woman has its perks. Like the day this guy decided to make me chef for a minute at Little Ochie. I’m still not sure why he did it. My guess is he saw me chatting with the owner. Whatever his reason, I learned one thing from that minute — I couldn’t be a cook in a large kitchen as I cannot take the heat!

Linking to Travel Photo Thursday and Travel Photo Mondays. Be sure to head over and check out more photos from locations around the world.

Rundown or Dip and Fall Back

Posted on October 14, 2013October 15, 2013 by Marcia Mayne

Cooking is as much about skill as it is about passion. Either of these on their own can produce a satisfactory dish; bring them together and you have a delicious meal.

My first attempt at making Rundown, or Rundung in our Jamaican dialect, was for a dinner party I gave. I approached the making of this mildly complicated dish armed only with an inflated sense of confidence. I’m sure I thought to myself, how difficult can it be to?

While I scored on the passion, I bombed on the skill. Fortunately, for me, my guests thought my Rundown was a hit.

Rundown is grated or shredded coconut that is boiled until it reduces to a thick, custard-looking consistency. At that stage, onions, pepper, tomatoes, garlic, thyme are added and allowed to cook before adding the fish, typically salted mackerel, cod or shad. Lobster or shrimp work perfectly as well.

Rundown – I haven’t been able to find out why it’s called that – also goes by an even more interesting name, Dip and Fall Back. According to the National Library of Jamaica’s website, Rundown was served traditionally in a bowl that was placed in the middle of the table. Each person at the table would dip something starchy, like boiled green bananas or dumpling, into the bowl then fall back to allow someone else to dip.

Communal eating, which might have been holdover from slavery, was likely brought back into play during the war when foods and other items were rationed and Jamaicans had to create other ways to feed their families.

Another explanation is that you dip and allow your head to fall back so that the sauce doesn’t drip. Whatever the reason, Rundown or Dip and Fall Back is a Jamaican classic. There’s even song, Dip and Fall Back, celebrating the dish. Listen to a mento version by The Spinners, a group that’s new to me, and a lively folk version by the Cari-Folk singers.

Coconut rundown with scallions, pepper, tomato, etc.

Saltfish Rundown with plantan and white yam

My mistake on my first try was that I didn’t let the coconut reduce enough before I added the seasonings. I didn’t have annatto seeds either, for that yellowish-red color but it didn’t matter because the meal was delicious. (Annatto is the food coloring that gives Chedder and other cheeses their characteristic reddish-yellow color.) Honestly, there really is no way to fail with anything cooked in coconut since it gives foods such a rich flavor.

I never tried Rundown until several years later. That time, I got it halfway right but I was careful not to say it was Rundown.

A few weeks ago, when I was cooking with my aunt, I asked her to help me make it. She didn’t have salted mackerel so we used saltfish instead. Above is how it looked. For the record, it was delicious.

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Jimmy Cliff, Rivers Crossed Tour

Posted on October 9, 2013February 6, 2014 by Marcia Mayne

Musical acts that open for big name performers, to use a Rodney Dangerfield phrase, ‘don’t get no respect.’ That’s mainly because the audience is so anxious for the headliner to take the stage that they mostly ignore the opening act.

I wasn’t paying much attention to the opening act when [simpleazon-link asin=”B00864489G” locale=”us”]Rebirth[/simpleazon-link]’s Rivers Crossed Tour stopped at Howard Theater in the Nation’s Capital a few weekends ago. And even after local reggae music radio host and show MC, Tony Carr, introduced him, I wrote the performer’s name incorrectly. But [simpleazon-link asin=”B004B6MY94″ locale=”us”]Lost Between[/simpleazon-link], a 23-year old acoustic guitarist from Washington State, got my attention.

With a voice that sounded like cigarette smoke had induced its huskiness, Tucker sounded older than his years, especially on his plaintive rendition of [simpleazon-link asin=”B000PHX4VA” locale=”us”]The Police[/simpleazon-link]’s, Roxanne. Tucker performed several of his own songs, including the catchy, Cool Kids, before leaving the stage for the headliner.

Jimmy Cliff, Bongo Man a Come!

Tucker got our attention but the evening belonged to Jimmy Cliff. The reggae master came on stage chanting, Bongo Man a Come, his powerful tenor backed by the syncopated rhythms of the Nyabinghi drums. The enthusiastic crowd of fans young and old, inside the theater seemed to double in size as everyone rose to their feet to chant, to celebrate the Bongo Man, who had finally arrived.

Cliff, whose career spans almost 50 years, was on a cross-country tour to promote his latest album, Rebirth, which won the singer a Grammy award earlier this year. He has also been celebrating the 40th anniversary of the release of the iconic reggae film, [simpleazon-link asin=”B000BT9966″ locale=”us”]The Harder They Come (DVD + CD)[/simpleazon-link], which exposed him to a new audience and helped take reggae beyond Jamaica’s shores.

Starting with the early days, Cliff led the audience decade by decade through a musical career that included ska, rocksteady, and roots reggae, introducing each song with the back story most people probably didn’t know.

I had no idea, for example, that two different political groups had used his song, You Can Get it if You Really Want. Though he didn’t name names, it wasn’t difficult to find out that he was referring to the Sandinista National Liberation Front and the Conservative Party in Britain.

Cliff underscored his clear disregard for politics (his explanation of the meaning of politics, poli-many, tics-a blood sucking animal, brought thunderous applause) before performing his protest song, Vietnam, which he renamed, Afghanistan.

Cliff got his start with Leslie Kong and acted as Kong’s unofficial A&R manager bringing in singers like Desmond Dekker, who recorded his first hit, Honor Your Father and Your Mother. When Dekker introduced Bob Marley, Cliff got him to cut his first songs, Judge Not and One Cup of Coffee, with Kong’s label, Beverley’s Records.

Of the film, The Harder They Come, Cliff said that producer Perry Henzell convinced him to take the starring role of Ivan by telling him that he was a better actor than a singer. Cliff’s performance was raw and energetic, and the film turned several of the songs, like Many Rivers to Cross, Sitting here in Limbo, and You Can Get it if You Really Want, which the singer wrote, into hits.

Cliff’s penchant for musical experimentation might have made him difficult to package and probably because of that, blockbuster success, like that of a Bob Marley, for example, eluded him. And songs, like Let Your Yeah Be Yeah, that he recorded first became hits for other groups.

Cliff ended his first set, which lasted over an hour, with The Harder They Come but cheers from his adoring fans brought him back to the stage with I Can See Clearly Now, from the movie, Cool Runnings, and You Can Get it if You Really Want. Reggae Nights and Johnny You Too Bad ended the show.

At 65, Cliff performed with the energy and enthusiasm of someone younger. It was my time seeing him in person, and I was not disappointed.

Photo of Jimmy Cliff from Wikimedia.

Pig Roast at G’s BBQ

Posted on October 7, 2013October 8, 2013 by Marcia Mayne

I’d been hearing about pig roasts for months following my return to Jamaica in 2011 and wanted to go to one. I even went to a fund-raising event because I heard that they would have a pig roast. As luck would have it though, the year I went, the organization did not do the roast. I was disappointed.

The practice of roasting a whole pig, usually a young pig between two and six weeks old, or suckling, has been around for centuries. Pig roasts are popular in several countries for large gatherings such as weddings and parties. The pigs are typically slow roasted on a spit over a wood fire, but a large oven can work as well.

Just when I’d given up on ever going to one, the pig roast gods smiled. My sister D, alerted me that G’s BBQ on Constant Spring Road in Kingston had announced one.

It was hard to keep my excitement in check as I counted down the days to the roast. When it finally arrived, our party of seven was among the first to take our reserved seats at the restaurant.

Pig Roast at G's BBQ — Roasted pig with green papaya slaw, mac and goat cheese and pickled red onions

As soon as the roasted pig arrived, Chef Gari began carving it then served us table by table. Several mouth-watering sides and sauces accompanied Chef Gari’s Whole Smoked Crackling Roast Pig, including Green Papaya Slaw, Pickled Red Onions, Hard Dough Rolls with Honey Butter, Smoked Sweet Potato, Mac & Goat Cheese, BBQ Onions, and Tangy Tamarind Glaze, Coconut and Lemon grass Sauce and Mango Scotch Bonnet Sauce.

I had the green papaya slaw, hard dough rolls with honey butter, and mac and goat cheese. Succulent on the inside, crispy on the outside, the pork harmonized perfectly with the medley of flavors. The orange-looking strips that look like fries are the papaya slaw.

Chef Gari is well-known around Kingston for his barbecue but his Whole Smoked Crackling Roast Pig had me going back for seconds, despite the promise I made to myself not to pig out.

G’s BBQ still does pig roasts, so if you’re in Kingston, be sure to check them out.

G’s BBQ
The Marketplace
67 Constant Spring Road
Kingston 10
Mondays-Saturdays, 12 noon to 10:30 p.m.
876-906-4393

Here’s a recipe for Jerk-Roasted Suckling Pig from one of my favorite cookbooks, Jerk Barbecue from Jamaica by Helen Willinsky.

A version of this post has appeared in JamaicanEats.

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Auntie Birdie’s Pepperpot Soup

Posted on September 30, 2013October 1, 2013 by Marcia Mayne

Traditions, such as how to prepare certain meals are generally passed from mother to daughter, the older women in the family to the younger ones. Though a very talented cook and baker, my mother never taught me how to cook.

By the time I was old enough to start learning, she’d passed the responsibility for preparing meals on to our helper, going into the kitchen only at Christmas to bake or when we expected company. Then she’d create elaborate meals, which were, of course, well beyond our helper’s capabilities.

Somehow, though, cooking came to me naturally — I can fix just about any meal. But when I decided to feature pepperpot soup for FoodieTuesday, I realized that I didn’t know how to make it.

Sure, I could have used a recipe from one of my cookbooks but that just wouldn’t do, not for pepperpot soup. Knowing how to make it made me think of those family traditions. So I emailed my sister and aunt. I wanted a recipe I knew someone in the family had used.

Pepperpot soup is made primarily callaloo, a leafy green vegetable that’s a close cousin to spinach, as well as taro leaves, kale and okra – though any green, or combination of, will do.

This mix of vegetables, meat and pepper, lots of it, make pepperpot a delicious and nutritious meal. So nutritious that George Washington had his cook prepare it for his troops. According to a post on Chef Walter Staib’s, A Taste of History, Washington was introduced to a version of the soup when he visited his brother, Lawrence, in Barbados in 1751.

Cooking the meat – ham, smoked turkey and beef

When my aunt emailed me a recipe appropriately called, Aunt Birdie’s Pepperpot Soup, I wrote back immediately. The recipe, she said, was similar to how she remembers the pepperpot soup that was made in her mother’s kitchen in rural Jamaica.

I knew right away that I wanted her to show me how to make it. I wanted to learn from someone who knew.

Auntie Birdie, my father’s youngest sister, is an accountant and fabulous cook who always shares stories about growing up “in the country,” as most Jamaicans call any place outside Kingston.

Aunt Birdie's Pepperpot Soup — Bowl of pepperpot soup, ready to eat

As she chopped the greens, Auntie Birdie, who was named after one of her mother’s sisters, reminisced. It certainly feels like life was simpler then, family life idyllic, the foods sweeter.

Most people cooked on a wood fire in a kitchen that was separate from the house, Auntie Birdie recalled. There was no refrigeration then so meats, primarily pork and beef, were cured, or smoked. The meat would be seasoned with pimento leaves and placed on a mesh, called a kreng kreng which hung over the fire. As meals were cooked with pimento woods, the smoke would slowly baste the meats and lock in the flavors. This smoked meat, along with a small amount of fresh beef, would be used in the pepperpot soup.

Auntie Birdie with her pepper tree — Aunt Birdie with the tree that supplied the peppers for the soup

With my aunt and I working together, the pepperpot soup took two hours from preparation to table. The meat would have taken the longest to cook, but in this modern day kitchen, a pressure cooker reduced cooking time by more than half.

I had pepperpot soup last at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston. It was the best pepperpot soup I’d had in a while. Auntie Birdie’s Pepperpot Soup made me go for seconds.

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Escoveitch Fish, Red Snapper

Posted on September 23, 2013September 23, 2013 by Marcia Mayne

There are certain meals that every self-respecting Jamaican cook must know how to prepare, with his or her eyes closed, if need be. One such meal is escoveitch. Typically, escoveitch fish is reserved for fish but chicken can be used as well. I prefer fish – red snapper or king, but porgies or any type of fish that is suitable for frying can be used.

Escoveitch refers to a way of cooking, or more specifically marinating fish in a vinegar sauce. Also known as escabeche, it likely came to Jamaica by way of the Spanish.

Marinade for escoveitch fish — Escoveitch marinade

Escoveitch fish is one of my favorite meals. It is also the only meal my mother taught me to make. I had picked up how to cook everything else, by osmosis I guess but was insecure about my escoveitch fish-making skills. Once I realized how simple it was, I made it over and over.

I’ve yet to try escoveitch chicken. I can’t imagine how chicken stands up to being marinated in vinegar, what the flavors will be like, but I’ll post a recipe once I give it a try.

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The Monkey Jar

Posted on September 19, 2013September 19, 2013 by Marcia Mayne

The monkey jar has been used for several centuries in Jamaica and the Caribbean though no one knows the origin of the name. (There’s probably an interesting, perhaps even a funny story that could be inserted here.)

The technique used to make earthenware pieces, like the monkey jar was brought to the Caribbean by enslaved Africans. Once here, they adopted European, indigenous Indian and other local techniques that influenced form, function and manufacture.

Made of porous clay, with an oval-shaped body, flat base, a handle and an abbreviated spout, the monkey jar was used to carry and store water. Clay pots were used to keep water cool in the days when there were no refrigerators. Clay is still used today to keep water in communities that have no refrigeration.

Cooling jar — A large cooling jar (seen at Outameni)

Pottery-making is still practiced in Jamaica with local artists using clay that is found primarily in the northeast section of the country. The clay is mined by hand then transported out of the area. Traditional items like the yabba, a large earthenware bowl that first produced in Jamaica around 1692, are still being made. The yabba was usually handmade by women and are either by glazed or left unfinished.

A yabba was one of my first purchases after I returned to Jamaica. I’ve used it as a tureen and as a mixing bowl. (Will post a photo later.) The monkey jar above is a replica that I bought at the Hanover Museum last year. I’d love to find an old one for my collection.

This is my submission to Travel Photo Thursday, which is organized by Nancie at Budget Travelers Sandbox. Be sure to head over and check out more photos from locations around the world.

Red Pea Soup

Posted on September 17, 2013September 18, 2013 by Marcia Mayne

Soup, especially red pea soup, is comfort food to me. I make it when it rains or snows, when it’s cold or when I need a pick-me-up. Sometimes, I make it just because.

I love soup. I love the convenience of it. Even cleanup is simple as there’s only one pot. The only thing to master about making soup, however, is timing. Too little and you end up with a broth; too much and you get something close to porridge. I like mine after the peas and potatoes have broken apart, giving the soup ‘body.’

Ingredients for red pea soup — Thyme, Bay Leaf, Scotch Bonnet and Scallion

Red pea soup ingredients — Yam, potato and carrots

Soup was a typical Saturday meal in our house. When the butcher brought fresh beef, we’d have beef soup. Otherwise, it’d be chicken, pig’s tail, corned beef, or a combination. And there was always some type of pea or bean – pigeon (or gungo), red, split, etc., vegetables, yam, potato and dumplings or spinners.

Soups made from a variety of meats or vegetables are typically found on menus in restaurants, cook shops and street vendors. Expect to see corn, cow skin or foot, chicken foot, crayfish (or janga), fish (popularly called fish tea, not fish soup), pepperpot, etc. The star of any gathering, from weddings to wakes, is mannish water, which is also called goat soup or goat belly soup. It’s made from, you guessed it – goat, including the innards.