Eats.com - Have Food, Will Travel: The Caribbean

Have Food, Will Travel: The Caribbean

Though recent glimmers of spring have shown through the deep winter mire, there are still some chilly months to go. With visions of island hopping dancing in our heads, we visited the Jacob Javits Center on Saturday to live vicariously through the vacation destinations represented at The New York Times Travel Show.

If you are lucky enough to escape this blustery season in favor of an island breeze (and perhaps a rum punch), make it a point to try some local Caribbean cuisine while you’re there.

The Caribbean...Sigh...

Puerto Rico
The base of many Puerto Rican dishes involve sofrito, which is a sauté (preparation may vary) of freshly ground garlic, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, peppers (cachucha and cubanelle), capers, Spanish manzanilla olives and small chunks of seasoned smoked ham (The French have it easy—mirepoix is just carrots, onions and celery!). Adobo, made from peppercorns, oregano, garlic, salt, olive oil and limejuice or vinegar is rubbed into meats before roasting—roasted meats are very popular.

Crunchy cod fritters (bacalaitos) are popular, as are several soups including chicken with rice, fish soup (head and tails still intact), and black bean soup. Pigeon peas are an especially popular ingredient, often used as an ingredient in asopao, a gumbo made with chicken or shellfish. Arroz con pollo is the most popular chicken dish.

For beverages, if you don’t like strong black coffee, then you better like rum, Puerto Rico’s national drink.

Jamaica
Curry goat, ackee and saltfish, cod and jerk seasonings are common throughout Jamaica. Ackee and saltfish is Jamaica’s national dish and is made by sautéing salt cod with boiled ackee (related to the lychee), onions, peppers, tomatoes and several spices. It is usually served at breakfast with bread. Jerk seasoning relies primarily on allspice and Scotch bonnet peppers and is used as a dry rub on meats, especially pork and goat.

Conch

Bahamas
Seafood is especially popular in Bahamian cuisine, conch is used in chowders, stew, salads, fritters and deep fried as “cracked conch.” Boiled fish and grits is a popular breakfast dish. Guava duff is a popular dessert and is made by folding fruit into dough and boiling.

Virgin Islands
Fresh fish popular in the Virgin lslands, often served with a hot lime sauce, include mahi mahi, wahoo, yellowtail, grouper and red snapper. Callaloo is the most famous soup of the island. It is made with a leafy green vegetable similar to spinach and can be flavored with a variety of ingredients ranging from pigtail to salt beef to crab and fish.

St. Kitts/Nevis
National specialties from these two picturesque islands include roast suckling pig, roti (thin pastry filled with current meats and vegetables) and turtle stew.

Antigua
Antigua's local favorites include fruits like the black pineapple (an extra-sweet pineapple), green figs (bananas), breadfruit, christophene (chayote) and soursop, and savories like goat water (a Caribbean soup with meat), barbecue chicken, roast suckling pig, and cockles (a type of clam).

Barbados
The national dish of Barbados is cou cou and flying fish. Cou cou is a unique blend of cornmeal and okra mixed with salt, peppers and Bajan hot sauce. Flying fish is the most commonly found fish in the warm waters surrounding Barbados and is usually served fried or steamed, but that is far from it. Other native dishes include: pudding n’ souse (pig intestines, sweet potatoes, trotters, oh my!), salt bread (a tasty bun), and conkies (shown left a mixture of cornmeal, coconut, pumpkin and sweet potatoes wrapped in banana leaf). Find more native delicacies here

Martinique
Traditional French dishes are prevalent in Martinique due to colonial influence. Local and fresh seafood dominate at lunch and dinner, with red snapper a widely used choice. Other seafood items used include lambi (conch), langouste (lobster), oursin (urchin), blaff (boiled fresh fish), clams, and freshwater crayfish. Among the other popular French dishes that you can sample at local restaurants are escargot and lamb.

Creole influenced dishes include accras, which are fried fish or vegetables; different types of colombo (curried dishes); and seafood prepared with spicy sauces. Sauce au chien (dog sauce), is a popular hot sauce to add to dishes.

Trinidad/Tobago
Spicy curry dishes can be tasted on both islands. A type of roti (see St. Kitts/ Nevis) stuffed with chickpea curry and ground meat, is a favorite lunch meal among locals and tourists. You can cool the fire with ice-cold rum punch.

Spanish culture also has influenced Trinidad and Tobago's cuisine and is seen in tasty Creole dishes such as pelau, a meal of rice, peas and meat. Local seafood specials like chip chip, a clam-like shellfish, and stuffed crabs are popular among visitors to the islands. More adventurous eaters try the armadillo and possum stew.

Grenada
The cuisine of Grenada reflects a variety of influences: American Indian, African, French, British, and East Indian. About 20 different kinds of fish are caught off the coasts. Both fish and chicken dishes are served at many meals. Popular Caribbean staples include pigeon peas and rice, and callaloo (See Virgin Islands). The dish most closely identified with Grenada is oildown, a mixture of salted pork and breadfruit steamed in coconut milk. Another favorite is turtle toes a combination of ground lobster, conch and other seafood shaped into balls and deep fried.

St. Lucia
St Lucian food is a combination of Creole with French and West Indian influences.
National specialties include: fresh seafood, like langouste (local lobster) cooked in a variety of ways, lambi (conch), green fig, saltfish and fried plantains.

Bonaire
Bonaire has little capacity for agricultural production, therefore many of its dishes rely on easily preserved staples such as salted meat, on mainstays of Caribbean cooking like plantains and okra, and also on the unique animal bounty of Bonaire's environment-including conch, cactus and iguana. Classic dishes include: pastechis (a plump, little pastry filled with spicy meat, shrimp or fish), sòpi di binja (a popular wine soup), sòpi di yuwana (Iguana Soup), giambo (traditional Antillean gumbo) and cocada (a coconut candy).

Aruba
Aruban cuisine shows strong international influences, but no matter it maintains its own Caribbean individuality. Try the keshi yena (stuffed edam cheese), pan bati (a pancake), funchi (polenta), calco tempera (pickled conch), red snapper and goat stew.

You guessed it...Johnny cakes!

Cayman Islands
Some of the islands' dishes include traditional Caribbean favorite like cassava, Johnny cake, bread fruit and meat pie. Jamaican cuisine has also found its way onto the menus of the Cayman Islands. Jerk seasoning has become especially popular for use on meat dishes like chicken, fish and other meats. The Cayman Islands also has its own original recipes. Traditional Caymanian fare includes dishes made from turtle meat like turtle soup, stew, or steak.

Bermuda
Bermudian cuisine is a result of influences of English, African and Native cultures.
Bermudian fish chowder is one of the very few typical Bermudian dishes. English recipes like sweet potato pudding, syllabub (a dessert of sweetened milk curdled with wine, then poured into a bowl of sparkling wine from Sille, France¬–“bub” is slang for a bubbly beverage), and hoppin’ John (a peas and rice dish) are highly popular in Bermuda.

Turks & Caicos
Peas & rice is by far the most ubiquitous of Turks & Caicos dishes, but it is far from the end-all–rice was a late import to the island. More common (and traditional) are dishes containing cornmeal: dry conch & hominy (hominy is corn meal), cod fish cakes and corn bread are prevalent in the native cuisine. Okra soup and Johnny cakes are other staples in addition to “boil fish & grits,” a popular breakfast on the weekends.

Dominican Republic
Among the most popular Dominican dishes, you will find the following: sancocho (meat and vegetable broth-based soup), spit-roasted pork, pastel en hoja (a Domican tamale of sorts using a banana leaf), moro (a mix of rice, beans and vegetables), longaniza (Sausage), stewed goat, fish cooked with coconut milk, and buñuelos (Dominican donuts)

Callaloo

Curacao
Local food is called Krioyo (pronounced the same as criollo, the Spanish word for "Creole") and boasts a blend of flavors and techniques best compared to Caribbean cuisine and Latin American cuisine. Dishes common in Curaçao are found in Aruba and Bonaire as well. Popular dishes include: stobá (a stew made with various ingredients such as papaya, beef or goat), guiambo, kadushi (cactus soup), sopi mondongo (intestine soup), funchi (cornmeal paste similar to polenta) as well as myriad other fish and seafood.

St. Martin
The island of St. Martin is divided into French and Dutch territories, whose cuisine certainly reigns supreme in their respective halves. However, an island cuisine does persevere. The national dish is callaloo soup. Another popular dish is a steak grilled with lemon, spices, and salsa. Fried or grilled Johnny cakes are also widely popular, as are pumpkin pancakes.

One of the easiest ways to sample the cuisine of St. Martin cuisine is to patronize one of the island lolos, small vendors along the beach that serve barbecued or grilled chicken and fish at a low price.

Enjoy your vacation. We’ll keep dreaming about ours...