Just the mere thought of any of Jamaica’s top 10 favourite dishes is enough to make one begin to salivate immediately. That is because the cuisine of our island just has that effect on anyone who samples our multifarious food delights. But more importantly, our interesting mix of peoples from many cultural backgrounds, has had an integral part to play in what we eat and how we prepare these dishes.
Just ponder for a moment, the effect on cuisine left by our ancestors or colonisers from Africa, Spain, France, England and Germany. Today, blending the tastes of these countries with Jamaican dishes is elegantly termed “fusion”, but it has evolved from centuries ago. So today, you could visit 14 different homes in all 14 parishes and eat the same dish and it would be just as delicious but sure to have subtle differences in preparation.
Another feature which accounts for the special and unique features of Jamaican foods is the absolute belief by everyone that, “my mother or grandma makes the best stew peas and rice or best mackerel run dung”. These time-honed, home-style recipes, are usually passed down for generations or showcased when visitors come calling.
Take the range of jerk offerings. Since its creation by the Maroons, this method of meat preparation has become a firm favourite of Jamaicans at home and in the Diaspora – from Jamaica, Queens to Japan. Even those who have made their homes in far flung places, still crave their home-grown foods and have caused major local brands such as Walkerswood, to produce the locally branded products and make them available in their adopted homes.
As far as other preparation methods like fricassee, escoveitch, run down (run dun) go, there is a curious mystique about them. We have all cooked fricassee chicken, but this food preparation method came from the French. It is simply cutting up meat, seasoning it, then frying it and allowing it to “cook down” (simmer) in its own juices to leave a sauce that we may or may not thicken with a little bread crumbs, flour or corn starch.
And to escoveitch: this came from our Spanish colonisers. It is the “must have” spicy sauce comprising: vinegar, onions, hot peppers, carrots, pimento berries, chochoes (optional), lightly steamed resulting in the condiments having a crunchy taste – and served on top of the fish or on the side with the fried fish.
Run Down
To date, run down is a decidedly Jamaican/Trinidadian method of cooking. Perhaps the method of reducing coconut milk to a custard-like texture, accounts for this name. It originally began with pickled (salted) mackerel as the main ingredient, but has evolved as a method of preparing: vegetables, breadfruit, seafood, broad beans, chickpeas and many vegetarian entrees.
And, to make it accessible to Jamaicans in the Diaspora or those who don’t want to waste time in the kitchen, run down sauce is now available and conveniently bottled so that it can be simply added to cooked meat or fish.
National Dish
To many foreigners, it is strange that our national dish borrows one of its main ingredients from far-away places like Canada and Norway but that’s the way we are. To this day ackee and salt fish is confused with scrambled eggs, because of the look of the finished product and because far too many cooks overcook the ackee, resulting in them being mashed to look like eggs. But this is a far more interesting dish than mere scrambled eggs. It is made with flaked salt fish and onion, tomato, pepper, skellion etc., fried in cooking oil, but many people add some corned pork, bacon or ham.
This dish is traditionally served with boiled bananas, yam and dumplings; it is also very delicious with roasted breadfruit; many people serve it with: bread, fried dumplings, bammy, rice and peas, plain rice and just about anything that catches their fancy. But Rastafarians and vegetarians omit the salt fish, pork, bacon etc., and combine it with other vegetables, herbs and spices.
There are those who use ackees to make a quiche, a drink, pizza or even eat it raw. Still, nothing beats ackee and salt fish.
Some Unique Dishes?
Although many of the foods we eat are found in other parts of the world, the way we use of them and our preparation methods, give them a unique taste. Cultivation methods also account for taste, because only the foods that are cultivated for commercial purposes are usually fed with chemical fertilizers. Most of the fruit crops such as citrus, mangoes, jackfruits, pineapples and avocadoes are left to the bounty of ‘Mother Nature’ for their nutrients.
Our world reknowned Blue Mountain Coffee gets its unique taste from the mist that hits the mountains at different times every day. Fruit trees like: guinep, June plum, tangerine, grapefruit, naseberry, sweet/soursop, otahite apple and wild berries, can be relied on to produce abundantly annually and are consumed with delight by Jamaicans of all ages. These fruits are also used to make jams, jellies, preserves, syrups and more and more they are used as the base for sauces and served with roasted, baked and grilled meats.
Jamaican cuisine also include a range of sweet treats such as: cornmeal pudding, sweet potato pudding, gizzardas, drops, grater cake, dukunu (blue drawers), bread pudding and a variety of tropical flavoured ice creams, including guava, June plum, mango, ripe banana and more.
With so many to choose from, it is hard to select six favourites, but here goes
1. Rice and Peas and chicken: red peas (kidney beans or green gungo rice and peas), made with white rice, coconut milk, garlic, skellion, thyme and one green scotch bonnet). For added flavour, many Jamaicans add a little piece of green ginger or a small piece of pig’s tail.
Ackee and salt fish (ackees cleaned and cooked, salt fish soaked to remove excess salt and flaked, plummy tomatoes, onions, garlic, skellion, hot pepper and cooking oil.
3. Fried/escoveitch fish and festival: Cooking oil, fresh fish, onions, skellion, pimento grains, hot-peppers and for the festival: cornmeal and flour with salt to taste.
4. Stew peas and rice: red peas, coconut milk, salt beef/pig’s tail, flour for spinners (miniature dumplings); season to flavour. Boiled white rice. Stewed peas can also be prepared without meat but with vegetables added and is a favourite with Rastafarians and vegetarians.
5. Oxtail with broad beans: Oxtail, seasoning to taste, water, a little oil for browning the meat, cooked or canned broad beans. Spinners are optional.
6. Beef/chicken foot/red peas soup: Soups are a traditional Saturday meal in most Jamaican homes. This one-pot meal begins with the peas and meat being partially cooked with dried pimento grains and lots of garlic, before the pumpkin, coco, yam, breadfruit, potatoes, carrots and chochoes are added. To give extra body, many people use some cow skin or okras. About five minutes to the end of cooking the seasonings skellion, thyme and more garlic are added.
What are your favourites? Share them here!