Push Cart Foods - Caterers of Creative Caribbean Food 
  • Home
  • About
    • Clients
  • Road Food User's Guide - a blog
    • Push Cart Media
    • Recipes
    • Mi Granny Seh!
  • Catering
  • Consultation
  • Contact

Claudette's - The Best Curry Goat in Jamaica

5/25/2011

1 Comment

 
Picture
Tyrone and Simone
As you travel around the roads of Jamaica you will often come across the most unassuming places serving unbelievably good food. Claudette's sitting quietly at the top of Spur Tree hill, just west of Mandeville is one such place.
Curry Goat like several other emblematic dishes that define classical Jamaican cuisine is a highly personalized item. Every home has its preferred recipe, curry powder blend, accompaniments and style. It is therefore no mean feat that Claudette's has been voted "The Best Place for Curry Goat; years in a row in the Jamaica Observer  People Choice Awards

Picture
Claudette's Dining Room
When heading out for Claudette's you may need a guide as the restaurant in true Road food style is set back from the street housed in an unassuming brown double wide trailer. There is no sign to annouce that you have arrived but when you enter the austere but brightly painted dining area you know that you are in the temple of great food. During my visit individual or small groups mostly men sat quietly consuming their curry goat. They ate with the seriousness and  respect that is given by those who know they are in the presence of something special - something great which, regardless of the price they are privilege to have the opportunity to consume, although in fact whether you eat in our take out the prices are very reasonable.

Claudette herself while a powerful presence ruling her small kitchen, is not the social butterfly, prefering to let her youthful and attractive staff take care of the customers and the daily chores. Its a healthy sign that every one seems to be having fun although no one makes a move with Ms. Claudette's say so! 

Like so many good food establishments Claudette's follows Hermann Cain's philosophy of Focus- Focus- Focus. This means that the menu consists of Curry Goat or Manish Water, dumplings, White Rice or Peas and Rice and a little coleslaw. Of course Bigga and other sodas are there to wash it all down but Claudette knows if you want to be the best stay with what you do best.

Her kitchen out back of the trailer is small and smoky with a series of low fire pits burning pimento and sweet wood. Its a suitable altar for such good road food - don't miss it when your're on the road to the south coast.

Picture
Serving straight from the fire
ICurry Goat - A Recipe (remember - there are many)
Yield: 4 to 5 servings
Preparation & Cooking Time: 1 to 1½ hours (not including marinating)

Ingredients:
  • 3 pounds / 1.5 kg goat, cut into 1-inch / 2.5-cm cubes - smaller the better - bones included
  • 1 lime
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped (about 3 tablespoons / 45 mL)
  • 2 teaspoons / 10 mL salt
  • 1 teaspoon / 5 mL black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon / 5 mL thyme leaves
  • ¼ teaspoon / 1 mL finely chopped Scotch bonnet pepper
  • 2 tablespoons / 25 mL canola or vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon / 5 mL sugar
  • 5 green onions, chopped (about 1 cup / 250 mL)
  • 2 teaspoons / 10 mL curry powder
  • 2 potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch / 1-cm cubes
Method:Squeeze the lime juice over the goat; let it sit for a couple of minutes and then rinse with cold water. Drain off excess water. Place the goat in a sealable container and add the onion, garlic, salt, black pepper, thyme, and Scotch bonnet pepper. Wearing rubber gloves, rub the spices into the goat with your hands. Marinate, covered and refrigerated, for 1 to 2 hours.

In a large pot over medium heat, heat the oil and sugar, stirring until the sugar is brown. Add the goat with marinade, green onions, and curry; stir thoroughly. Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low, and simmer the goat slowly in its own juices, stirring occasionally, until the goat is nearly tender, about 30 minutes. If the meat is tough, pour ¼ cup / 60 mL of water at a time down the sides of the pot, not directly onto the goat (or you will toughen the meat).

Add the potatoes and ¼ cup / 60 mL water; stir thoroughly. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked but not too soft. Crush some of the potatoes to thicken the sauce, if desired. If there is not enough sauce, add ¼ cup / 60 mL water and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Serve with rice or roti and a salad.
1 Comment

Hellshire Beach - Prendy's on the Beach

5/18/2011

1 Comment

 
Picture
Donette Prendergast- Owner/Manager
On a sunday afternoon, if you're caught in the sweltering heat of a Kingston summer, the place to head for is Hellshire beach. An hour's drive from most parts of town, Hellshire lies beyond Portmore, just west of Kingston.

Once no more than a fishing village, Hellshire has grown into a a community of ramshackle bars and restaurants, renowned for strong drink, great seafood and lyming.

On any typical weekend thousands of Kingstonians will be headed across the causeway to enjoy the beach, buy fish, imbibe and nyam; then often party late into the night or early morning.

Amongst the many choices arrayed over a mile of beach my favourite is Prendy's. Dark, smoky and revebrating with reggae  Prendy's is the epitemy of all that makes Hellshire beach a destination. With a lively bar and long tables covered with oil skin clothes its a great place to escape the heat of the day and people watch. If you're as lucky as I was on my last visit there will be a Port Royal Rum promotion with vivacious young ladies dispensing rum Punch!

Picture
Jamaican Rum Punch  - the drink of choice if your not drinking Guinness!
There are many variations on this recipe but the combination is what matters the most (other than perhaps where you drink it and WHO you drink it with!)
 Follow this ratio and you can't go wrong;
  1 part Sour
  2 part Sweet
  3 part Strong 
  4 part Weak
In the tradiitonal way this would be the juice of a lime, simple syrup, over proof white rum and water. Of course you can substitute other more exotic ingredients for the water just don't mess with the rum ( and pick your company well!!)

Picture
Prendy's is known for fabulous seafood, steamed, roast or fried. Everything is cooked to order in the teeming kitchen made bright by the flaming fires of pimento wood. Great vats of oil and fish stock sit  atop these primitive wood fired stoves and are tended by energetic cooks preparing each order individually.
Having made your selection and while you sip your rum punch, order a conch and crayfish
soup preferably with some delicious festival (recipes will follow in a later posting) as the preparation of your meal will take some time. Regardless I can assure you that you will not be bored as the restaurant is always alive with activity 

Picture
Established as a bar, a restaurant and a fish market there is lots going on. Bonette Prendergast manges the chaos with cool aplume whilst her husband, a fisherman by trade, manages the retail business.

When asked how she got into the business Prendy replies " I married a fisherman so it just made sense" Regardless its a winning team and a road food destination not to be missed.
                                         ( more Hellshire pictures, tales and recipes to follow soon) 

Picture
1 Comment

Scotchies - Kingston

5/12/2011

1 Comment

 
Picture
Tanya Barriffe with Sweet Potato Poon
Scothies- Kingston is the latest and largest version of this Jamaican icon which literally began as a "hole in the wall" operation in Montego Bay.
Renowned for it renditions of classic jerk pork and chicken it also offers Roast Breadfruit, Yam and Sweet Potato in addition to the wonderful sweet potato "poon" which is slow cooked over a charcoal fire in the back yard.
A bucolic oasis amidst the heat of Kingston, Scothies, sitting in a dusty used car lot on Chelsea Ave in New Kingston, has fast become a must visit vendor of Jamaican road food; serving 2500 meals on a busy day.
While remaining rustic, Scothies offers the opportunity to sit in an arbour in the verdant gardens. Choose to be served or line up at the take out window, sharing in the carnival atmosphere of food being prepared . 
The cooking takes place in a large smoky kitchen reminiscent of Dante's inferno. Laughing cooks drop huge slabs of pork  and split chickens directly onto rafts of sweet wood laid over huge charcoal pits   

Picture
The meat is covered with zinc sheets to retain the smoke and reflect the heat from the glowing coals below. Beginning early in the morning hundreds of pounds of meat that have been marinaded over night go onto to the grills to be tended carefully over the long cooking period.
Jerking is a complex process that goes beyond the marinade, requiring an understanding of history to execute properly

Picture
The story of Jerk begins with the Maroons. When the British captured Jamaica in 1655 the Spanish Colonist fled leaving a large number of slaves behind. Rather than be enslaved again by the British they escaped into the remote mountainous regions of the island, joining those who had previously escaped to live with the Ameridian natives. The maroons lived in the tangle of mountains, supporting themselves by farming, hunting wild boar and raiding the plantations. The Spanish had imported large quantities of animals to Jamaica, of these pigs and goats adapted the best, many escaping into the wild. 
                                                                            These wild hogs became a favorite food source for the Maroons

Picture
Charcoal pit
Due to their aggressive attacks on the planters, they were constantly harrased  by the British army who hunted them throughout the rugged cockpit country. Wiley and mobile they defied capture by constantly moving throughout the hills. To sustain themselves and avoid giving their location away they devised the method of "jerking" their food.
Wild boar was tough and of course refrigration unknown, they therefore preserved their meat by marinading it. Pimento and papaya acted as tenderiser while, lime juice scotch bonnet and bird pepper acted as preservaties. The marinaded meat was "jerked" or dried in pits of smouldering green pimento wood covered with leaves and earth. This slow cooking method had the advantage of not requiring constant attention or signalling their location.

Picture
Pepper farming
Jerk Seasoning Ingredients:
There are any number of recipes for jerk seasoning, and many have an ingredient list a mile long but Jamaican's cooks agree that there are three jerk spice ingredients that are key: 
 All Spice also known as "Jamaica pepper," gets its name from the  rich, spicy flavor which  is reminiscent of the mingling of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Scotch Bonnet Peppers are small, orange and wrinkly (looking like the cooks scotch bonnet of old). They are extremely hot- among the hottest peppers known
Thyme, Jamaica's ubiquios herb adds complexity to the flavor of the meat. Thyme was brought the island by the Spanish as it has many symbolic uses beyond cooking- being associated with honour, strength and bravery.
Additional ingredients often include garlic, brown sugar, escallion, soy sauce, lime juice, orange juice, papaya, rum, bay leaves, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, cumin, coriander and black pepper.

There are many proprietary brands of Jerk Seasoning available these days with Walker's Wood, Busha Browne and Spur Tree being amongst the best on the market. Jerk Seasoning can be purchased wet or dry rub. I prefer the wet version and often add coconut oil to the mix to aid the infusion.

Depending on the cut of meat being used and the overall weight one can marinade the item from 1 hour up to 2-3 days. The flavour and intensity will increase and in the case of tougher cuts will tenderize. When fully marinaded and slowly jerked  chicken will take on a wonderful white almost translucent colour and  a "melt in your mouth" texture. Pork often becomes red around the bones which creates an impression of not being cooked but is just a chemical reaction. 

To create your own flavorful seasoning, buy spices whole, toast them lightly in a dry skillet--just until they become aromatic--and then grind them in a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle.
Remember to remove the seeds from the peppers; to decrease the heat, also the white membranes. Do not handle without latex gloves: the oils can cause serious irritation and burning to your hands. 

Place the peppers, the ground spices, and all the remaining ingredients in a food processor and let it run until a smooth paste forms. soy sauce, lime juice, orange juice, papaya juice, rum, or water if the mixture appears to need more liquid.

Picture
Here is one recipe you can try:
    1/2 cup ground pimento berries
   1/2 cup packed wet brown sugar
    1 head garlic-peeled
    6 Scotch Bonnet peppers, seeded and cored 
    Small bunch of fresh thyme leaves - strip out  hard woody stalks
    2 bunches Scallion or green spring onions
    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    1
 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
    1/2 teaspoon cumin
    1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
     Course sea salt and ground black pepper
     
Tablespoon lime juice, orange juice and soy sauce 

Picture
1 Comment

Jamaican Road Food

5/10/2011

2 Comments

 
Picture
The road network in Jamaica consists of almost 21,000 kilometers of roads, of which over 15,000 kilometres is paved. 
As a percentage of kilometers to population Jamaica is extremely well endowed with thoroughfares. This is fortunate as Jamaica is also a country with a high percentage of entrepreneurs per capita with many of them plying their trade along the nations highways.

In the next few postings I will take you on a pictorial culinary journey around this beautiful jewel of the Caribbean. As people, what we love to eat is one definition of our cultural identity.  Jamaican culture is unique in the fact that from the highest to the lowest levels of society everyone enjoys and eats the same foods. 

Much of what is eaten at home can also be purchased at a myriad of road side establishments, many rustic in nature but  "temples" of flavour; each one a specalist in some ethnic creation that is sure to have its own devotees. 

I will not take on the onerous task of defining who is "best" in this gastronomic minefield, just allow you to vicariously wander the bye ways of the island, exploring those places where no Jamaican road food connoisseur with a "hungry belly" could pass. In fact the majority of these "joints" would be considered worthy destinations in and of themselves.
We will visit Scotchies in Kingston, Prendy's on Hellshire Beach, Fresh Touch at Bluefields, The Best Kept Secret in Port Antonio, Claudette's in Mandeville, Gloria's in Port Royal, Howie's in Middle Quarter,  Morant Bay and Coronation Markets and who knows who else we will meet along the way,

Jamaica " the land of wood and water" with its motto 'out of many - one people" is a land rich in heritage and agriculture; a rich brew that has fermented over the ages to create a unique culinary melting pot. Let's explore!
Picture
Picture
Picture
2 Comments

    Author

    Bill Moore has lived and worked throughout the Carib-bean  for many years as a chef and hospitality profess-ional.
    As the author of Road Food User Guide he endeavors to capture the vibrancy of the region as he uses it to construct a modern regional cuisine - a contemporary Caribbean cuisine based upon the rich ethnic heritage.

    Archives

    April 2012
    October 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011

    Categories

    All
    Conch And Crayfish Soup
    Culinary Institute Of America
    Curry Goat Recipe
    Curry Powder Recipe
    Devon House
    Fresh Fish
    I Scream
    Jamaican Chefs Reconstruct
    Jamaican Road Food
    Jerk Seasoning
    Port Royal
    Prendy
    Road Food
    Scothies
    Sweet Potato Poon
    World Of Flavors

    RSS Feed