Posts Tagged ‘condiments’

Steve
Steve

Taste of the Caribbean: Spice Up Your Thanksgiving Ham with Some Trini Chow

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Thanksgiving Day is coming up on Thursday here in the U.S., and while most everyone is gearing up for a taste of turkey, we mustn’t forget that other pink ‘n pretty meat that’s so much a part of this heartiest of holidays – ham!
In the Trinidadian household where Patrick and I were raised in St. Croix, Thanksgiving morning always meant ham. Baked, glazed and artfully pricked with cloves, Mom’s ham breakfast often outshined the turkey dinner to come.
Now that ham didn’t need any help in the flavor department, but if anyone wanted to add a bit of Trini spice to their plate, there was always some Chow on the table.

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Nov. 21st, 2011 | Tags: , , | 1 Comment »
Steve
Steve

Taste of the Caribbean: Pickapeppa, Jamaica’s Most Versatile Sauce

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Jerk may be the most famous home-grown flavor of Jamaica (and with good reason, if you ask me), but it’s certainly not the only one. Next time you’re down there, do yourself a favor and discover the many varied wonders of the one condiment that supermodel Naomi Campbell never leaves home without: Pickapeppa Sauce.
Known as Jamaican Ketchup, and sometimes called Jamaican A-1 (it tastes more like Worcestershire Sauce or A-1 than ketchup), Pickapeppa Sauce is a unique combination of tomatoes, onions, sugar, cane vinegar, mangoes, raisins, tamarind, garlic, salt, peppers, thyme and cloves. There are some “secret ingredients” as well, of course, and the true formula is apparently known only to a few members of the family that now runs the company, though copycat recipes can be found.

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Sep. 19th, 2011 | Tags: , | No Comments »
Steve
Steve

Taste of the Caribbean: Kuchela Adds True Trini Flavor to Almost Anything

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Where would we be without the British and their once aggressive, often oppressive colonial-era entrepreneurial dealings in India? After all, they effectively popularized such staples as cotton, silk and tea in the Western world during the 17th and 18th centuries, and who doesn’t like to sip tea while wearing silk boxers and a cotton T-shirt?
Okay, so maybe you prefer coffee and your silk boxers have been lining the bottom of your unmentionables drawer since 1985; you can’t argue with the ongoing importance of cotton (unless you spend all your time here).
For many in the Caribbean there’s another Indian export that rates about as highly as the fluffy white stuff – chutney.

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Oct. 25th, 2010 | Tags: , , , | 8 Comments »
Steve
Steve

Taste of the Caribbean: Singing Praises to Grace Jamaican Ketchup

Grace Jamaican Ketchup/SBPR

You may have never set foot in Jamaica, but if you know great reggae, then you’ve probably already sung the praises of Grace Jamaican Ketchup. With just a few lines in his early-80′s hit Mad Over Me, Yellowman elevated the simple condiment to iconic Caribbean cultural status. You know the words…
One thing with dem when them get hungry
Dis is what they say to me, I like my hot hot hotdog
With what? Grace Jamaican Ketchup
I like my hot hamburger
With what? Grace Jamaican Ketchup
Fish and chips and chicken and chips and almost everything nice with chips
Macaroni, rice and peas you lick you lips
Lots of ketchup please
Grace Jamaican Ketchup
Grace Jamaican Ketchup
I’d known the song for years (and actually always thought the lyric was fresh Jamaican ketchup), but never enjoyed the stuff ’til visiting the Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort in Montego Bay two years ago.

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Aug. 16th, 2010 | Tags: , , | 1 Comment »