This week

SUMMER BARBECUE MADNESS

GOING HOG WILD!

Don't you just absolutely love summer? it is the time for all follies and decadence.  Life seems to be at its crescendo and it is not all about the days that are longer and the blazing heat of the sun.  Life itself has is this amazing cacophonous whirlwind of sensations. Doors are open almost everywhere, the sea no matter how far that it is appears to be nearer than any other time, legs are showing, music festivals are popping like mushrooms an than you have the wonderful smells busting at every corner of your neighborhood or even the streets.

One has no choice but to be tantalized by the aromas that are permeating the air, it is one of the best seasons in Haiti.  Fruits are in abundance and it brings us back to our pirate days when buccaneers and filibusters would spend hours and even days grilling to tender perfection a wild pig or some game birds.  The word bucanners comes from the word "boucan", a wooden frame used for cooking meat used by French hunters call boucaniers, this word is still used today in Haiti to designate a spit fire.  Creole cuisine of today was born from the crucible buccaneers and filibuster, miraculous blend of influences. The first Amerindian inhabitants already smoked meat on racks over a fire of green wood called (the racket)

Haitians absolutely love porc but their second most favorite dish is Kabwit boucannen (grilled goat meat), it is the first things that they do to welcome a visitor.  They slaughter a goat and the thrill is to seat around in a large audience with friends and some nice bottle of rhum and ice cold beer to savor between jokes and laughter this memorial moment.

We have chosen a selection of grilled dishes which we hope you will be able to share with your loved ones and friends in the making.  We understand that you do not have any goat to slaughter but the meat can be purchased at any Caribbean or Latino market.  What many Haitians who are actually abroad do is to purchase a goat directly from a local farm in their given area.  If you are in Haiti and do not have time to cook there are many bar and grill restaurants were you will find the exact quality but the ambiance may be different but just as memorable.

The custom is also to grill vegetables; we have chosen a selection of vegetables for you that can be roasted over a spit fire grill.  While waiting for the meat to grill you can munch on some juicy mangoes or watermelon which ever you prefer, the choices of fruits are limitless.  Serve your grilled meat with a pungent hot sauce and picklees; accompanied by a bed of fried or roasted vegetables and you can party all night long... 

  • Meat, Poultry and Seafood
  • Vegetables
  • Fruits

Grilled goat meat-Cabrit boucane

Serve 8 to 10

Ingredient

6-7 lbs of goat meat mixed and cut in different sizes
4 limes or lemons
1 cup of sour orange juice
6 garlic cloves
3 scallions
2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of ground black pepper
1-3 scotch bonnet pepper
1/2 tsp of ground cloves or 8 whole cloves
2 chicken bouillon cubes
2 tbsp vinegar
1/2 cup of rum
1/4 cup of oil
6 sprigs of parsley
4 sprigs of thyme

Preparation


Put a pot of water to boil enough to cover the meat completely. Take the juice of two limes and save the pulps. Place the meat in a bowl, cut the  other two limes and squeeze the juice  over the meat, rub each piece of meat with the lime pulps, pour the hot water over the meat, and let rest for about 5 minutes. In the meantime,  in a mortar or food processor reduce the spices to a paste. Drain meat, remove as much moisture as possible , pat dry.
Pour rum over meat, sour orange juice, lime juice , add spices, salt, pepper, bouillon cubes, mix well,  add vinegar and oil. Cover meat and let marinate for at least two hours or overnight in the refrigerator.
Place meat in a pot big enough to contain it, add enough water to reach the height of the meat in the pot. Boil over medium high until meat is  partially cooked but not fully.

Drain well, reserve boiling water for sauce Ti malice .

Grill meat over hot fire..

Sauce Ti malice


There are many ways to prepare sauce ti malice, but for this purpose  use the broth from the goat  meat. Boil down the broth to reduce to 2 cups of liquid or add water to make 2 cups. Strain
1/2 cup of peeled and sliced shallots


In a small saucepan place the broth , tomato paste, parsley and thyme , bring to a rolling boil for 5 minutes. Rectify the seasoning to your taste. Add shallots, turn the heat off. Cover and let stand 15 to 20  minutes before serving. Discard parsley and thyme, pour into a nice gravy boat and serve with the meat.


2 tsp  of tomato paste
2 sprigs of parsley
1 sprig of thyme
2 cups of meat broth strained


Grilled T-boned Steak

Ingredients

4 T-Bone steaks, about 1.5 inches think and 1.5-2 lbs. each
1 tbsp adobo
1 tbsp Island Spice All Purpose Seasoning
2 limes

1 tbsp Island Spice Jerk Seasoning
2 tbsp Olive Oil
¾ cup freshly chopped parsley
4 Scallion Stalks washed and chopped

1 chicken cube
4 garlic

salt and pepper
2 Tsp of butter


 Preparation:
In a pestle, combine dry spices, parsley, scallion, chicken cube, salt, pepper and garlic and crush until you obtain a paste and add olive oil and 1 lime juice. Toss each T-bone steak in the prepared mixture and make sure they are evenly covered. 

Cover steaks and let marinate for at least 2 hours in the fridge.

Preheat outdoor grill at a medium-high fire; place T-bone steaks on grill and let cook for 8-9 minutes on each side for medium doneness, baste the steak with butter while cooking. 

Serve T-bone steaks with grilled cob and a salad of choice and a wedge of lime. Enjoy!!!

Sizzling Creole BBQ ribs with guava sauce

Ingredients

4-5 lb of porc ribs
Parsley
1 small onions
8 garlic cloves
1 scotch bonnets
4 small shallot
4 scallions
bitter orange juice(or lime)
thym
whole cloves
1 chicken bouillon cube
salt and pepper



sauce

8 ounces of diced guava paste
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup dark rum
3 tablespoon tomato paste
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1 scallion, white part only minced
1 garlic, minced
1 scotch bonnet pepper or 2 tbsp of habanero sauce
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon of molasses
1/4 cup water
2 limes
salt
pepper

In a small saucepan, combine the guava paste with the vinegar, rum, tomato paste, sauce, lime juice, scotch bonnet pepper, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, ginger, scallion, garlic and water and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat, stirring

occasionally, season with onion powder, salt and pepperr until reduced to 1 1/4 cups, about 15 minutes. Season the sauce with salt and pepper

Cover and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened

Make ahead

The barbecue sauce can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.

NOTES

Guava paste is usually sold in flat metal cans. It is available at many supermarkets as well as at Latin markets.

Preparation of Porc ribs

In a blender or pestle combine all ingredients except porc of course until you get a puree.

wash the ribs with lime water, trim any excess fatplace the ribs in bowl and cover with the spice mixture. Marinate for several hours, if you let it rest overnight it is best.

When ready, place the ribs in a pot to which you cover the ribs with water and let it cook until tender with lid on. Stir frequently to prevent sticking for 30 minutes.

When cooked, baste the ribs with the sauce. To the sauce you can a few tablespoon of the remaining juice from the pot and grill on a preheated barbecue grill. Indirect cooking in a barbecue pit is recommended to prevent burning. Yummy! Serve hot.






GOING HOG WILD!


Ingredients

coming soon!




GOING HOG WILD!


Ingredients

coming soon!




GOING HOG WILD!


Ingredients

coming soon!




Grilled seafood WILD!

Coconut Grilled Lobster


Serves 4

Ingredients:

4, 2 lb (1 kg) lobsters
1 tbsp (15 ml) sea salt
½ tbsp (7 ml) black pepper
2 tbsp (30 ml) avocado oil, divided
1 tbsp (15 ml) ginger-garlic paste
2 cups (500 ml) vegetable stock
2 lemon basil leaves
1 stalk lemon thyme
15 asparagus spears
1 cup (250 ml) snowpeas
2 baby leeks, halved
1 baby fennel, quartered
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp (30 ml) chopped parsley
1 medium eggplant
1 tbsp (15 ml) vegetable oil
1 lime, cut into wedges
1 lemon, cut into wedges
3 basil leaves

Preparation

Separate the lobsters into heads and tails. Boil the heads in water for two minutes and then set aside.

Cut the lobster tails in half. Place tails in a bowl, add salt, pepper, 1 tbsp (15 ml) avocado oil and ginger- garlic paste and set aside to marinate.

While lobster tails are marinating, in a medium pot, bring vegetable stock to a simmer and add the lemon basil and lemon thyme. Add the asparagus, snow peas, leeks and fennel and cook until tender-crisp. Drain and toss with remaining avocado oil, salt, pepper and parsley.

Grill the lobster tails on a charcoal grill (use coconut charcoal, if possible) for 7 to 8 minutes.

Peel eggplant skin and slice the skin into strips the size of linguine pasta. Fry the eggplant skin in hot
vegetable oil until crispy. Drain.

To serve, place lobster heads, tails and vegetables on a platter. Garnish with lemon and lime wedges, fresh basil and crispy eggplant skin.



Ingredients

coming soon!




Grilled corn & mayo sauce

Haitians normally do not add spice to their corn, they just pill off the husk and directly place them on the grill.  This is a variation since corn in the states are somewhat more tender than those found in Haiti and contain more water.


Ingredients

fresh ears of corns 
Olive oil
Butter
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoon of mayonnaise
1 to 2 tablespoons of fresly squeezed lime juice
1/4 teaspoon of chili powder

Preparations

Prepare a grill, with heat medium-high and rack about 4 inches from the fire or preheat the barbecue grill to a medium temperature (350 degrees F).


If the ears of corn have many layers of husk on them, peel off only the first couple of layers, leaving a few layers for protection. Do not remove all the layers.

Soak the whole cobs in a pot of cold water for 15 minutes. Be sure the ears are completely covered with water. This will provide extra moisture for cooking and will steam the corn kernels inside the husks.

After soaking, remove the corn from the water and shake off any excess water. 

Begin by pulling the husks of the corn back (but do not completely remove them). Remove and discard only the silk.

Brush the kernels with a bit of olive oil cook until kernels begin to char, about 5 minutes, then turn. Continue cooking and turning until all sides are slightly blackened.

Apply a bit of butter after the corn comes off the grill just before you eat it.

Sauce 

Mix together mayonnaise, lime juice, chili powder and some salt and pepper in a small bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more lime juice or chili powder if you like. Serve corn with chili-lime mayo.

Grilled Breadfruit



Breadfruit is a popular staple in Haiti it can be found all around but more in the Grandanse region where the local dish is Tomtom, just like the African fufu dish, there are various varient around the Caribbean and Latin American region. Breadfruit was intended to be used as food for the slaves during colonial time.   This recipe can be done also with sweet potato.

Ingredient: 


1 breadfruit 

Roast the breadfruit whole over charcoal (the best method), or directly over a gas burner. Turn the fruit as it begins to char. The roasting takes about an hour. When steam starts to escape from the stem end, the breadfruit is done. 

Remove the breadfruit from the fire, and cut a circle at the stem end. Scoop out the heart, and discard it. Scoop out the meat, or cut off the charred outer skin, and cut the meat into slices, and serve it hot.


Fruit & Drinks


Ingredients


coming soon!







Previous recipes

Blood Sausage & Seafood Sausage

Boudin noir & Boudin blanc

SIAL photo
Our selection for this week is one of the favorites throughout the caribbean.  To those who are unfamiliar with blood sausage it can appear very daunting and an acquired taste but it is a delicacy the world around.  This delicacy has become a rare commodity in the United States since it deals with raw blood but one can still find some version of blood sausage in cajun cuisine.

In Haiti you find it at every street vendors stands and it can be made from home served with crackers.  It is one of the islanders favorite snack or appetizer.

Whenever an animal is being slaughtered there is always a group of people standing by animating the event.  One fo the first thing that is drawn out of the animal is the blood which is readily placed into a bowl with vinegar or lime juice and salt added to prevent coagulation.  While the "butcher" continues with the skinning and carving of the meat, the cook is busy preparing the marinade that the blood will be cooked into.  In a flick of an eye lid, the blood is ready to be serve before the butcher is even done with slaughtered animal.  The blood is passed around and serve to everyone, even the bystanders. It is always a treat!

For the aficionado, who do not not want to do a sausage, I have included the "homemade blood mash" for your relish which I am sure you will savor with a few pieces of crackers.

You can enjoy it  with a Ti Punch Creole or simply a nice glass of Côtes-du-Rhône Villages.

It's raining boudin, alleluia! it's raining boudin!

Homemade Blood Mash


Slaughter a pig; immediately collect the blood; add the vinegar and a little salt to prevent coagulation;

moisten the stale bread with a little milk and add to the blood;

Pardon my French!  but we all know that you may not be in an environment or condition where you can slaughter even a fly worst a pig or goat, but for the sake of momentum, we will pretend a bit that the blood that you just got from the local butcher came from a slaughtered pig.  We have to create the atmosphere... no?
Ingredients

Blood,
4 scallions chopped
2 Scotch bonnet pepper
2 Bay leaf
thyme
fresh parsley, finely chopped
rum
salt and freshly ground pepper
vinegar
2 lemons
Chicken Bouillon cube
2 onions
1 shallots
oil

First in take half of the parsley, garlic, thyme, scallion,  scotch bonnet pepper, thyme and grind them is a mortar or pestle and add it to the blood mixture with the vinegar and lime juice.

Place a pan on the stove and add about 3 tablespoon of oil and chopped  a bowl, onions and shallots, scallion and let it fry for about 2 minutes and add the blood mixture with the rest of the ingredients and let it cook by continuous stirring until the liquid has completely dry out of the pan.

Continue to stir the blood until it starts to crumble and have the look of a mash.  Than it will be ready to serve.  Adjust seasoning as needed.

Traditional Blood Sausage

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon of lard or cooking oil
1/2 cup chopped onion or shallots
1 tablespoon minced parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 Scotch bonnet Paper seeded and chopped
2 cups fresh pork blood
1 teaspoon of salt
1 slice bacon, cut into very samll pieces (optional)
sausage casings or hog intestines

Instructions

Saute de onion in oil until translucent, add parsley, garlic, thyme and hot pepper.  Remove from heat an add blood, salt, and bacon. Mix well.

Pour mixture in the casings and fill each one three-quaters full.  Tie the ends with string to seal.  If using hog intestines, wash very well and add the juice of a lemon to the final rinse.

Place the sausages in a large pan filled with boiling water.  Cook for about 20 minutes, or until firm.  Remove from water.  Cut sausages into 2 inch lengths and fry gently.

Boudin blanc/White Sausage

Ingredients

2 metres of clean casings
1kg white fish
10  scallion
3 cloves of garlic
500g of bread crumb
2 limes
malaguette leafs
2 teaspoon of  thyme
150g lard
oil
1 scotch bonnet pepper
salt
Black pepper
Milk and rum
Bunch of parsley .

Instruction:
Marinate the fish in lemon juice, garlic, scallions, salt and pepper.

In a pot, bring to boil fish for 15 min with the malaguette leafs.  Drain and crumble the fish meat and reserve the fish stock. 

Meanwhile soak the bread in milk.

In a saute pan, add oil and saute the lard.  Add the scallion, chopped parsley and thyme and cook for 10min.

In a bowl mix the fish and some of the cooking juices, squeeze the milk out of the bread and chopped scallion, and the finely chopped herbs and scotch bonnet pepper.  Add a little bit of milk and the rhum and mix well. 

Fill the casings with this stuffing and tie each ends. 

In a large saucepan, bring to boil salted water with a few malaguette leafs and cook  for 30 minutes over medium heat.


Boudin de Crevette/Shrimp Sausage

Ingredients

14 raw shrimp or ( 270g )
For the shrimps
200 ml water
1 malaguette leaf
2 cloves 
2g of salt
stuffing:
140g stale bread
2 sprigs parsley 
2 scallions
½ Scotch Bonnet Pepper
1 clove of garlic
½ lemon
1 pinch of mixed spice 4
1 pinch of mixed bouquet garni
1 teaspoon of  turmeric powder (optional )
4 g salt
Broth :
1.5 liters of water
5 black pepper grains
Shrimp shells
10 g salt
1 sprig of scallion
1 sprig of parsley
8g oil

equipment
60 cm casing
Kitchen string
funnel


SIAL photo
Instructions
Rinse the casing under water  and place them in a bowl filled with cold water

In a pan allow the shrimp to cook in salted water with the malagette and cloves. Allow up to 2 minutes of cooking boot the boil. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool.

The stuffing:
Remove shrimps shells and leave the shells and the heads in the cooking water.  There should be about 110g of shrimp meat.

Crush the head to extract maximum flavors and filter the juice and set it aside.   Also keep the shells that will be used for the broth that will be cooking the sausages.

In a bowl add enough water to cover the stale bread and let it soak for 3 minutes.  When ready, squeeze the water out completely from the bread and add it to the shrimp juice that you have retained.

Meanwhile, finely chop in a blender parsley, scallions, garlic and 1/2 scotch bonnet pepper and 10 shrimps. With a knife chop the remaining 4 shrimp. Sauté everything for 2-3 minutes in a pan with little oil.

Once the bread is properly soaked place it in a food processor and grind it to obtain a smooth texture.  smoothly.  Than add this to the shrimp mixture.  Add the 4 spice mixture, bouquet garni powder, tumeric, salt and lemon juice.  Your stuffing is ready.

Fabricating the sausages:
Remove the casings out of water. Place the funnel at the opening of the casing with caution. Fill the casing with stuffing Tie the extremity of the casing with the string. Tie one end first. Using the string, tightening the string every 5 cm. Then tie the second extremity to create the individual sausages.  When done it should a string of sausages like a rosary.

The aromatic broth:
This broth will be realized by placing in a pot the shrimp shells and heads, oil, scallion, parsley, the remaining half of the scotch bonnet pepper, salt to boil.  

Turn the heat down in way for the broth not to boil any longer put the sausages and poach for 30 minutes.

When cooked , remove the sausages from the water and let cool for 10 minutes before carving.

The water should never boil during cooking , otherwise the casings could bursting . Traditionally, banana leaves are placed a deposited in the bottom of the pot to cut boiling.  

Prick the sausages after cooking with a toothpick. They are cooked when a small drop of oil comes out.

The sausages will keep  for 4 days in the refrigerator. And  can easily be frozen. Freeze once cooled the string of sausages matching your future use in aluminum foil.  When ready for consumption, immerse the package directly into the boiling water for 15 to 20 minutes. Your sausage will be just as fresh .

Boudin de Morue/Salted Cod Fish Sausage


Ingredients

120g salted cod
½ lemon
1 meter of casings
2g mixed spice 4
1 g of malaguette
2 g of mixed bouquet garni
½ stale bread
2 sprigs of parsley
150 ml water
1 clove of garlic
1/2 scotch bonnet pepper

Broth for cooking :
water
10 peppercorns
5 nails girogle
1 bouquet garni consists of parsley and chives
20g of salt
S 3c has oil
3 sprigs of thyme
1/2 scotch bonnet pepper
Kitchen string

Instructions

Place the cod in cold water to soak for 6 hours.  Meanwhile, in a bowl soak the bread in water.  In a separate bowl place the casing in cold lemon water with ¼ lemon

stuffing:
When the the salt has been entirely removed from the cod, crumble finely the meat of the cod.  Finely chop the scallion , parsley and scotch bonnet pepper.

Once the bread is properly soaked , squeeze out the excess water and place the bread in a bowl and crumble it finely with a fork.

In a pan, fry without coloring parsley, scallion and pepper, then add the bread with spices : 4 spices, malaguette and bouquet garni. Mix . Add the cod, a bit of water and the remaining lime.  Mince finely the garlic and add it to the mixture and stir until you have a smooth stuffing. 

Fabricating the sausages.
Tie the end of the casing.  Place a funnel at the other end and fill the casing with the stuffing.  With  the string you will create the individual sausages by twine by tightening the string approximately every 8cm .

Aromatic broth
In a saucepan filled with water put the cloves, pepper, thyme, bouquet garni, consists of parsley and scallion, oil and chilli. Bring to a boil . Once boiling,  add salt  to the water and lower the heat so that there are no  more boiling.

Place the string of sausages and cook for 25 minutes.

At the end of the cooking,  remove the sausages from the water and let cool for 10 minutes before carving .
Be careful when taking out the sausages otherwise it may crumble.

When making the stuffing make sure that you remove all the bones from the fish,  the stuffing should be smooth but still retain some small pieces this way the stuffing would have retain some texture.

Boudin  de Lambi/Conch Sausage

Ingredients

1 kg of Queen Conch cleaned
1/2 bag of casings
2 onions
1 bunch of parsley
Sprigs of fresh thyme
1 scotch bonnet pepper
About 2 kg of stale bread
Half liter of the milk
2 malaguette
1/4 liters of oil
2 lemons
1 head of garlic
Salt and pepper
lemon

Instructions 

Soak the casings in water for 1 hour, then wash by rubbing with the lemon juice, then drain.

Soak the bread in water and squeeze well to remove all the water and pass it through the grinder.

Cook conch in a broth consisting of 1 bouquet garni , bay leaves and malaguette, 3 cloves of crushed garlic and a scoth bonnet pepper .

Let it cook for about 45 minutes, then mix it in a food processor with the juices and milk, without pureed .

Pour into a large bowl, add the bread. Mix well.

Finely chop the onion, parsley, thyme and 1 scotch bonnet pepper, minced 3 cloves of garlic. Fry all these spices in oil and then pour over the mixture .

Knead the mixture by hands and add salt and pepper, add a pinch of malaguette poweder. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary .

Heat salted water in a large pot, add the bouquet garni, bay leaves and malaguette, and 1 scotch bonnet pepper, then reduce the heat .

Fill casings with stuffing (do not fill casing too much to prevent it from bursting during cooking), tie the ends and tie small pieces to create the individual sausages, and gently place the string of sausages the simmering water; cook about 20 minutes. 

With a toothpick check for doneness .

Comments
The cooking time given is just an approximate. It is essential to check for doneness .


SIAL photo



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