JamaicanEats Bringing a taste of the Caribbean to the world Best National Dis hheess Ackee and Saltfish Cou Cou and Flying Fish in the top 3 + Jamaica’s yummy ice cream spot Young gifted and hot More top 30 Under 30 chefs Ackee and Saltfish Jamaica’s national dish Reader Recipes wiNteR/SpRiNg 2012 VOL. 4 NO. 2 Scrumptious US$6.95 CAN$6.95 Uk £4.50 J$500 The best way to experience the real Jamaica - your way Soak up the irie vibes on our 10-day adventure tours The charm of the past, beauty of the present and pleasures of the outdoors await you. Designed with travel experts on the ground, our guided tours and customized travel packages inspire, ex - cite and stir the soul of travellers who want to experience the real Jamaica. Each unique adventure pack - age offers breathtaking sights and adventures planned to suit you, in a secure, escorted setting for groups 18 and older. 1.888.799.4743 1.604.568.5757 (Can) www.authenticjamaicatravel.com [email protected] 1.876.430.4360 (Ja) editor’s note Bragging rights e all know that Jamaicans are a boasy (show off) people. even when times are lean and the going is rough, islanders are stylin’, puffing out their chests and...well...chalking up victories all over the wworld. (Need i say Usain Bolt, world’s fastest man, and the track team? Or patrick Lipton Robin - son, the Jamaican who headed (until November 2011), the international Criminal tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague, Netherlands?) So it’s no wonder that we were flooded with e-mails when National geographic’s Food Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the Globe placed ackee and saltfish second on its list of top 10 National Dishes and then pointed to Devon House, kingston, as the fourth best spot for ice cream. Armed with such delicious ammunition, we couldn’t resist the temptation to brag (that would be most unJamaican, after all) about ackee. Rarely eaten by others because of its reputation for being poisonous, the misunderstood ackee fruit has been embraced by Jamaicans. Starting on page 23 we’ve got an ackee spread that includes information on when to pick and eat the fleshy, yellow fruit and recipes that take you beyond the national obsession of ackee and saltfish to ackee cheesecake, jerk ackee and ackee soup. plus, starting on page 18, we’ve got the scoop on the historic Devon House (built by Jamaica’s first black millionaire) and its yummy offerings – from the famous i-Scream to the creative cuisine at the grog Shoppe. then on page 34 we continue to show off with our series on the top 30, Under 30 chefs. Meet a rugby-playing chef from St. Lucia and two young e c chefs working their way up the kitchen ladder at the Half Moon resort in n e r Montego Bay, Jamaica. w a L And just in case you think the young ones have all the bragging rights, we e c a bring you Dudley Delapenha, a 78-year-old great grandfather who found his l g passion for baking later in life. the former Jamaican executive who could y b o barely fry an egg, jokes his family, before migrating to Canada, has a weekly t o h Saturday afternoon date with his oven. whipping up banana bread, Jamaican p easter buns, cornmeal puddings and loaves of bread for family, friends, neigh - bours, friends and family of neighbours and... well, you get the picture. Reader Andrea Mundell-Bowen of London, england, is back, this time with an intoxicating Lamb Shanks with tia Maria Liqueur recipe on page 35. On the following pages, reader Jackie Fraser-Dunfield of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, tells us about her love of cooking which she inherited from her mother. get her Jamaican- inspired recipes – Mango and Shrimp Curry Soup and Old goat’s Lamb Curry – on pages 36 and 37. plus Marcia Mayne’s piece, what my mother and grandmother taught me about baking and life, will bring a tear to your eyes. in this edition we also feature a celebration of Jamaican food at the taste of Jamaica which took place mid- October in Montego Bay, as well as a flavour of Jamaica at whole Foods, Vancouver, Canada. plus, in Ask Jennifer, our resident expert Jennifer Mullings says yes, you can make delicious chicken stew peas. Along with Sister Catherine williams and the Rasta community of Broughton District, westmoreland, she guides a group of wellness seekers from Minneapolis on the pleasures and benefits of the coconut. As usual we end on a sweet note – a cornmeal pudding that Dudley Delapenha swears will have you licking your fingers. enjoy! Grace Cameron 4 Jamaican Eats WintEr/spring 2012 i www.jamaicaneats.com ON THE mENU Winter/Spring 2012 JamaicanEats page 15, get the recipe for the Fiery witch, the winning drink recipe from the taste of Jamaica. photo by Bill Moore LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...............................6 In our ongoing series featuring young chefs, meet the fierce Macca fat unveiled: Reader Leonie Alberga sends us a picture of Paulyn Eugene of the Windjammer Landing Villa Beach this seem to be forgotten Jamaican fruit. Readers tell us about Resort in St. Lucia, as well as Basil Bowers and Phillip Gray who their experience with JamaicanEats , and Jess Mandeville of are making their presence felt in the kitchen of Montego Bay’s Cardiff, Wales, discovers Jamaica and Jamaican food. Half Moon resort. FOR STARTERS................................................10 READERS’ RECIPES.........................................35 . Jamaican flavours sizzle at Whole Foods in Vancouver with jerk . Andrea Mundell-Bowen’s Lamb Shanks with Tia Maria Liqueur tofu, pepperpot soup and Bob Marley pizza bowl. will leave you swooning. Taste of Jamaica. Chefs, pastry chefs and bartenders served up . Jackie Fraser-Dunfield, a frequent visitor to Jamaica, tells us their best at the 4th annual Taste of Jamaica held mid-October in about her mother’s cooking and shares her Mango & Shrimp Montego Bay. And we’ve got the winning dessert and drink Curry Soup and Old Goats’ Lamb Curry recipes. recipes. PASSION FOR BAKING..................................38 CARIBBEAN CUISINE ROCKS......................17 Dudley Delapenha discovered his joy of cooking late in life. Now . Ackee and Saltfish is the number two National Dish in the the one-time spokesman for the giant beverage company D&G world, with Barbados’ Cou Cou and Flying Fish right behind, has a weekly baking session and generously spreads the bounty. according to National Geographic. Plus, Devon House, an historical landmark in Kingston, the fourth best place anywhere ASK JENNIFER..................................................41 to enjoy ice cream. Find out why they are on National Can you make stew peas with chicken? asks reader Pat Zezula. Geographic’s top 10 list, then dig into the yummy recipes — think Yes, you can, answers our resident expert Jennifer Mullings. jerk ackee and ackee cheesecake. COCONUT ROCKS.........................................42 LESSONS ON LIFE AND BAKING................30 Sister Catherine Williams and the Rasta community in . Marcia Mayne shares the story of the differing baking styles of Broughton District, Westmoreland, gave a group of wellness her mother and grandmother and the lessons she learned from seekers from Minneapolis lessons in coconut, health and life. both. She also gives us her recipe for Christmas cake. LAST BITE.........................................................46 TOP 30, UNDER 30..........................................32 You’ll fall for the velvety charms of this silky cornmeal pudding. Cover photo of ackee and saltfish by Rosemary parkinson www.jamaicaneats.com i WintEr/sprin g 2012 i Jamaican Eats 5 yourletters Chef Norma lives on As I read the article about Chef Norma Shirley walk even though it was painful for me. Unfor - (my husband is a Red Seal Chef by trade al - tunately, when we arrived the attendant in - though he is not cooking in a restaurant setting formed us that the restaurant was closed for that now) in the latest issue, it made me feel sad. evening, but we did not know why. Little did I remember staying at the Cocolapalm Resort we know until we returned home to Canada two on Seven Mile Beach in Negril last November weeks later and read of her sudden passing on (2010) and deciding on November 3 to walk November 2, 2010. What a shock! down to Seasplash Resort near Cocolapalm to She must have been an amazing lady and will have a lovely dinner at Norma's in Negril. I had be dearly missed by all the lives she touched. I heard so much about Norma Shirley and was am looking forward to her biography by Rose - excited to be dining at her restaurant. mary Parkinson coming out in 2012 and I defi - As I was walking with my husband on the nitely want to go back to her restaurant when I side of the road I twisted my ankle shortly be - am in Negril again. July 2011 fore arriving at Seasplash. We continued to -Bev. Cunningham, Kelowna, B.C. the Fiery Jerk Shrimp did it Please keep your letters and e-mails coming please e-mail us : info@jamaicaneats. com, sweetpotato - I took my copy of the July 2011 JamaicanEats with me on vacation and last night my friend [email protected]. Or write us @ who I'm visiting made Chef Andre Fowles' (Round Hill Hotel and Villas) Fiery Jerk JamaicanEats Shrimp in a Garlic & Thyme Broth with the accompanying cornbread w/cilantro and magazine, p.O. Box pepperjack cheese listed on page 45. It was delicious! We couldn't find any scotch bonnet 1875, Kingston 8, pepper so we substituted with serranos.