Ann Vanderhoof - The Spice Necklace: My Adventures in Caribbean Cooking, Eating, and Island Life

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT Boston New York
2010

First U.S. edition

Copyright 2009 Ann Vanderhoof

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

For information about permission to reproduce
selections from this book, write to Permissions,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company,
215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.

www.hmhbooks.com

First published in Canada by Doubleday, 2009

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vanderhoof, Ann, date.
The spice necklace / Ann Vanderhoof.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-618-68537-0
1. Cookery (Spices) 2. Cookery, Caribbean. I. Title.
TX 819. AIV 28 2010
641.3'383dc22 2010007136

Designed by CS Richardson
Printed in the United States of America
DOC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Rita, who taught me the pleasure of cooking,
and Harold, who taught me the pleasure of eating
And for Steve, a second helping

Preface

The Spell of the Spice Necklace

1 The Nutmeg Gatherers

Grenada

2 Self-Spicing Goats

The Dominican Republic

3 The Egg Ladies

The Dominican Republic & Haiti

4 The 151-Proof Spice

St. Martin & Saba

5 Bay in the Mountains, Crabs in the Pot

Dominica & St. Kitts

6 The Food Critics Visit the Easy-Bake Boat

Grenada

7 Rolling Rice and Drinking Jack Iron Rum

Carriacou & Petite Martinique

8 Curry Tabanca

Trinidad

9 Feelin' Hot, Hot, Hot

Trinidad

10 Cramming for a Chocolate-Tasting Test

Trinidad, Tobago & Grenada

11 Snow on the Mountains, Christmas on the Way

Grenada, Trinidad, Carriacou & The Grenadines

12 All Ah We Is One

Trinidad

13 In Search of Passion

Grenada & St. Lucia

14 Barks That Bite

St. Lucia & Trinidad

15 Dog Sauce and Rhum

St. Martin, Martinique & Marie-Galante

16 The Torments of Love

Guadeloupe & The Islands of the Saints

17 Lunch with Moses

Grenada & Dominica

18 Back to the Isle of Spice

Grenada

Afterword

Acknowledgments

... LIST OF RECIPES ...

STARTERS & SNACKS

Chicken Coconut Pastelillos

Coconut Chips

Colombo Almonds

Grenada-Style Ginger Peanuts

Happy Hour Blue Cheese Spread

Island Poppers

Lambi Fritters

Lobster Pastelillos

Lobster Pizza

Mango Chow

Pickled Christophene Cocktail Cubes

Saltfish Buljol

Seafood-Stuffed Cocktail Bites

Tostones (Twice-Fried Green Plantains) with GarlicCilantro Aoli Dip

Wendy's Spicy Smoked Herring Spread

Yaniqueques from the Village of the Big Cakes

DRINKS

Cocoa Tea

Cure for the Common Cold

Dandy Shandy

Dark and Stormy

Do-It-Yourself LLB (Lemon Lime Bitters)

Ginger Tea

Moonshine Punch

Receta's Ginger Beer

Receta's Passion Punch

Soursop Colada

MAINS

Chivo Guisado (Stewed Goat) in the Style of La Madonna

Creole Fish in the Style of Cas' Anny

Curry Stew Chicken

Dingis's Oildown

Geera Pork

Grilled Fish with Passion FruitGinger Sauce

Leslie Ann Calliste's Fish with Ochroes

Miss Pat's Pepper Shrimp

Moses' Ital Stew

Plantain-Crusted Chicken Fingers with Green Seasoning

Seared Tuna with a Cocoa Crust

Steve's Creole Chatrou

Tassa Chicken

Trini-Style Curry Shrimp

SOUPS, SALADS & SIDES

Carnival Corn Soup

Coo-Coo Balls

Creamed Callaloo (or Spinach) with Coconut Milk

Island Tabbouleh

Mango & Pineapple Gazpacho

The Police Officer's Watercress Salad

Rosa's Avocado Salad

Starburst Salad

Stewed Lentils with Pumpkin

Watercress & Avocado Salad with Spicy Shrimp

SWEETS & BAKING

Boat-Friendly Pizza Dough

Chocolate-Crammed Christmas Cookies

Coconut Drops

Ginger Spice Cookies

Green Roof Inn's Local-Chocolate Cake

Grenadian Banana Bread (with Chocolate, Nutmeg and Rum)

Icy Peanut Cream

One-Bite Coconut Bakes

One-Bite Ti Punch Tarts

Rugelach with an Island Twist

Tart and Sweet Lime Squares

Torments of Love

SPICE BLENDS, CONDIMENTS & MARINADES

Chadon Beni Sauce

Green Seasoning

Lime and Pepper Rum Marinade

Miss Pat's Pepper Sauce

Pepper Rum

Poudre de Colombo (Colombo Powder)

Sauce Chien

Vanilla Sugar

RECIPE NOTE: Fresh island spices pack a real flavor punch. For similar results, buy spices whole when possible, and then grate or grind them yourself right before using. (And if your spices have been in the cupboard awhile, replace them with a new supply.)

A dinner invitation, once accepted, is a sacred obligation. If you die before the dinner takes place, your executor must attend....

19th-century New York taste-maker Ward McAllister, in Society as I Have Found It, 1890

THIS TIME, I bring my rolling pin to the Caribbean.

I also bring my rat, Ramn T. Ratn (made from a small coconut), and my elderly stuffed monkey, Curious George, a companion since childhood; my best pots and knives (and a proper sharpening steel); more baking pans and serving dishes; my trusty pressure cooker; two dozen tea towels; six stemmed wineglasses; three of my favorite silicone spatulas (all the same size and color); a digital kitchen scale; and one lonely electric appliance, a wand hand-blender with attachments that whisk and chop.

Of course, my husband, Steve, comes too. He calls himself my official taster and, aided by a lightning-fast metabolism, he's an unstoppable force when it comes to food. West Indian market women adore himsetting commerce aside to chat, tucking an extra piece or two of fruit into his bag, routinely giving him big hugs hello and goodbyeand cooks can't resist spoiling him, especially since he looks like he can use a few thousand extra calories. Inevitably, he's the one who's given the largest fish, the plate with the scoop of the extra something, the invitation to "take a taste" of whatever's in the pot.

This is Phase Two.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

***

In the late '90s, when Steve and I were in our mid-forties and living in Toronto, we quit our jobsI was a magazine editor and he was a magazine art directorput our careers on hold, rented out our house, moved onto our 42-foot sailboat and sailed south to the Caribbean on a two-year midlife break. Of course, it was nowhere as straightforward as that one sentence makes it sound, and we needed a five-year planwhich stretched to seven yearsto cast off the lines that held us to land.