Caribbean Food Fusion A Background
The mix of cultures and peoples who live in the Caribbean have served to make it’s food a fusion of styles, textures and flavors that are enjoyed by all sorts of people around the world. This rich cultural history, makes eating and cooking Caribbean food an enjoyable experience whether done at home or eating out with friends.
If you have already been introduced to Caribbean food, then you are someone who knows how delicious it is, however perhaps you have not yet realized how easy it is to cook Caribbean recipes at home in your very own kitchen.
Whatever the reason, sampling Caribbean dishes changes your world. The enjoyment factor when you get a little taste of the caribbean in dishes using authentic flavors, makes life that little more enjoyable.
Why is Caribbean cooking fusion cooking? The original south American indian tribes that inhabited the islands of the Caribbean, the Arawaks, Taino and Caribs cooked using the fruits and vegetables found on the islands. As more people from around the world arrived, the Europeans, who brought enslaved Africans, techniques, flavors and ingredients began to change.
Their ingenuity, combining the meat and vegetables with spices and herbs, slow cooking cuts that others didn’t want brought new flavours, and fantastic stews were born during this time. As slavery ended and Colonizers went to China and India to obtain indentured laborers. The Asian workers brought with them their cooking styles and added it to the melting pot that is Caribbean cooking.
If you enjoy home cooking and you like trying different cooking styles, try out some Caribbean recipes at home. Use the best ingredients that you can find and make sure that they are fresh. This will add to the intensity of the flavor and the success of the dishes.
One aspect of Caribbean cooking that is prevalent, especially with mean dishes is marinading. Meats are covered in herbs and spices, commonly referred to as seasoning and left to marinade for at least 2-3 hours before cooking. Many people leave their meats to marinade overnight in a refrigerator. This helps the meat to tenderize, as well as infusing it with the flavors of the spices and herbs, giving each dish it’s authentic flavor. You can always tell when you’re not eating authentic Caribbean food at a restaurant as the meat will be flavoursome on the surface but those flavours diminish as you bite deeper.
Slow cooking meat is another technique used in most Caribbean dishes. Unless you are frying cooking using a barbeque, then first brown it in the post to give it color, then turn the heat down and let the meet cook on a low fire until soft and tender. This helps the meat develop the full flavor of the seasonings and will give you a sumptuous gravy to which you won’t have much to add.
There is much said about Caribbean food, most of it good, and we hope that this has given you a little taste of what can be done at home. If you try cooking Caribbean food, don’t forget to add your touch that way you are also adding to the fusion that is Caribbean cuisine and making the recipes your own as well.
