Pepperpot time

Being a Bajan and not only that spending most of my formative years in England Pepperpot was not one of the dishes that I associated with Christmas.  Then I thought it was a Jamaican thing only to be royally informed that its a Guyanese 'ting', well whoever 'ting' it is it's now well and truly part of my Christmas preparations.

Although it is very much a meat dish, I have successfully prepared it using Blue Marlin fish which lends itself well to the long cooking process without falling apart.  One of the key ingredients for this dish is Cassareep.  Find out more about Cassareep and how it is made here.


You can check out a good recipe and guide to making pepperpot on this page

I also came across a very interesting book aptly called The Pepperpot Club: A Celebration of Caribbean Cuisine which not only has a very good pepperpot recipe but is a very good read as it chronicles the life of Jonathon Phang and his family during their time living in London and the many family and friends and occasions for eating that inevitably occurred.

It's Christmas in my Caribbean Land

Like most places around the world it will soon be Christmas in my Caribbean land.  Christmas takes on a different atmosphere in the Caribbean, not least because the season is usually associated with cold winter weather and not tropical sunshine.  To compensate the evening temperatures at this time of the year do tend to drop low enough to warrant the use of a sweater.

I'm  used to not getting into the full swing of Christmas until after November 30th, Barbados Independence Day and even though I'm not there I haven't gotten out of the habit yet.  However  that's not to say that some form of preparation hasn't started: for one thing since October the fruit for the Great Cake has been "setting" in its port wine with a hint of rum.  The sorrel and pigeon peas have either been bought and put up or are  on order and the butcher knows whats required to make the pepperpot just right.

 Music is also very much  part of the Christmas season from the traditional carols to the more local songs, carols, calypsos and parang. The Merrymen have been one of my favorite groups since I was a child and their album Caribbean Christmas Party is one of my favorites.