Seafood
Being surrounded by the ocean in the characteristic island fashion, with numerous bays,
cays and coral reefs, as well as the more protected waters of the Sir Francis Drake
Channel, the BVI has an astonishing variety and abundance of fresh local seafood. Anegada's North Drop, off the undersea
plateau underlying the islands, is world famous for game fishing in addition to supplying
BVI tables.
Lobster. Actually a large crayfish without claws
but with a large, succulent tail, lobster is a favorite. Often from Anegada's
ten-mile-long
 Horseshoe Reef, lobster is served on Anegada
(barbecued for dinner at the Anegada
Reef Hotel and boiled for lunch at the Big
Bamboo) and throughout the islands as main entree (Rum Runner Lobster
Tail at your own villa by private
chef, Catalana Style at Giorgio's
Table or Lobster Bahamian at the Bitter
End Clubhouse), chowder (house specialty at Myett's),
etc. At Jost Van Dyke's Little Harbour,
there is almost a competition to serve the best lobster between Sydney's Peace and Love, Abe's By The Sea, and Harris' Place. On St.
Croix in the USVI, Hendrick's serves Caribbean
Lobster Spring Rolls with Crisp Leeks and Red Curry-Honey Dipping Sauce.
Conch. Don't miss the perfect snack or companion
to cocktails--conch fritters! Conch (pronounced "conk") must be tenderized and,
similar to the clam, is found as chowder (Myett's),
stewed (Jolly Roger and Quito's Gazebo), stuffed in ravioli with
banana-lemon chutney (Tradewinds
Restaurant), stuffed in mushrooms (Callaloo
restaurant), in salads (Sebastian's on
the Beach) and with pasta in parsley sauce (Sugar
Mill).
The conch shell, used by sailors as a fog or signal horn, is widely treasured for its
beauty and, like oysters, for the use of its contents as an aphrodisiac (don't get any
ideas). See Queen Conch for more
information about this fine creature in nature.
Whelk. The local name for the West Indian Top snail, whelk is the marine equivalent
to escargot, and is prepared the same classic way--steamed (in sea water) and served with
garlic butter. Or Grilled in a
Garlic Butter Sauce. Or in rotis (Roti Palace).
Land Crabs. A land dweller, the land crab is fed
bread and spices before becoming a delicacy with its very delicate flavor, prepared and
stuffed back in its shell in crabes farcies in the French Antilles.
Fish. Blue
water fish, caught locally at Anegada's
North Drop for BVI tables, include swordfish (grilled at C&F), tuna, spearfish (related to
marlin--broiled down into a butter sauce at Nepture's Treasure), wahoo (grilled
at Brandywine Bay) and mahimahi.
Steakfish are traditionally grilled, often after being marinated beforehand or covered
with a sauce, or other topping afterward, or baked, very traditionally in banana leaves
(see recipe) or parchment
paper (stewed Red Snapper Papillote at Chez
Bamboo) and even foil, or broiled.
Other fish commonly served include grouper, triggerfish, yellowtail snapper (fried at Da Wedding, chef's
recipe) and king mackerel. Fish, of course, is served in an infinite variety of ways
from from haute cuisine to West Indian style, which often involves an Creole sauce on top (Quito's Gazebo).
Flying Fish. Sleek, silver-blue fish with
fins that resemble dragonfly wings, flying fish, to the delight of sailors, propel
themselves in the air at speeds up to 30 mph to escape predators. A specialty of Barbados
and part of its national emblem, flying fish is lightly breaded, pan-fried and served as
"Flying Fish Bajan (Barbadian) Style" throughout the region. Or Seared with Smoked Beef Glaze at Biras
Creek.
Salt Fish. Salting was originally a method of
preserving food, especially for long ocean voyages. Salt fish, occasionally mackerel but
usually cod, is popular throughout the Caribbean. Salt fish is found as a special at the Virgin Queen or as the Salt Fish Spring
Rolls appetiser by Chef Richard Buttafuso of the Sugar
Mill).
Stamp and Go. Jamaica's saltfish (or
codfish) fritters, called Stamp and Go (recipe), an
island form of "fast food," is made from a batter of soaked, cooked, skinned and
flaked saltfish, with scallions, chiles, and tomato, fried in coconut oil until golden
brown (Islands at Sugar Mill). Acras
is a French Caribbean variation using corn oil and different seasonings. Balalaitos is
a Puerto Rican variation.
Fish Fry. The closest thing in the BVI to the
Jamaican "hut" scene is Apple Bay's Friday and Saturday night "Fish
Fry." At Little Apple Bay where
Zion Hill Road meets Tortola's North Beach Coast, delicious fish is to be had from
roadside stands. Also, local fisherman Poui has a fish fry at Da Wedding in Cane Garden Bay.
Blaff. In the French Antilles, "poached"
fish called Blaff earns its name from the sound made when dropped in the boiling
water with spices added (see recipe).
Drinks
Rum. Distinctive of the Caribbean in general, rum is
said to have been brought by Columbus from the Canary Islands. In a weakened form called grog, rum fueled the British
Navy. Once called Kill Devil, rum was an integral part of the sugar plantation trade.
Now each island has its favorites and many produce their own varieties. Amber Barbados
rum has a fine brandy-like aroma good as a mixer. Family run distilleries like
Guadeloupe's rhum agricole produce rums that, when aged resemble fine Cognacs.
Light Puerta Rico rums like Bicardi fueled the pina colada created there and can be
substituted for many liquors.
Rum is still distilled from sugarcane in the BVI (Callwood Rum Distillery). Widely used as
a flavoring agent in cooking, such as rum cheesecake (The Garden) and French toasted muffins (Crewed Charter Scubada), rum is most famous in
drinks, such as rum punches and the pina colada ( Mad Dog Bar at Virgin Gorda-The Baths).
Rum Punch. Aptly named, the traditional
Caribbean rum "punch" has 1 "sour" ounce of lime juice, 2
"sweet" teaspoons of honey, 3 "strong" ounces of dark rum, and 4
"weak" ounces of crushed ice, plus a grating of nutmeg. Versions of the rum
punch abound from island to bartender.
Painkiller. A famous BVI drink, the
Painkiller originated at the Soggy Dollar Bar at White Bay on Jost Van Dyke. This frozen
delight is made (strongly) from dark rum (often Pusser's), pineapple juice (4 parts),
orange juice ( 1 part), and Coco Lopez (1 part sweetened cream of coconut) with
fresh nutmeg ground on top.
Bushwhacker. From the old Pirate's Pub of
Bert Kilbride's, now "The Rock,"
is this recipe: equal parts Vodka, Dark Rum, Frangellico, Amaretto (a little less of
this), Creme de Cacao, Kahlua and Bailey's Irish Creme, then blend with ice until the
consistency of a milk shake (from Gary Kunkel).
Smoothies. Smoothies are another popular
drink. Here's a recipe from the self-service
beach bar at the Anegada Reef Hotel for Anegada smoothies:
- 12 oz. dark rum
- 24 oz. (2 12 oz. cans) guava nectar
- 3 oz pineapple juice (1/2 a small can)
- � oz. grenadine syrup
- 3 oz cream of coconut
- Lightly sprinkle with freshly grated nutmeg
Ok, this is more than one drink. So who's counting?
ting. From Jamaica, ting is a
refreshing citrus drink with a grapefruit taste (held by Lorraine at Elm's). Also, from Jamaica is Ginger Beer, a lively,
non-alcoholic soda based on ginger.
Meat
Beef. Roast beef (English Carvery at the Bitter End) is very popular in the islands. Other beef
dishes include Her Majesty's West Indian Regimental Beef Curry (recipe) in honor of those West Indians who served
in World War II (Sugar Mill).
Pub Food. This British colony is especially fond of
pubs where plentiful selections of beer and ale, steak and kidney pie (English Pub), fish and chips (Virgin Queen), meat pies (Pusser's Pub) and even dart boards are
found. Sailors have been known to kick back a brew and tell lies.
Pork. Introduced by the Spainards, wild hogs were
hunted by the Arawaks. Pig roasts are very popular in the islands (Ali Baba's).
Doved Pork. Another favorite is
"doved" pork (Netty's Diner). Doved
means it's browned first and cooked in a sauce.
Goat. Goats are well adapted to the hilly terrain
and arid climate of the islands and you will see goat on many menus, often curried, as in rotis. Goat milk, of course, can be used to make goat
cheese, which the Greeks call Feta cheese in the classic Greek salad.
Goat Water. When goat is stewed in
the BVI, the resulitng dish is referred to as "goat water" (Da Wedding). See recipe at West Indian Curry.
Sides
Rice and Peas. Rice and beans in the BVI
are called rice and peas (accompaniment at Myett's),
short for pigeon peas, otherwise known as Congo peas or gungoo peas, which originated in
Africa.
Many beans are eaten in the Caribbean, often with rice as in moros y cristianos
from Cuba, where black beans are ascendent as in most Spanish cooking. In Jamaica, kidney
beans are preferred.
Rice is very popular in the Caribbean and sold in large sacks in stores. A nice balance
to spicy dishes like curries, rice is frequently served as an accompaniment to chicken (arrozo
y pollo) and fish, often with a West Indian sauce
on top.
Fungi. Derived from the West African mash, fungi
(or funghi) is a cornmeal-based side dish, known as coocoo in Barbados
and foofoo elsewhere in the Caribbean. Its upscape cousin is the Italian
polenta, except coconut milk replaces the water at the Bitter End's Clubhouse Restaurant.
A corn meal based local side dish, fungi is made from "scratch," or ad hoc,
usually with added okra, onions, sweet peppers, etc. See recipe.
Fungi also gives its name to the indigenous BVI musical style, a combination of instruments likewise
"cooked up" to become a "scratch," or fungi band, especially if
consisting of assorted homemade instruments, like washboards or gourds.
Roti. First brought to Trinidad by East Indians,
roti is a sandwich-like "wrap" (Roti Palace) consisting of a curry
wrapped in a crepe-like bread as well as the bread itself. See East Indies Curry recipes and roti-related recipes here.
Pantry Flavors
Condiments. Chutneys and hot pepper
sauces are two popular condiments that may accompany Caribbean meals.
Chutney. Along with the curries brought by East
Indians comes its perfect culinary accomplice-- chutney-- to somehow balance the hot,
spicy flavor. Strangely, the sweet and sour nature of chutney does the same when made with
sweet tropical fruits, especially everyone's favorite, mango chutney (served with rotis at
Roti Palace). Other chutney
varieties include pineapple- coconut (Pam's
Kitchen), papaya (Sunny Caribbee)
and banana- lemon (with conch ravioli at Tradewinds).
Hot Pepper Sauces. Traditionally used
fresh, peppers (chilies), beginning with the Arawaks, have also been made into hot pepper
sauces of all kinds (hot pepper relish at Pam's
Kitchen) throughout the Caribbean, generally based on the Scotch Bonnet and bird
peppers as in jerk seasoning.
Scotch Bonnet Pepper. Called wiri wiri
in Jamaica, the Scotch Bonnet is grown and used in the Caribbean. Like a lantern-shaped
walnut in a rainbow of colors, and distinguished by its namesake wrinkled crown, the fiery
hot Scotch Bonnet scorches the tongue, occupying the top of the pepper heat scale
with the related, but distinct, Mexican habanero
used in the Americas. See more here, especially
on handling this pepper.
Seasonings. Locally called seasonings,
bouquets of thyme,
parsley and other herbs, together with trays of spices and other wonders are sold in open
air markets throughout the Caribbean baskets. See more on Seasonings and their use here.
Also, packaged seasonings can be purchased from Sunny Caribbee's Road Town shop on Main
Street.
Coriander or Cilantro. Known as coriander in
the Spanish Caribbean and as Chinese parsley in Asia, cilantro is a widespread term for
referring to its lacy green and heavily aromatic fresh leaves (which do not dry well).
However, its seeds are often called coriander, their sweet musky fragrance conveying the
herb's aroma, especially notable in Indian mixed spices such as curry powder.
 Seasoned
Salt. Salt is still harvested and sold at Salt
Island in the BVI. Once an important stop for the British Royal Navy, salt-based
curing (see salt fish) and seasoning is still
practiced in the British and U.S Virgin Islands and elsewhere. Here is a recipe for seasoned salt from Maverick Sea
Fare (see review).
Sauces. Along with seasonings and condiments,
sauces impact the flavor of any food, and island sauces come in a blizzard of styles, from
Spainish salsas to tropical fruit-based glazes to West Indian or Creole sauces.
Sauces may be differentiated based on mix or exclusion of stock
(broth), flour, cream, rum, greens, okra, tomato and chile peppers as well as that whole separate flavoring agenda--fats and oils such as butter, bacon and peanut
oil.
West Indian Sauce. One basic Creole or
West Indian sauce may be made by "flavoring" butter or other cooking oil by
saut�ing onion, garlic, chile peppers and other items in it, then adding red and green
bell peppers, tomatoes and seasonings, often adding homemade broth (see recipe). Sometimes everything
is cooked at once, often with the main entree.
Stock (Broth). In professional hotel cooking,
stock was made utilizing rigorous procedures in what was the basis of classical French
sauces, and thereby the underpinnings of this magnificent cuisine.
Homemade Broth. Now more informally
called broth, homemade stock is created in traditional island cooking, by
boiling and simmering chicken, meat or fish bones (or crustacean shell), down to a lively,
enveloping medium for a sauce or soup. Flavor is enhanced by adding a
bouquet of seasonings as well as vegetables like celery and onion.
See Mrs. Scatliffe's Coconut
Chicken.
Salsa. In Caribbean cooking, sauce may be called salsa,
the Spainish term, and may refer to condiments like a hot pepper sauce, often added as an
ingredient, as well as an accompanying stage in the cooking, sometimes served as a
separate dish (see recipes).
Salsa can refer to various sauces or, more strictly, that brightly decorative condiment
based on colorful yellow and red bell peppers in lime juice or vinegar with onions,
tomatoes, chile peppers and seasonings. Instead of tomatoes or lettuce, island
countries favor salsas (and salads) with tropical fruits, beans and avocados, whose
"spices" paradoxically counteract the climate's heat and humidity.
Sofrito. In Puerto Rico, Sofrito is a
condiment-like sauce used in many ways (sofrito grilled bread recipe--
using saffron for annatto), much like Creole
sauce varied with coriander (cilantro) and other seasonings, to which salt pork and ham is
traditionally added to make the full dish.
Fats & Oils. The cooking oil of
choice in the Caribbean is coconut oil from the coconut palm. The
less saturated peanut oil is also very popular here and in many
parts of the world, notable also for its ability to hold up under high heat.
Annatto Oil. The coloring agent of cheddar
cheese, annatto, also called achiote, seeds are used in the Caribbean to
color cooking oils and rice as a bright yellow-orange substitute for saffron. See infused
oils. Add chile peppers for some heat.
Folk Art Garnish. Stick the annatto oil
in a plastic squeeze bottle, and garnish dishes coulis-like with its beautiful color and
delicate flavor. Instead of decorating with "cuisine" abstract patterns,
squirt-draw some cooking folk art and drag a line through it to indicate motion (see
a Callaloo example). This also
works well with fruit purees and condiments, especially chutneys.
Torch. Naturally,
in an open-to-the-outdoor tropical climate, barbecuing is very popular, using charcoal and
fires often made from local wood, which contributes its distinctive flavor. Instead of
pimento wood, a wood from Anegada aptly called torch is used
(for Smoked Parrotfish and Blue Marlin at the Bitter End's Clubhouse).
Fruits
The tropics are naturally bursting with an abundance of fruits.
Mango. This peach-like
sticky sweet sensation is seen being sucked on throughout the islands when its leafy
branches become heavy with this summer scented fruit. Mango appears as fruit, beverage,
cocktail (Mango Bellini at Capriccio di Mare), desert (mango cheesecake, a
specialty at Spaghetti Junction),
entree (Mango Chicken at Fisher's Cove Restaurant) and chutney (Pam's Kitchen).
Coconut. That trademark of the tropics,
the coconut palm produces a young and green
nut that can be tapped as a refreshing drink. The familiar brown appearance represents the
mature and dry stage of the coconut when the flavor goes into the white meat on the inside
of the shell and makes it sweeter.
Coconut water is made by squeezing through a cheesecloth a mixture of grated coconut
meat and boiling water. Coconut cream results from letting the milk stand and separate.
One of the most versatile tropical fruits, coconut is widely used to make coconut
chips, as a ingredient in baking, such as coconut bread (Cline's Bakery), as the cooking oil of choice for
the Caribbean (and for U.S. theatre popcorn), in drinks such as pina coladas (Pusser's Porch Grill) and as a distinctive entree item,
such as Chicken & Coconut (Mrs.
Scatliffe's) or Coconut Shrimp (Deadman's Beach Bar & Grill).
Pineapple. We forget that the pineapple, now
so usual, was once considered so exotic that sea captains would stick it on their front
fences when back home in temperate climes as a decorative sign of hospitality. An
indigenous fruit used by the Awawaks, delicious with avacado, papaya, and banana,
pineapple is extensively used in everything from salads to deserts (pies at Cline's Bakery).
Bananas. A staple of Caribbean cuisine, these
bunch fruits of the banana tree come in
many varieties, from tiny finger bananas (figis) to large, black-skinned plantains.
Usually regarded as a vegetable, the larger plantains are cooked green or ripe, as a
starch and a traditional accompaniment to meats as well as fried to make plaintain chips.
The more familiar banana also is cooked green as a vegetable in many variations, and is
often boiled for breakfast in Jamaica. The ripe banana is found in everything from bread
and pastry, french toast (Peter
Island), drinks (Jolly Roger), curried
soup (Sugar Mill), chutney
and jam, and deserts, most famously as flambee with rum (a favorite of Napolean
Bonapate). In addition, the banana leaf is traditionally used to wrap food for cooking in
the place of parchment paper or foil.
Limes. Brought to the Caribbean by Columbus, limes
are inevitable as a flavoring, garnish, and, as ceviche, a method, in itself, of
"cooking" or marinating seafood in lime juice, such as Conch
"Souse" Salad (Bitter End
Clubhouse).
Vegetables
Tamarind. This tropical tree looks like a
locust treee with 3-6" long brown bulbous pods, whose date-like pulp is used to make
tamarind nectar, a fruit-drink concentrate that makes a refreshing, tart drink and
furnishes the principal ingredient of Worcestershire sauce.
Breadfruit. Brought to the Caribbean by the
famous Captain Bligh from Tahiti, breadfruit is a cannonball shaped vegetable (see drawing) with the bland
taste and versatile use of a potato (Char- Roasted Baked or
Mashed recipe).
Eggplant. Available all year, the very tender
Caribbean eggplant is a small lavender or white vegetable.
Christophene. Of a delicate flavor similar
to light summer squash, Christophene, known as chayote in California, is a slightly
prickly, pale green, pear-shaped vegetable (with Seared Red Snapper in a Creole Sauce at The Pavilion).
Roots
Ground Provisions. These
gnarled denizens of the earth have a confused nomenclature to detract from their sex
appeal, but nonetheless provide competition for the omnipresent potato, with its pommes
frites or french fries conquering the world through the "fast food" and its
notorious culinary companion, the "hamburger." But I digress. See ground provisions under
Island Farming.
Cassava. An indigenous root used by the Arawaks,
cassava has many uses. The delicious cassava (also called yuca) bread, with its slightly
nutty taste, is the traditional bread of the Caribbean (Grilled Garlic Cassava Bread
recipe), called pain de kassav (recipe) by French-speaking Haitians
and pan de casabe by the Spanish Caribbean. Cassava is also used to make Jamaican
flatcakes, called bammie.
Tannia. Also known as malanga in Cuba and yautia
in Puerto Rico, tannia is fabulous as fried tannia chips.
Peanuts. Eaten whole, sometimes roasted, as an
appetiser, peanuts in the Caribbean often are ground to flavor everything from soups to
deserts.
Deserts
As you might imagine, deserts abound in the Caribbean with
the combination of tropical fruits and exotic spices. Shops carry sweets such as brown
sugar fudges, candied tropical fruits, coconut- based sweets, and crystallized ginger.
Fruit "cheese," such as mango or guava , is a
jellylike paste made form boiling down the fruit pulp with sugar and sometimes gelatin.
Chocolate. From
cocoa beans brought to the Old World by Columbus, a chocolate craze swept Europe in the
17th century, when chocolate houses appeared, like coffee houses today, after the Spanish
added sugar, cinnamon and vanilla to create an "ambrosial" drink.
Logs, rolls and bars of roasted and ground
"bittersweet" chocolate appear in Caribbean markets.
Vanilla. A gift of
the new world, this climbing orchid produces an fleshy, oily pod, 6-9" long, called
the vanilla bean. Often split lengthwise, vanilla beans can be put in a bottle of rum as a
Vanilla Rum flavoring agent.
 Cookbook. This
extraordinary cookbook is one of the primary resources for this article. See review of The
Sugar Mill Caribbean Cookbook: Casual and Elegant Recipes Inspired by the Islands.
Basically, the Sugar Mill restaurant has created a tradition from many years of fusing
the best of international cooking with exotic, tropical elements-- a process that has been
going on in the Caribbean for a very long time-- in contrast to the short period of
experimentation in contemporary cuisine.
Now. The difficult, undecipherable, fattening sauces
of the old, predominately French, hotel and upscale restaurant cuisine have long since
given way to the "nouvelle cuisine" with its emphasis on healthier food and
fresh, local ingredients.
And Italian restaurants (Calamaya)
stepped in to provide that cuisine with "provincial" dishes emphsizing fresh
seafood, cafe style expresso drinks and especially delicious pastas as the modern starch
of choice.
The trends have been anything but consistent. After the emphasis on minimally cooked
vegetables, there has been a resurgence of traditional "long simmered"
stews, for instance.
Now there is an overall emphasis on international "ethnic" elements, such as
Moroccan from the middle east or that ironically American regional variety of French
exported provincal--Cajun.
Cajun's key technique, "blackened" fish is totally spice-driven, with the
fish's coating of spices applied directly to a bare hot skillet to give the fish a
"char" similar to certain barbecue styles.
Other regional foods such as from the southern and southwestern U.S. are now seen as
"ethnic" and interesting on the world cooking stage.
International influences from the Far East especially, where that other major culinary
tradition, the classic Chinese cuisine, similarly to the French, has been supplemented by
first Indian and then Thai, Vietnamese and other national or ethnic foods.
So we see on Great Chefs of the World, from Tortola's Sugar Mill Restaurant,
the appetiser Saltfish Spring Rolls--the vibrant Vietnamese replacement for the dowdy
Chinese egg roll with a tropical twist.
Cuisine has gone international in the search for taste sensations and, literally,
everything under the sun is tried, including long forgotten "greens" and wild
plants.
In the islands, tropical fruits, roots, and a bewildering range of ingredients and
techniques from around the world can help provide the basis for a new
"classical" cuisine, that delights the tastebuds in light, healthy combinations,
such as pasta with conch sauce or curried banana soup, that only an international cultural
crossroads like the Caribbean may engender with its long traditions in integrating the
international and the exotic.
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