Caribbean food is pretty underrated. The Caribbean is known for its beautiful beaches, hot sun and beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, the food isn’t a hot topic. In this post, we wanted to let these 5 best Caribbean dishes shine. Hopefully you will be craving them at the end.
Jerk chicken
When anyone thinks about Caribbean food, they automatically think about jerk chicken.
Jerk is a Jamaican method of cooking which consists of grilling meat. The meat is marinated using a dry or wet jerk seasoning. You cannot have jerk chicken/meat without jerk seasoning.
In order to make jerk seasoning, you need a mix of allspice, scotch bonnet pepper, cinnamon, scallions, cloves, thyme, garlic and/or brown sugar. Once blended together and you end up with jerk seasoning.
After the meat is seasoned, it is grilled. Africans used pit fires to grill the meats but nowadays, a regular charcoal grill is used and/or a jerk pan.
If you want a good jerk, we recommend checking out jerk stands in Jamaica or other islands.
Check out some of our jerk recipes: Jerk Chicken Tacos, Jerk Beef Meatball Subs, Baked Jerk Plantain Chips, Mango Jerk chicken Burger.
Ackee & Saltfish
It is considered to be the non-official national dish of Jamaica because of how much it is consumed.
Ackee and Saltfish is a Jamaican breakfast dish. Ackee is a fruit which is grown in the Caribbean. The interior of the ackee is consumed and cooked down with saltfish.
In order to make this dish, the fruit has to be fully ripe. If the fruit isn’t ripe, it can be very dangerous. Because of the danger of an unripe ackee, some countries have banned it from being sold commercially. In spite of that danger, ackee is still widely consumed by most Jamaicans.
Once the saltfish is boiled down, it is sautéed with the ackee along with onions, garlic, tomatoes and scotch bonnet pepper.
Johnny Cakes/Fried Bake/Floats
So each island has a different name for this dish but it is famous on each island.
Johnny Cakes, most famously known as fried bakes or even floats, are a fried bread. The main ingredients are flour, salt, water, and/or cornmeal, sugar and butter.
They are versatile, they can be stuffed and be eaten as a sandwich or it can be enjoyed as a side. It is famously served along saltfish or meats, mostly barbecued meats.
Pepperpot
Pepperpot is the national dish of Guyana. Basically, it is stewed down meat, mostly beef/pork or mutton, that has been flavored with cinnamon and cassareep.
Cassareep is a thick black sauce that comes from the cassava root, it is mostly used as a flavoring and browning agent. In order to get that vibrant dark, black-ish color, you must use cassareep.
Usually, pepperpot is served during the holidays or for a very special occasion. It is enjoyed with either homemade or store-brought bread or roti. The best part of pepperpot is that it is primarily enjoyed for several days.
Although Guyana is the birthplace of this dish, other Caribbean islands have their own version. Other islands include: Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, St-Vincent & the Grenadines, Grenada and Antigua( they serve it with fungee).
Stewed saltfish, coconut dumplings, plantain & breadfruit
St-Kitts & Nevis is the birthplace of this delicious dish. Usually this dish doesn’t make the list of the best Caribbean dishes, but we wanted to include it. The reason why we included this dish is simply because it is the most underrated one in the Caribbean.
This dish is said to be national dish of the island. And we get why, it is really delicious and filling.
Coconut dumplings are typically what you will get, but some people tend to go for regular dumplings or some try cassava dumplings. In addition to the saltfish, boiled plantain is served and breadfruit. If there isn’t any breadfruit then other vegetables are added.
Check out our coconut dumpling recipe: Coconut Dumplings
Thank you for checking out these 5 best Caribbean dishes.