Strutters! (A Chicken Foot Souse)

Two shopping trips ago, I picked up a packet of lovely fresh cut chicken feet with the intention to turn them into “strutters”, the local name for one of this country’s famous street foods, the Chicken Foot Souse.

Traditionally made from bits of the pig (trotters, ears, etc,) a souse is a simple kind of… well… a pickle of sorts. It’s got limes, cucumbers, peppers, chives and a whole lot of other goodies in there that make for an almost sweet/hot/sour taste that is truly unique. I know that this kind of thing isn't everyone's cup of tea, but my Grandmother loved making this, especially for the liquid, and it's a taste that's part of my childhood.

Now, I’ve tried and tasted lots of different souses over the years, and much as I love pork, I really prefer the ones made from chicken feet. I know… it sounds weird to snack on feet, but trust me, at this time of year (Carnival Season), it’s a truly popular street food, and the souse vendors love to set up their stalls just opposite to St. James’ most famous bar, Smokey and Bunty.   

You know, I’ve even heard rumours that a good souse can even kill the effects of a hangover… (no wonder they're close to the drinking hubs!) Anyhoo, here's how the process went down...

First, the feet were carefully washed in water with the juice of two limes, then drained.

Next, with a very sharp knife, the toe tips were removed, along with the foot pad - Errol came to assist since I couldn't man the camera and do this part, hahahaa!

Now for the fun part… sorting and choosing the vegetables that go into it. Here are 4 limes, 2 or 3 pimento peppers, garlic – used about 3 cloves, 1 habanero pepper, chives, local celery, chadon beni (culantro), 2 cucumbers, an onion and a piece of ginger (which ended up not being needed after all).

I seasoned the chicken feet with lime juice, the 2 chopped garlic cloves, a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of chopped chadon beni and a couple dashes of Angostura bitters.

Added about 6 cups of water and mixed everything well, then I let it marinate for about 15 minutes.

I put everything in my saucepan on medium high heat, then I split a pimento pepper in half and dropped it in for some extra flavour. I brought it to a rolling boil (occasionally skimming off the impurities from the top), then scaled it back to a gentle simmer and let it go for about 20 minutes, then checked it for taste and seasoning. I added in a little more salt and an optional teaspoon of sugar, then let it cook for another 10 minutes until the meat changed colour and softened.

While that was happening I got busy chopping and slicing up the rest of the veggies, including the cucumbers - which my boy was busily chopping!

So, after the feet were boiled, I removed them from the pot and placed them in a bowl. (Threw the water out: it did its job.)

In went the sliced onions, chopped celery, chive and chadon beni, plus the sliced pimento peppers.

The habanero pepper was carefully cut, minus seeds, then added to the meat. How much you want to use all depends on your tolerance for it, but I've known some people actually put the whole pepper in there. :-)

My boy poured in 2 to 3 cups of tap water one by one until the water almost covered it up. Then it was seasoned again with some juice from the last lime, a little more salt and then in went the sliced cucumbers.

Gave it a good toss up with the tongs…

Then we let it sit for about 20 minutes so all those flavours could meld together.

Voila! Chicken Foot Souse!

I know that the presentation isn't all that here in my little bowl, but when you purchase your serving from the vendors on the street, the feet are placed upright in a medium sized Styrofoam cup, then the liquid is poured on and a few cucumber slices rest in the centre of it. (Trust me, it really looks good that way.)

Anyway, time for me to relax and think up some more dishes to show you, so until next we meet, take care of yourselves, and don’t forget to mind the pot. ;-)

Holiday Ham and Eggs

It's official. The last of the Christmas ham is gone forever...

Last year, as we always do, the Christmas ham was bought and baked on Christmas Eve. The difference was that it was probably the smallest ham we ever brought into the house. Why? I'm the only one in the house that still eats pork, and for that reason alone, it took a little longer to finish. That’s okay. It’s the “other white meat”, right? 

And much as I still love the smell of a baked ham studded with cloves (or just on its own) on Christmas day, I also love having it with my scrambled eggs, which is a tradition that my late grandmother started long before I was born. She also loved making stewed pork and sometimes she even cured her own ham and beef. I'm glad  that she left me her stewed pork recipe (which I hope to share on this forum someday), but for now, I’m even happier to be able to share this simple treatment of Holiday Ham and Eggs. 

Started with the ham by cutting off the remaining meat and I chopped up about a ¼ cupful.

Then I got ½ a shallot (ran out of onions), 1 blade of chive and half a chadon beni (culantro) leaf.  I also cut a sliver of red hot pepper (cuz I like it hot).

After cracking and lightly beating 2 eggs I heated a little table margarine in the frying pan, then added all the shallot, half the chive and the piece of hot pepper. In went the ham, then I poured on the beaten eggs.

Started stirring it, then I sprinkled on the chopped chadon beni and the remainder of the chive, plus a little black pepper.

All done. I’m not the type that likes runny eggs at all, so if it looks brown in places, that’s definitely on purpose.

Put it in my favourite dish to cool a bit and worked on heating up some hops bread… yup… gotta eat a breakfast like this with hops!

Voila! Holiday Ham and Eggs on a toasted hops bread with some tomato... perfect!  (Don't forget those extra pieces of ham - just for nibbling!)

Bite in… you know you want to!

 

As you can see, I had to put a little bit on a teeny piece of bread and take a quick taste… Those eggs were so delicious to me, just the right texture, firm yet giving, and the combination of the herby, salty and peppery goodness was just the perfect breakfast taste.

Here’s to great beginnings, my friends. Until next time, like I always say…

Don’t forget to mind the pot!

An Apology, Gratitude and a Promise

This morning I was about to write a post on Facebook saying that I had so many work based writing assignments to do today. Wistfully, I thought of this little cooking blog of mine that I began in 2011 and how it has given others so many smiles and literal food for thought, and it hit me that it was suffering for some attention. 

Beef and Spincah Lasagna with garlic peas and tomato salad.

Imagine, my blog’s anniversary was January 2^nd. What did I do to honour that?

Nothing. *sniff-sniff*

Yes, folks, I have broken one of the many rules of blogging, which is, ‘be consistent, and post regularly’, but not without good reason.

I have been working harder than the Energizer bunny at my 10 to 6 (and sometimes 9 and 10), doing everything that is asked of me; when the weekends come I am too tired to even post. Since starting my new job at the paper, “me time” is being slowly eaten away as I fulfil my duties. Even now, as I have a ton of stories to write and copy to edit, I can’t help but think about the scads of food photos I’ve taken that are waiting to be sorted and edited, but my eyes and brain are needed elsewhere, especially with the upcoming Carnival season on our heels and those special publications continuing to call. 

My take on Greek Salad

I will tell you all that it has been a good year for this toddler of a food blogger, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I met and made friends some wonderful people including Cynthia Nelson of Tastes Like Home fame and become food buddies with the writers of Chennete, Trini Gourmet, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Punch, Simply TriniCooking and Caribbean Pot. I follow the exploits of BITTT (Bring it To The Table) with Baidawi and Quincy and I am thankful and happy for their dedication to showing what's happening out there locally with food competitions and expos. My buddy Marc Muneal, an Assistant Professor at Gordon GA University even included a little excerpt from my posting on callaloo in his guest post Caribbean Creole meets Sub Continental Indian on his friend Roopsi Risam’s Gourmet PhD blog recently. (Thanks again Marc!) 

Sharing a smile as I get my autographed copy of Tastes Like Home from fellow food blogger and writer, Cynthia Nelson.

In between, good friends and strangers have written me to ask questions and leave wonderful comments. Some have asked me to do certain dishes for them on this forum and I have promised them that I would, but yet, the time is not there. (I ask that you please forgive me, I have not forgotten you. They will come.) 

Preparing dough for my fried fish pies...

The daily grind has turned me into powder. Some days it is coarse. Other times it is fine. But in all this mess, I need to stay whole, and keep my love of cooking at the head of my table. It is funny how the brain works sometimes, because in the middle of all this, I have been brainstorming a couple of new blog ideas. Soon, my dears… I will release them soon.

Marble Bundt Cake

The best thing that has happened in this truly eventful year of food blogging is that my cookbook, my how-many-years-long labour of love, is finally done. The writing part is over and the next phase is soon to begin and I’ll be working on a few drawings now to accompany my treasure.

Chicken Meatballs with Tomato sauce, served on Spaghetti

So, I shall end this, my first unofficial post for 2012 by saying “thank you” to everyone that has come to this spot by way of searching for a solution or are curious about Trini cooking, because I just can’t do this without you – you do know that, right?

I’ll now leave you with the promise that “Come Taste This!” will get going again (very) soon. When, you ask? Well, it could be tomorrow.... 

*wink*

Until then, take good care of yourselves, and like I always say… don’t forget to mind the pot.