Authentic Recipes from Jamaica

by John DeMers, Eduardo Fuss (Photographer)

Cook delicious, authentic Jamaican food with this easy-to-follow Jamaican cookbook.

Jamaica is the mountainous Caribbean island famed for its coffee and its beaches. But with its abundance of homegrown ingredients and its many cultural influences, it has developed a remarkable cuisine all its own. To visit the Jamaican kitchen is to discover the sumptuous flavors of spicy jerk pork, sweet tropical juices, complex curries and sumptuous desserts.

This cookbook offers the island's best recipes—both the traditional and the new—from Jamaica's hottest chefs and restaurants, including Norma Shirley of Norma at the Wharfhouse, Everett Wilkerson of the Sans Souci Lido and James Palmer at Strawberry Hill.

Authentic Recipes from Jamaica presents over 60 full-color recipes with photographs shot on location. Lively essays by food writers John DeMers and Norma Benghiat on the island's culture and history, explanations of particular ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes make this the most complete guide to Jamaican cuisine you'll find.

Jamaican recipes include:
Pepperpot
Baked Plantains
Pepper Shrimp
Ginger Tamarind Chicken
Spinach Salad with Breadfruit Chips
Sweet Potato Pone
Jamaican Limeade

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking

112 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2005

About the author

John DeMers was born in New Orleans and has spent the past 30 years traveling in the Caribbean, feeling a certain kinship between his hometown and the Afro-French-Spanish world he has claimed as his spiritual home. His 37 published books include titles such as Caribbean Cooking, The Food of Jamaica and Caribbean Desserts. Together John and Dominique Macquet are the authors of the nationally successful Dominique's Fresh Flavors. For several years, John DeMers served as editor of Texas Foodlover magazine. Today he lives in Houston and concentrates on his weekly food and wine radio show, Delicious Mischief. A longtime reporter and editor for United Press International, John has written from 136 foreign countries.

Series:
* Brett Baldwin Mystery

Reviews

[Missy J · Rating 4 out of 5]

2017 Jamaica Challenge #3: The National Fruit of Jamaica is............the Ackee!




I read this cookbook as part of my Jamaica challenge for 2017. This cookbook was an excellent introduction to Jamaican cuisine. I have never tasted Jamaican food before and many of the ingredients listed in this cookbook (for instance ackee) are non-existent where I live. But I learned a lot from this book.

John DeMers starts out with the history of the island and what types of fruits/vegetables/plants are indigenous to the island and what not. Pineapple is native to Jamaica, but nowadays Jamaicans eat many fruits and vegetables that were introduced by the many immigrants to this island nation. Breadfruit for instance is actually from the Pacific and ackee is from West Africa that was brought on slave ships to Jamaica. Ackee and saltfish is the national dish of Jamaica. When slavery was abolished, a lot of indentured laborers from China and India came to the island. In particular the Indians captivated the island with their curries and their preference of goat meat. The famous jerk pork/chicken was invented as a survival cooking technique among the Maroon communities (runaway slaves) in the mountains of Jamaica! The author also introduces the history of Rastafarianism (i-tal diet), Jamaican rum and Blue Mountain Coffee, all of which was very, very interesting!

The recipes chosen for this book were all appropriate and very Jamaican. The author provides "alternative" ingredients for the hard-to-find-outside-Jamaica foodstuff, which I appreciate. Many recipes were supplemented with photos that were beautifully presented and colorful. The cooking instructions were clear and I have already noted down a dozen recipes I would like to try at home (e.g. sweet potato pone/pudding, pumpkin curry, spicy meat pies, brown gravy fish...).

Truly a wonderful introduction to Jamaica's unique cuisine and I really hope I can visit a Jamaican restaurant someday.

[Mandie Lowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find Jamaican cooking intriguing. Many of the ingredients are familiar to me, but they are used together in ways that are quite alien to me. Jamaican food, at least as portrayed in this book, is worlds away from delicate little creations you might find in fancy and overpriced restaurants around the world. Here are hearty plates of food, often loaded with searing hot Scotch Bonnet peppers. I find it quite intimidating, but also challenging.

As far as I'm concerned, if there are recipes in a recipe book, job well done. But I have a massive collection of recipe books and some are so exceptional that I have unreasonable expectations of my recipe books. In this one, there is a much appreciated history of Jamaica, of the cultures and of the ingredients. About halfway into the book, the recipes begin. There are several recipes that I'd like to try (seafood fritters, curry pumpkin, pepper shrimp, braised Blue Mountain lamb, jerk chicken) and some that I will admire from afar (Scotch Bonnet grilled fish, baked breadfruit, ackee and saltfish). They seem simple enough and substitutions for hard to find ingredients are listed in the ingredients section at the beginning of the book.

There aren't photos to accompany every recipe, but there are photos that showcase several of the dishes at once. The photos were taken on location in Jamaica and while there are some lovely ones, the styling looks dated.

I wouldn't recommend purchasing this book, but it's certainly worth borrowing from the library.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

The background chapter on Jamaican food is interesting, even if the British are credited questionably with giving Jamaican culture a "genteel" quality. Many of the recipes in this book are doable, but others require access to tropical ingredients--substitutions are not always provided. Other recipes have such a list of spices and other ingredients, a person preparing such dishes would either have to have an already well-stocked kitchen or the luxury of planning well in advance to prepare the dishes. However, the recipe for jerk pork/chicken seems clear and its ingredients list isn't impossibly long--certainly worth a try.

[Cangel01 · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mom loved this cookbook!! My Auntie and uncle all purchased..definitely recommend