You always remember your first time

This week my very first newspaper column as a food writer was published in Barbados’ Sunday Sun (check it out and tell me what you think!). It was such a thrill picking up the newspaper this morning and reading my words.

I look forward to the joys of being a weekly columnist – getting my view point out there, writing about a topic I love.

I even look forward to the drama of being a writer – the anxiousness of an approaching deadline, the demands of the empty computer screen.

Nevertheless, there are parts of the newspaper publishing business I don’t think I will ever enjoy and I experienced these for the first time this week too. Those pesky editing gremlins twisted some of my words. Bruised ego aside, my main concern is that the twisted words will lead some people to make mistakes in the kitchen when making the Bajan delicacy, conkies. Luckily we now have the blogosphere and I can set the record straight.

So here it is:

Despite what my column seemed to say today you should never use a food processor when making conkies – a box grater is the best tool. A food processor will give the ingredients a very fine chop instead of a very fine grind that is needed to make your conkies smooth. Secondly, also ignore what the editing gremlins say about mixing the ingredients to your desired consistency. The mixture should be soft and moist but not watery and running.
I hope you’re going to try making the conkies. Let me know how they turn out. Holla if you have any questions.

The Best Gift

I was inspired a couple years ago after reading Ruth Reichl’s editoral in the holiday edition of Gourmet Magazine to make my Christmas gifts. She wrote eloquently (as she always does) of a friend she knew as a child, Alice, a West Indian woman who was a great cook. She said Alice listented to her friends all through the year as they talked about foods they missed, foods they remembered etc and at Christmas, she (Alice) would make these foods and give them as gifts. Each time, every time, the people on the receiving end of the gift-giving venture were always ecstatic. So last year, instead of buying my gifts, I made them: Christmas fruit and rum cakes. All my friends loved their presents and loved the fact that they did not have to make a cake that year. The joy was in the giving and the receiving.
Why don’t you trying making your gifts this year? It could be your friends favourite dish, snack, cookie or even drink – like homemade ginger beer! Trust me, it’s the gift they will remember and cherish all year.

Pork & Trichinosis

On a recent visit to the United States, a friend of mine, dining out, ordered the pork chop dish on the menu. She was surprised when the server asked her how she would like the pork chop done. She politely responded that she would like it well done, fully cooked, all the while thinking to herself: what sort of question is that, pork is always cooked through.
Back in Barbados, she recounted the encounter to me. I smiled and then explained to her that it is now safe to eat pork medium done (slightly pink in the middle) instead of well done.
Trichinosis (round worm) usually associated with not fully cooked pork is no longer a concern due to modern feeding practices in the United States and other parts of the world over the last 30 years. In the past, the raw intestines from slaughtered hogs used to be ground up with their feed, hence Trichinella Spiralis.
The actual temperature that kills Trichinella, if it is present, is 140 degrees F and experts recommend cooking pork at 160 degrees F to be safe.
Since thermometers can be in-accurate, erring on the side of caution and cooking the meat at 160 degrees F is best.
Those of us from the Caribbean are accustomed to our meat and poultry always being well done.