Cooking the national dish of every country

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CraigC said:
You left out fritters and chowder!:ohmy:
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Actually fritters are not as common, and chowder is less so. Only one place we ate regularly offered conch chowder, and even that wasn't every day. I did have chicken and conch souse (in the Bahamas, souse is a brothy soup), which was excellent.

Also peas and rice (that's pigeon peas) is the national side dish. It is made in a number of variations. My favorites were pumpkin and rice and conch and rice.

The perfect Bahamian dinner at Max's Conch Bar, Long Island, Bahamas:

Appetizer: Breadfruit chips with a cup of Gary's conch salad (chips and salsa Bahamas style)

Entree: Grilled wahoo or grouper with peas and rice and kalaloo (or if it's available, try Liz's stuffed breadfruit or pumpkin funny instead of the peas and rice)

Dessert: Liz's fabulous carrot cake.

And of course, ice cold Kalik (beer) to keep your throat from drying out.
 
Bangers & mash.

If I had conch, I'd make conch chowder with conch fritters! YUM!

For England, I'd have to have fish & chips.
 
RPCookin said:
Actually fritters are not as common, and chowder is less so. Only one place we ate regularly offered conch chowder, and even that wasn't every day. I did have chicken and conch souse (in the Bahamas, souse is a brothy soup), which was excellent.

Also peas and rice (that's pigeon peas) is the national side dish. It is made in a number of variations. My favorites were pumpkin and rice and conch and rice.

The perfect Bahamian dinner at Max's Conch Bar, Long Island, Bahamas:

Appetizer: Breadfruit chips with a cup of Gary's conch salad (chips and salsa Bahamas style)

Entree: Grilled wahoo or grouper with peas and rice and kalaloo (or if it's available, try Liz's stuffed breadfruit or pumpkin funny instead of the peas and rice)

Dessert: Liz's fabulous carrot cake.

And of course, ice cold Kalik (beer) to keep your throat from drying out.
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Not sure where you lived, but have you ever been to Rosie's on Grand Cay, near Walker's? As far as the beer, Kalik is ok, but I much preferred the clear bottle Beck's.
 
RPCookin said:
Actually fritters are not as common, and chowder is less so. Only one place we ate regularly offered conch chowder, and even that wasn't every day. I did have chicken and conch souse (in the Bahamas, souse is a brothy soup), which was excellent.

.
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Actually, I have to disagree with that. While I didn't live there, I spent a lot of time in the Bahamas in my late teens to early 20s, as it was a cheap and quick plane ride from Miami or a cheap day or weekend cruise over. Conch in multiple forms was served at the places I ate at. Fritters were on just about every menu, as well as cracked conch and conch salad, plus a multitude of other ways depending on the restaurant. I even had conch stewed in a curry type dish once though it was extremely spicy and I didn't much like it or eat very much of it. I remember it to this day because it was REALLY hot!! I think conch in and of itself is probably the national food of the Bahamas, not just a particular dish or 2.
 
medtran49 said:
Actually, I have to disagree with that. While I didn't live there, I spent a lot of time in the Bahamas in my late teens to early 20s, as it was a cheap and quick plane ride from Miami or a cheap day or weekend cruise over. Conch in multiple forms was served at the places I ate at. Fritters were on just about every menu, as well as cracked conch and conch salad, plus a multitude of other ways depending on the restaurant. I even had conch stewed in a curry type dish once though it was extremely spicy and I didn't much like it or eat very much of it. I remember it to this day because it was REALLY hot!! I think conch in and of itself is probably the national food of the Bahamas, not just a particular dish or 2.
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How long ago was that?

I'm pretty sure RP's take on Island cooking is a bit more recent and he did LIVE there, he wasn't just a tourist.
 
My first introduction to conch was in St. Petersburg, Fl. I fell in love at first bite. The dish was conch chowder.

While living there I made a couple of vacation trips to Key West to visit frientds. I went on a hunt to see who had the best conch fritters. I tried most of them, and they were all wonderful.

If I could get my hands on some conch, I'd be making me some. What a wonderful flavor.
 
medtran49 said:
Actually, I have to disagree with that. While I didn't live there, I spent a lot of time in the Bahamas in my late teens to early 20s, as it was a cheap and quick plane ride from Miami or a cheap day or weekend cruise over. Conch in multiple forms was served at the places I ate at. Fritters were on just about every menu, as well as cracked conch and conch salad, plus a multitude of other ways depending on the restaurant. I even had conch stewed in a curry type dish once though it was extremely spicy and I didn't much like it or eat very much of it. I remember it to this day because it was REALLY hot!! I think conch in and of itself is probably the national food of the Bahamas, not just a particular dish or 2.
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My time was not spent in the tourist areas of New Providence and Grand Bahama. We lived 150 miles southeast of Nassau on Long Island, which is was I call the real Bahamas. You have to get to the Out Islands, eat in the homes of native Bahamians, to really have a feel for the place. With more than 700 islands in the archipelago, there is enough territory to spend a lifetime exploring.

The most common meats are chicken and goat (mutton in the islands is almost always goat), with wild pig also a regular fare on several of the Out Islands, Long Island being one of those (we saw them at least on a weekly basis on the side road we drove to get to our home). Common preparation for mutton and chicken is curry, and jerk is common for chicken and pork.

The commonest side dishes are baked macaroni (with cheese, but not heavy on the cheese), and peas and rice.

Various fish were available, but not always as common in the home as you might expect unless there is a fisherman in the household. Boiled fish (misnomer, as the fish is more like poached, never boiled) - sort of a fish stew - is most often a breakfast meal, often served with grits or johnny cake.

Bahamian Boiled Fish

Ingredients

2 pounds skinless grouper fillets
2 lemons
salt to taste
3 tablespoons margarine
2 cups water
1/2 pound potatoes, sliced
1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 goat pepper or Scotch bonnet, chopped, or cayenne, to taste
2 large onions, sliced
1/2 cup chopped celery
Instructions

Wash fish and squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over the fillets. Sprinkle with salt. Place margarine and water in a nonreactive skillet over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes, garlic, parsley, hot pepper, salt and juice of 1 lemon. Bring to a boil and cook about 10 minutes or until potatoes are almost done. Add the fish, top with the onions and celery, immediately reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook fish about 10 minutes or until cooked through. Do not overcook or let water boil. Makes 4 to 5 servings. Note: In the Bahamas, this is a popular breakfast dish.

Read more at BAHAMIAN BOILED FISH | RecipeLion.com
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This is just from our experience. Conch fritters were certainly available many places, but only in restaurants or at celebration gatherings. I never saw anyone make them for a home meal. One of our friends used to make fritter batter for the Long Island Regatta, a 3 day sailboat race and party at Salt Pond harbor in the middle of the island. She would make up 20 gallons of the stuff, and the dipping sauce to go with it, for sale in one of the concession booths (6 fritters for a buck... best deal going :yum: ).

I suppose conch chowder was eaten in homes at times, although I never saw it, but chicken souse was far more common. A hearty bean soup was also a regular offering.
 
PrincessFiona60 said:
How long ago was that?

I'm pretty sure RP's take on Island cooking is a bit more recent and he did LIVE there, he wasn't just a tourist.
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And a national dish doesn't generally change over time, unless it's hundreds of years with societal changes in diet, so it really doesn't matter how long. Even hundreds of years hasn't changed haggis's place per an earlier post in this thread. And how long has borscht been around?

And it wasn't in just touristy areas, my boyfriend at the time traveled between Miami and Bahamas for work, so he lived there and in Miami and had friends and business associates there. Thus, us finding cheap ways for me to travel there since he had more time off there than in Miami usually.
 
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RPCookin said:
Bahamas is also conch - conch salad or crack conch. Actually conch is best fresh, just briefly marinated in fresh squeezed lime juice and eaten raw (had it a few times like this when out on a boat or on a beach day. Head out in the water, find a conch or two, clean, slice, marinate, and you are eating 5 minutes later.
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This sounds awesome. Congratulations on living in the Bahamas once. I wish I had! Can I get conch in England?
 
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The Bahamas sounds like a really interesting one to debate and for us to cook. Can we get Conch anywhere in England though?

In the meantime, Canada has jus bee finished and uploaded.
I hope you enjoy it!

At the weekend, we are taking on our biggest challenge - the mighty mansaf from Jordan. I am actually a little scared considering how many spices and ingredients are in it, and the fact we have to boil and ferment yoghurt somehow...!
 
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Lithuania - Cepelenai

Does anyone have any tips on making Cepelenai, the national dish of Lithuania. I want to cook that next week. Something to do with dumplings I believe and we have never done anything where we have to build something before cooking. Please, please, please can we include bacon?
 
Hi Jason,

What's been happening with your around the world food tour? How many countries did you end up getting to? Is there a way of showing the videos here or embedding them in the posts?

Where's the next country stop? :)

Diver Doug
 
Mad Cook said:
What are you going to do for England? Fish and Chips with mushy peas? Steak and kidney pudding?

Scotland? Porridge? Haggis?

A newspaper article a couple of years ago announced that the national dish of the UK was chicken tikka masala but I think that was a little tongue in cheek.
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Tongue in cheek? Not at all! Chicken Tikka Masala originated in Glasgow and these days is universally agreed to be Britain's favourite dish. If you haven't reached Britain yet in your cooking quest, you could cover Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland with a single dish, but you'd better hurry because Britain is currently coming apart at the seams with their Brexit vote.

(Do you find it odd that the recipe originated in Glasgow? There's an entire class of Subcontinental cooking called Balti that originated in Pakistan, but thrived so well in Birmingham and Manchester that it has been exported back to India/Pakistan and is all the rage.)
 
I just had a couchsurfer visiting and she showed me how to prepare Schnitzel! This was delicious!
 
What are you going to do for Italy? Bear in mind that Italians do not do spaghetti bolognese - it's tagliatelle alla Bolognese, and comes only from Bologna, whereas
pizzas are made everywhere here!

Greece: moussaka?

di reston

Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde
 
di reston said:
What are you going to do for Italy? Bear in mind that Italians do not do spaghetti bolognese - it's tagliatelle alla Bolognese, and comes only from Bologna, whereas
pizzas are made everywhere here!

Greece: moussaka?

di reston

Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde
Click to expand...

Yeah, kinda makes it impossible to have a "National Dish" when there are many regions in the same country.:LOL:
 
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