Haiti

When Haiti was selected by our random selection process first thing I said to Victoria was this is one of the poorest countries in the world.  Having been to the Dominican Republic a couple times on vacation you always would come across poor Haitians trying to peddle on trinket or the other on you. I did not expect much when it came to Haitian cuisine but I was in for a big surprise.  Apart from being diverse with a mixture of cultures the Haitians are also credited with inventing the Barbecue as we know it.   Their cuisine is varied and delicious as we found out.

The Menu

Pates Haitiens

Very similar to a Jamaican meat patties but much more delicious.  However I am not sure whether it was much more delicious because the patties were home made compared to the stuff they sell in stores everywhere.   Another major difference was that they used puff pastry for the patties rather then the standard pie shell type of pastry.  I went with a more rustic look on these patties then perfectly shaped patties.




Haitian Ribs and Guava BBQ Sauce

My new go to method for ribs has to be sous vide.  The ribs have always been moist, tender, flavourful,  fall of the bone yet with some bite to them.   137.6 F at 30 hours seems to be the magic number for us.   The Guava bbq sauce I made from scratch and was quite an action to make,  the ingredient list was dizzying and I thought there gets to a point where there are so many ingredients that you taste nothing at all.   However this sauce was different in that every ingredient had its role and complimented the next one.   I really liked this sauce but there is a considerable effort involved in making it.   But the results are well worth the effort.

 Potatoes and Buttered Parsley

A simple yet delicious side dish to put together.  Chopped parsley, warmed garlic butter tossed with some red potatoes.  This complimented the ribs quite well.

Beyen

Mashed bananas, sugar, rum, lime , vanilla and flour are deep fried into fritters.  Topped with Cinnamon sugar and its a winner.  Every country seems to have their own different version of banana fritters.   These fritters were tasty but I would not say my favourite.