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Trinidad Pork Stew

A story goes with me making this in the wee hours today. A young man , at my age I can call a 41 year old a young man. When he was young in High School he worked for us in our Bicycle Shop. He was a avid cyclist and raced all over our part of the world. He also loved to hunt. After school he joined the Army. Which became his career. From time to time over the years he’d drop by when passing. He’d become a sniper and was sent all the world. It was always good to see him and talk about things. He’s like our son.

I got a phone call from him the other day and he said he was coming into town and wanted to see us. That was super !! But then he told me was now disabled, that crushed me to say the least. We didn’t talk about what happened then but about his wife and kids , the positive things he’s involved in now and the old times. I figure we can talk about what happened when he gets here. He’s always liked my Caribbean cooking so I thought this dish and a few beers could ease things for me.

Being me I added to this basic recipe !! I used a lot more green onions , garlic, cilantro , and peppers. I also used red bells and Trinidad Congo's and a lot more than a 1/4 of a hot pepper like the recipe called for. I have a bunch of Trinidad Perfumes so I tossed in a handful of those.I love the aroma they add. Other additions I made were carrots , okra, more tomatoes, and Goya brand Dry Pigeon Peas. Goya Pigeon Peas come in Green , which means they were canned “fresh” like sweet peas or Dry which means they were dried then cooked like pintos or black beans.

Another thing I did differently was I “seasoned” the pork like I do my chicken. I added the pork to most of the vegetables and let them sit over night. I didn’t use the pigeon peas, tomatoes, okra ( I used frozen) or tomatoes. I prefer to add those at later stages of the cooking process. Then I scrape off the veggie seasoning mix and start browning the pork.

One of things that I like that Trinidadian's do and that is different than any other style I’ve seen is they use brown sugar in the cooking oil. They let it get almost caramelized then brown what ever meat they’re using. Pretty sweet .... that’s a joke ! It works neat.

Below is the recipe I started with. The pictures are as I added the veggie seasoning mix to the pork, the next is just the finished stew in my caldron of love. I’m letting it sit and later I’ll make white rice , mashed yams with thyme and butter , a salad. Maybe some fruit too. I’ll try to take a few plated shots also.

Peace,
P. Dreadie
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Trinidad Pork Stew

3lbs pork – cubed into 3/4 inch pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 cloves of garlic – thinly sliced or crushed
1 teaspoon fresh or bottled ginger – sliced. (use 1/2 if it’s ginger powder)
2 tablespoon vegetable oil (one that can withstand high heat)
1 medium onion – chopped
1 medium tomato – chopped
2 tablespoon cilantro (or 2 tbs Trinidad green meat seasoning)
1 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
3 cups water
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 hot pepper (only if you like your food spicy)
1 green onion or chive – chopped
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (1 teaspoon dried)
1 lime or lemon or 3 tablespoons of vinegar
1 small shallot
Prepare the seasoning mix by dicing the onion, pepper, ginger, green onion, garlic, cilantro, shallot and tomato.

Time to get cooking. In a heavy bottom pot add the oil over high heat. As the oil starts to smoke or move along freely in the pot add the sugar. With a long handle spoon (to avoid splatters onto your hand) move the sugar around. You’re looking for the sugar to melt, change color and get to the point when it’s ready to caramelize.

Quickly start adding the seasoned pork as the sugar starts looking like the picture above. Stir around to evenly coat all the pieces of meat. Then lower the heat and simmer covered for about 10-15 minutes.

Now uncover the pot and raise the heat to high. We’re trying to get rid of all the natural juices that formed while it was simmering. In the meantime, add the 3 cups of water to the bowl that had the seasoned pork. We’re trying to pick up any bits of seasonings that were left behind.

As soon as all the liquid is gone and all the pieces of pork is evenly browned, add the 3 cups of water ( I used chicken stock )and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat, cover and let simmer for about 40-45 minutes. We’d like to get a nice thick gravy and have the pieces of pork as tender as possible. If after the 45 minutes you have too much liquid, be sure to turn up the heat and let some burn off.


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How different is this from pelau? I have been intrigued by Trini cooking for awhile now.

Looks fantastic.
 
I hope you have a nice time catching up. That stew looks great. Just to clarify, I mix up all the ingredients (except oil, water and brown sugar) and throw it in together?
 
Dang, P- That looks amazing! Love the color! I hope it's hotter than hell, so you and your buddy will have some cold beers to warsh it down! Enjoy your visit. You sound very proud of him and his service.

I have the pleasure of having some friends who are from Trinidad. They cook with fire and make some mean rum drinks!

Might just have to whip me up a pot of that goodness!
 
Thanks everyone. I'll have to take photos today. We drank to many beers catching up and the camera didn't come out. I'm pleased to say my buddy's in much better shape than what my mind was thinking. He has all his digits they just don't work as good as they once did.

THP ...... it is kind of like Pelau in that you brown your meat in the oil and brown sugar mix. In my Pelau I use more green herbs to make a Trini style "green seasoning" mix. Lot's of parsley, cilantro, and a little oregano. I also use coconut milk and cook the rice along with the chicken and veggies. In either dish you can add what vegetables you like , like sweet potatoes and a hard squash ..... calabaza or butternut.

Zander ..... in the first picture you can pretty much see what vegetables I seasoned up the pork with. Onion, green onions , carrots , garlic, peppers... bells, congo's , perfumes, thyme, carrots anything that will add aroma/flavor. Then you scrape all that off the pork after it sits overnight and brown the pork. When the pork is browned you toss the vegetables in the pot. It's a pain to scrape the seasoning mix off the pork ..... you could just brown the pork and then add the vegetables , but I think seasoning the meat makes it a little better. Hope this clears things up a little.

frydad4 ..... It was ..... we did !! I am !! LOL .... I'm with you , I enjoy my island friends too. Good food , good drink , good tunes, doesn't get any better.

Mojo there's still some left.

Peace,
P. Dreadie
 
 
Peace,
P. Dreadie

P.Dreidie,,


The heat of Trini peppers must be getting infused via fat in pork. This is released slowly after eating. The body remains warm for a long time with this encapsulation process .

In my cooking, I use this process of trapping heat in rarified butter during winters and some special dishes.

Very fine recipe you have there.




NJA

 
Chewi ... did you ever make this ? If so did it work for you ? Was I right that you shouldn't / didn't jack up a pan with the sugar ?

I'm going to make this again this week. It's been a long time ......

Peace ,
P.Dreadie
 
I had forgotten about this. I am going to have to make it when it gets a bit colder out this Fall. Wonderful recipe PD.
 
Yeah, this is really tasty. I posted mine in another thread as to not hijack this one but here is the final plate. Seriously anyone thinking about making this, do it. You won't be disappointed! Yes, you were also right about not worrying about ruining the pan with the hot oil and brown sugar. Its really no big deal once you see it in the pan and watch it start to change color. I like thyme so I added a little bit more. Other than adding some okra and zucchini I didn't change much being the first time. I think next time I might add a few more fresh tomato chunks right at the end, and a hotter pepper since I chickened out and went with serranos. Wonderful dish this is!!

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made this yesterday very tasty - I think I messed up a bit but was very good - I think what my mistake was that I added all the veggies and seasonings, minus sugar, Worcestershire and ketchup, in a big bag and marinated overnight. I used some turnip, sweet potato, carrots so I think it was more yellow than the pix posted - I would add more tomato towards the middle more they seem to have gotten lost. Practice makes perfect eh???....
 
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