Guest Author - Eileen Brown
In the Florida Keys our cuisine is a charming fusion of old-time “Conch” cooking, Native American dishes and flavors of the Caribbean. Our food is unlike that of anyplace else and I consider myself a culinary ambassador to the rest of the world. Fortunately for me, we enjoy frequent houseguests, especially in winter months. When fierce northerly weather drives our family and friends south, in search of sunny reprieves, I fly into my kitchen and cook up a tropical storm.
I would be remiss to not provide visiting Snow Birds the opportunity to savor such classic Keys specialties as conch fritters with key lime mustard sauce for dipping, a steaming cup of spicy conch chowder, spirited at table with a dash of sherry and a large slice of Key Lime pie for dessert. These are foods with remarkable health-giving qualities. A mango daiquiri, heavy with rum, is likewise restorative.
Like most island dwellers, fish is our staple food. Grilled, sautéed, deep-fried, or prepared in an infinite variety of dishes, it is always fresh from the sea. We are a fishing family, as are many families here, and there is often a catch of the day. We eat snappers usually, an inshore catch, or grouper. Even the small grunts, a throwaway food to many serious fishing folks, are delicious when carefully filleted, tossed in a nicely season flour and pan fried. (They are a favorite of the children.) Trolling the deep blue can yield dolphin (the fish also known as mahi-mahi) and black fin tuna.
Our everyday table reflects the tropics. Key Limes from the grove and calamondins ( tiny sour, tangerine flavored fruits) become refreshing beverages, similar to, but far more exotic than lemonade. Bright red petals of hibiscus flowers provide a surprise of color and a peppery bite in green salads. Green mangoes become Achar, a chutney-like condiment, fiery with bird peppers and fragrant with the spices of the West Indies. It is a fine accompaniment to grilled fish or chicken.
Foods indigenous to the Bahamas, Jamaica, Grenada, Cuba, Haiti, the Miccosukee and Seminole people, and early European settlers; I have come to love them all. I’ve spent hours in the kitchens of women who have been kind enough to teach me the foods of their childhoods. I’ve learned about their families and their cultures, and I’ve come away from the experiences intoxicated with stories of their mothers’ tables.
Back in my own kitchen, I prepare theses dishes with care, to set before my darlings. And always my heart is filled with gratitude for each woman who shared with me this sisterly ritual of communal cooking and the culinary treasure that is her very own expression of love.
