Characteristic products
While local culinary traditions are as varied as the archipelago's demographics, there's one common denominator: a love of spices and full-bodied flavors. Garlic, ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, pepper, onion, thyme, cumin and cardamom are combined with long coriander, or culantro, also known locally as "blessed chadron". Chillies are ubiquitous, notably the fierce Scotch bonnet, as well as other hot peppers, which are generally reduced to a sauce to accompany dishes. Green seasoning is a popular cold sauce based on culantro, pureed with green onion, garlic, chilli pepper and vinegar, used as an accompaniment or marinade.
Indian-influenced chutneys (spicy sweet-and-sour sauces) are also popular, often featuring mango, tamarind, cucumber, tomato or coconut, not forgetting lesser-known European fruits such as chaltar (elephant-apple) or pyther-apple. Dhaniya chutney is a fresh coriander-based sauce. These preparations can be found with a variety of Indian dishes. There are also achards, vegetable and fruit pickles preserved in a spicy brine. The most common is mango, but there are also pickles with apple kythera, tamarind, lemon and lime. Vegetables include yams, manioc, sweet potatoes and taro. Also worth mentioning: dasheen, the taro leaf, is used in many dishes. The pear-shaped christophine or chayote has a taste somewhat reminiscent of squash. The fruit of the breadfruit tree is roasted under coals, andokra, or okra, is a green, chili-like vegetable with an eggplant-like taste, whose viscous juice is used to thicken sauces.
As in the rest of the Caribbean, the most popular meats include chicken and pork, and to a lesser extent duck, beef and goat. Country cuisine, prepared in the bush, calls for less common meats such as iguana, possum or armadillo (a mammal with a shell), which Trinidadians call wild meat. Not to mention a fine array of seafood: flying fish, sea bream, king mackerel, snapper, bonito, lobster, shrimp, conch and crab. Tilapia and cascadura are found in rivers and estuaries.
Unlike a country like France, where breakfast, lunch and dinner are taken at more or less precise times, mealtimes in Trinidad & Tobago are more flexible. That's why it's easy to eat in the streets of the big cities, at any time of the day or night in certain neighborhoods. It's worth noting the strong presence of fast-food chains, which now compete head-on with these small neighborhood restaurants. More upscale restaurants can be found in international hotels, particularly in the vicinity of seaside resorts.
Classics of Trinidadian cuisine
As for Creole cuisine, there are many tasty specialties, such as pelau, a complete dish of rice, vegetables and chicken, inspired by paella. The chicken is pan-fried in a caramelized sugar sauce. Onions, garlic and peas add the finishing touch to the rice and vegetable base, often cooked with coconut water. A Caribbean specialty, callaloocomes in many variations, but the basic ingredient is dasheen leaves, cooked, chopped and mixed with a variety of ingredients: okra, crab, pork and more. It is often served with coo-coo, a cornmeal-based paste flavored with onion, peppers and spices, which is cooked with water and sometimes a little coconut milk. Similar in appearance to Italian polenta.
Sancoche, cow heel soup and corn soup were originally three soups prepared by slaves. Sancoche is a thick soup made from split peas, semi-salted beef, pig's tail, yams and more. Cow heel soup is made with split peas and beef trotters. Corn soup contains corn on the cob (cut into chunks), split peas and a variety of vegetables. This thick soup is garnished with dumplings, a type of gnocchi made from wheat flour. Crab & dumpling is a Tobago specialty. As the name suggests, it's a crab-based dish - the ones used resemble large crab cakes - cooked in a coconut milk curry and served with dumplings, which this time are spread in the shape of boiled wheat cakes.Oildownis the poor man's dish par excellence, a kind of stew made from pieces of bread simmered with coconut milk, vegetables and spices.
Originally from Jamaica, but found throughout the West Indies, jerk fish & chickenis a way of barbecuing meat or fish. The pieces are marinated in a heavily spiced preparation before being grilled over a wood fire, giving them an intense smoky flavor. Pastelles are often prepared at Christmas, and are the local equivalent of Mexican tamales or South American humitas. They consist of a corn dough filled with meat, olives and raisins, wrapped in a banana leaf. The papillotes are then cooked in boiling water. The bake & sharksis a sandwich with a round bun filled with breaded and fried fish (usually shark, hence the name), with lettuce, tomato, onion, fresh pineapple and so on. We're already familiar with accras, the famous cod fritters found throughout the West Indies. Finally, buljol is a cold starter made with shredded cod, chopped hard-boiled egg, tomato and various condiments.
Trinidad & Tobago's Indian or Indo-Caribbean cuisine is also renowned. The best-known dish is doubles, consisting of two fried wheat cakes, topped with chickpea curry and various chutneys. There are various types of fried fritters and croquettes: pholouries (split peas), saheena ( dasheen leaves), baiganee (eggplant) or bhaji (onions). Roti is a flat bread made from wheat flour, thinner than naan. It is used in the region to prepare wraps called wrap roti, filled with various varieties of curry, all for a derisory price.
A typical and mainstay of Indian cuisine in the region, curry is prepared here with a variety of ingredients: chicken, duck, fish, seafood, pork, vegetables and more. Try the very popular aloo curry and channa curry, with potatoes and chickpeas respectively. Dhal is a spicy, creamy lentil-based purée. Another popular dish isaloo pie - a Trinidadian creation - a kind of turnover filled with potatoes, peas and spices. Kadhi is a spicy soup made from chickpea flour and yoghurt. Finally, murtani (also known as upar gaar or pepper choka), a popular condiment, is a fierce blend of chili, eggplant and tomato, chopped and simmered with various spices. These specialties are common during Diwali, a major Hindu festival, where they are traditionally served on a large sohari leaf as a platter.
Desserts and drinks
Trinidad & Tobago's dual Indo-Creole heritage offers many interesting desserts. Once again, we emphasize that the notion of sweet is not necessarily identical to that of Europe, and that sweets are preferred spontaneously rather than necessarily at the end of a meal. These include black cake, a cake rich in spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger) and dried fruit (raisins, lemon peel, prunes, candied cherries) generously soaked in a rum and brandy syrup. Cassava pone is a dense manioc-based cake with coconut, flavored with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and more. Paw paw balls are made from a paste of green papaya and lime, but there's also a tamarindball variant, not forgetting benne balls, made from sesame seeds bound with a mixture of molasses, sugar or honey. Finally, sugar cake is a kind of very sweet coconut rock, often tinted pink
Of course, we can't forget the profusion of desserts of Indian origin: kheer (rice pudding with cardamom, raisins, saffron, cashews, pistachios, etc.), seviyan (similar to kheer but with vermicelli), gulab jamoon (cardamom fritters soaked in rosewater syrup), laddu (dumplings made with different flours - wheat, chickpeas, etc. - decorated with almonds or peanuts), and many others. - decorated with almonds or pistachios), jalebi (very sweet orange spiral-shaped doughnut), halwa (a kind of nougat made from wheat flour), gulgula (plain doughnut), ras malai (cream cheese balls served in saffron and pistachio milk), pera (sweet cream cheese balls flavored with saffron and cardamom), laapsi (sweet wheat semolina with clarified butter, dried fruit and nuts), gujiya (fried turnovers filled with pistachio, almonds and cashews) or burfi (a kind of milk nougat).
In terms of fruit, there are pineapples, papayas, guavas, mangoes, passion fruit, avocados, banana figs (very small, very fragrant bananas), watermelons, oranges, carambolas (star-shaped when cut up), etc. Because of this abundance of fruit, there's a huge consumption of juices, often prepared as cocktails or punches. Another very popular thirst-quenching drink is coconut water, served with or without a straw, but usually drunk straight from the fruit cut off by the vendor's machete. Coconut water in plastic bottles, sold in the cold drinks section of stores, is also available, but less frequently.
Three other drinks are very specific to Trinidad & Tobago: sea moss, mauby and sorrel. Sea moss is a refreshing milkshake with a surprisingly pleasant taste, flavored with the extract of seaweed harvested along the coast. Mauby is a bitter, astringent drink made from the bark of the mauby tree. Sorrel is an iced infusion made from hibiscus flowers. You'll find the typical array of sodas of all kinds, including local varieties such as peardrax (pear soda) or malta (malted soda, brewed from barley, hops and water). Corn and caramel may also be added.
As for alcoholic beverages, beer and rum are of course the most widely available. There are two brands of local beer: Carib, which originated in Trinidad and is now widely sold throughout the West Indies, and Stag, which is slightly stronger and more bitter than Carib. Rum remains the most popular drink of all, whether dark or light. Like most Caribbean islands, Trinidad & Tobago was heavily involved in sugar production and, by extension, rum production. Of the many local distilleries, only one remains: Trinidad Distillers Ltd, owned by the Angostura company, famous for its aromaticAngostura bitter.
The island was also home to the famous Caroni state distillery, which closed its doors in 2002 after 84 years in business. Caroni rums have a unique flavor and are highly sought-after on the collectors' market, causing prices to soar for remaining stocks. Trinidadians usually drink the rum with soda, coconut water or fruit juice, making it a rum punch. In high-end restaurants with a tourist clientele, wine is also served, usually from South America or California.
