FRIDAY LUNCH BUFFET @ TTHTI

(phone rings)

BITTT: hello?

jason: hi q! how you doin? it's jason.

BITTT: aye jason. what's up meng?

jason: i'm good. our internal internship period is on at TTHTI and i wanted to invite you guys for lunch as my guests...

at least, that was the intent of the phone call. it was a bit jerkier than that with the poor reception and what not, but the end result was us heading down to the Trinidad and Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute on friday for lunch with chef jason peru, executive lecturer, TTHTI.

looking at the well preserved vintage feel of the building's exterior, you probably wouldn't expect a nicely designed modern dining room with a bistro feel inside. complete with a state of the art kitchen and bar too. but then again, it is a premium culinary institute with a number of international affiliations, why wouldn't you expect that?


anyway, in this setting, the institute gives its students the opportunity to test their skills in a real world scenario,

that means that they host and prepare meals and beverages for actual customers. this helps to meet the needs of the industry by producing students that are more or less ready for the practical situation having sharpened their chops on events like these. call them practice runs and then some.

so we enjoyed a nice buffet styled meal done entirely by the students and let me say, i think they did just fine.

soup and salad with a choice of plain or herb rolls...


beef arepas...

rice pilaf...

bacon wrapped chicken roulade...

beef steaks made to order the right way. sprinkled with a little salt, black pepper, done in a hot skillet and served with a herb butter.

and what good meal is complete without dessert? there was carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, served with a cherry sauce.

i thought the students did very well. service with a smile as well as a proud glow that said "yeah... we make dat!"

it was a very enjoyable experience as well as a delicious meal. basically a best kept secret. you can check it out at the TTHTI in chaguramus daily from now until February 4th. breakfast - $40, lunch - $90, dinner - $125. isn't that right chef jason?

HEADS OR TAILS????

a few people told me that they come to the blog to get ideas when they aren't too sure what too bubble. that's cool. glad to be of service. me? i use my indecisiveness to try out something different. i documented this one to share so you have even less reason to flip a coin when you're in that zone.

well this one involves pigtail, so swine haters beware. this one is pure swine and nothing but the swine. bbq pigtail to be exact. something i sampled some years ago and can't get enough of. until i made it myself that is. on this occasion, i wanted to see if it could be done minus the bbq pit.

basically, i put some pig tail in the pressure cooker with some spice and let that bubble like soup. the object here is to get that salt out and try to infuse some additional flavour into the pigtail.

while the pressure cooker was covered and doing its thing i started making a sauce. some sweet red chilli, jack daniel's honey dijon...

and some of this huge budwiser honey bbq that i got in pricemart. one of them impulse purchases that only manifests its insanity when you take it out of the car at home. "all this? but i don't own a restaurant! why did i buy this again? oh... because i was in pricemart being bitten by the it's-probably-cool-to-buy-this-massive-thing bug."

i put that in a pot with some sauteed garlic, onion, shadon beni, ginger, pimiento and thyme, then gave it a little heat for the flavours to come together.

not too long after that came the end of round one for the pigtail. round one is usually about 20 minutes, designed to cut a lot of the salt out. pigtail is a salty thing.

drained off that first water...

and added some more then put the tails back under pressure.

so at this point, there's still a lil salt in it. not overpowering, but enough to let you know that you're eating pigtail. i pressure mine to get it extra tender. that's just a preference though.

next move, into that sawse!

then onto a baking tray. heavy on the sauce. i mean... the sawse!

fire on top fuh dat!

we're just looking to get the sauce to darken up a bit to give it that bbq finish, so it doesn't take that long.

and a flip was necessary to get at the other sides.

and boom. that was it. my quick fix oven bbq pigtail. i sacrificed that smoked goodness you get from coals and wood, but to be able to drop this down without wheeling out the grill is worth it to me.

Pig Tail Oil Dong

There are few classic dishes which are more filling, more convenient and easier to make than Oil Down - aka the food of the gods. Its the perfect meal to plan, when you intend to be in the middle of the Caroni swamp with just one pot and a campfire, and not sure if the fish will be biting.

The way this version is made may be slightly different from the norm, but the first rule in bachelor type cooking is to bend the rules, so lets go.


Cut up your yellow variety breadfruit into two inch cubes. Cover in water until you're ready for it, since it oxidizes real fast.


Roughly chop up your seasonings of choice, I used the old basics, chadon beni, chives, onion, garlic, and a few hot peppers (1/4 of one would work for non pepper eaters). I forgot to bring the thyme, which is excellent in oil down.


Boil your pig tail for about 1/2 hour or so and drain.


Into your cast iron pot add some oil and a little onion, garlic and hot pepper and fry till it just begins to brown.

Add the pigtail and stir fry for a few minutes.



Once the pig tail is hot and happy, add the remaining seasoning and the breadfruit and stir to distribute the seasonings.


Pour the coconut milk into your pot, add water until it almost covers the breadfruit. Use the milk of one coconut per breadfruit. One thing I always add to oil down is dasheen bush leaves -not the stalks though. Put them in whole at the top, and cover the pot. At this juncture you can add stuff like carrots, plantains cassava etc if you like, however I don't do that.
Cook until breadfruit is done, stirring occasionally.
About 10 minutes before its finished, add your trusty golden ray, and check the salt. Stir and cover till done.


Since we neglected to bring dishes, the oil down had to be enjoyed from a basin, which turned out to be quite practical.
There you go, the food of the gods... well, most of the gods.