Chadon Beni, Culantro, Jerk - Recipes
Jamaican Specialities via Toronto, Brooklyn, or Mt Vernon New York
Aug 12, 2008
Ask anyone who's been to the Caribbean what they remember about the food and more often than not you'll hear a story about the chicken grilled on an oil drum grill with a spicy sweet and unforgettable sauce.
That's jerk man, and it's irie (beautiful, peaceful).
It's all about the sauces and seasonings. Here's the A, B, C of it.
A is for Allspice, both the Berries and the wood is used in jerk. C is for Chadon Beni. Or C is for Culantro. A could be for Achiote, also used in Jamaican food, or ajicito...doh...let's just get to it, shall we?
Whether your food memories or enticements come from travel or from the Food Network, trying out new flavors can open the door to many wonderful future food memories and experiences. For David: here is your Chadon Beni answer! Included are a couple of recipes and a little background for you on the flavors and ingredients.
Chadon Beni, also known as Shadow Benny and Culantro
An herb that looks something like dandelion leaves with elongated saw-toothed green leaves. This plant grows plentifully in the shady mountains of Jamaica. Recao is its Puerto Rican name, and just about every Caribbean nation has a love for this aromatic herb. Lucky for us, Vietnamese also use this herb so it can be found in Asian Supermarkets.
Sometimes it is mistakenly called cilantro, but they are not the same. The flavor profile is similar so if you must substitute, you could even use cilantro, according to some sources. Others will tell you it is not an appropriate substitution.
Just as Cajuns and Creoles use "trinity" and French use "mirepoix" many Caribbean dishes begin with sofrito. Sofrito is often made with Culantro, or Chadon Beni. If you have eaten chimichurri with an Argentinean steak or a grilled steak with Bearnaise, you've got an idea of what a jerk seasoned steak with Chadon Beni Sauce might be like. Flavors will be different of course, but the concept is the same. You have a savory, piquant sauce with herbal notes to complement the steak.
On a recent episode of Throwdown which takes Bobby Flay to Mount Vernon, New York's Ripe Kitchen and Bar, this sauce was featured to accompany their "big-ass jerk steaks." Here is the Ripe Kitchen
Chadon Beni Sauce:
- 1 cup densely packed Chandon Beni leaves.
- 1 cup loosely packed fresh flat Italian parsley leaves
- 1 cup lime juice (fresh squeezed if available)
- 1/2 fresh Scotch bonnet pepper (or habanero)
- 1/4 cup chopped scallions
- 6 whole peeled garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon salt
Put all ingredients in blender and blend till smooth-add a little extra lime juice if puree is too thick. They allow cilantro as an acceptable substitute.
Jerk Sauce for Chicken, Steaks
Another important element of Jamaican food is jerk. The term jerk derives from a blend of cultures that is part of Jamaica's unique history. Taino Indian, Spanish, African traditions, languages and cultures all lend important aspects to the cuisine. From Quechua, to Spanish to Jamaican: charki, to charqui, to jerky or jerk...it came to signify dried spiced meats that were grilled over fire or in a pit. Green herbal and sweet smoky flavors all combined, along with the heat of peppers and the heat of flame to make the intoxicating blend now loved everywhere as Jerk.
Jerk includes allspice, hot peppers and sweet peppers, thyme, and more. Often the allspice wood itself is used for the fire, but more often it is the allspice berries that give a clove-like sweetness to the mix.
Ingredients for Jerk Rub - makes enough for 10 large steaks. Can be stored, refrigerated for 2 weeks.
- 1 tsp Nutmeg
- 2 tsp White Pepper
- ¼ C Black Pepper
- ½ C Kosher salt
- ¾ C freshly ground Allspice
- ¾ C Brown Sugar
- ¾ C Orange Juice
- 1 whole Scotch Bonnet pepper
- 1 bunch Jamaican Thyme (about 10 stalks, picked from hard stems)
- 8 whole Garlic cloves
- ¾ C chopped Scallions (green onions)
- 2 cups whole Ajicito pepper (flavorful but not hot)
Put ajicito peppers, Scotch bonnet pepper, garlic cloves, thyme and scallions in food processor and pulse until it forms a paste. Then add the remaining ingredients except for the orange juice and blend. Slowly stream OJ into the processor until all is incorporated. You may adjust the amount of Orange Juice used depending on how dry or wet you prefer the rub to be. We like it be the consistency of a chutney.
Smear paste over one side of steak and season the other side with salt and pepper. Marinate for 1 hour or up to 48 hours. Place steak on a hot grill and cook to just before desired doneness.
Allow steak to rest (off the heat) for 10 minutes after cooking to redistribute juices and the carry-over cooking will bring it to your desired doneness.
Ajicito peppers can be found in most Latin markets. It is also called "seasoning peppers" in Caribbean circles.
Sofrito can be made with these distinctly Caribbean herbs and spices, then frozen in ice cube trays for later use. Jerk sauce will keep and mellow in the fridge for weeks.
Grilling Tofu with Achiote
Finding a good herb and spice vendor will open an entirely new world to you. Achiote or Annatto is a wonderful addition to your pantry. Annatto oil can be made by slowly heating canola or corn oil with annatto seeds. Cool, then strain the seeds. This deep orange-red oil will have a slightly nutty flavor. It can be used to make yellow rice, to give roasted chicken a deep color, to flavor mole sauces or added to marinades and basting sauces.
Annatto is the same coloring agent used to give cheeses like Chesire, Edam, Leicester and Meunster their color. The beautifully photographed and well-written food blog, 101Cookbooks has this recipe for Lemon-Achiote Grilled Tofu.
- For more on Jamaican flavor in Brooklyn see: Sweet Heat, here.
- For more recipes and Irie flavors from Ripe Kitchen see here.
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