Oil down - the recipes
August 17th, 2006 by Trinifood
Of course everyone has their own way of making oil down, it's usually passed on from mummy, granny or tantie. My mother doesn't make oil down often, but when she does it's quite amazing. I don't remember any measurements of course, but I've consulted other books and folks for some guidelines. Anita Maharaj, a Trini who read the blog suggested that I add Golden Ray to give it that unique flavour, better known to Trinis as that 'real Creole flavour'. Heather said I should use sweet potato (the white one) to bring out the sweetness in the breadfruit. For those of you who don't know the joy of oil down, I'll give you two recipes.
The first recipe is from the late great Sylvia Hunt, best described as Trinidad and Tobago's Delia Smith. Sylvia was our first proper TV cook she brought a lot of traditional recipes to a mass audience in a way that was never done before.
The second recipe is from the Naparima Girls Cookbook, a cookery bible for many Trinis as it has recipes for most of the delicacies enjoyed by the average Trini. Try these recipes and let me know the outcome.
Oil Down according to Sylvia Hunt
1 large breadfruit
2 lbs mixed salted meat
Lime juice
2 medium sized onions
6 red and green sweet chilli peppers, cut into wedges
1 clove garlic
1 bunch chive, chopped
Thyme
3 cups thick coconut milk
1 flavouring pepper
2 tsp sugar
1 green hot pepper
Salt
Cooking oil
Method
1. Wash and peel breadfruit. Cut into 8 sections. Remove centre lengthways of each section and cut into half crosswise.
2. Wash and scrape meat, cut into pieces and rinse in lime juice and water.
3. Remove skins of onions, rinse and cut into small pieces. Remove seeds of chilli peppers and cut into wedges. Chop chives into small pieces.
4. Put salted meat into cold water, bring to the boil and drain. Repeat 3 times to remove preserving saly. Put to cook until just tender and drain.
5. Saute onions and garlic in hot oil until onions are pale yellow.
6. Add chive, thyme, flavouring pepper, salted meat and salt to taste. Pour over 2 cups of coconut milk.
7. Add wedges of breadfruit, sugar, green hot pepper and cook until breadfruit absorbs liquid.
8. Add remaining coconut milk. Remove hot pepper. Stir to blend well and cook at a reduced heat. There should be no remaining liquid.
9. Serve hot.
From Sylvia Hunt's Cooking, 1985
Oil Down, the Naps Girls way
8 ozs cooked saltfish, flaked
2 chives
2 pints coconut milk
1 large or 2 small breadfruit cut into 4 – 6 sections
1 whole hot pepper
2 sprigs thyme
1 stick celery, chopped.
Method
1. Soak meat overnight in cold water. Drain.
2. Remove the breadfruit and peel and in a saucepan, put alternate layers of breadfruit, meat and saltfish.
3. Tie chilli, thyme, chive and add to pan with celery and coconut milk.
4. Cover tightly and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 45-50 mins until everything is cooked and tender. When cooked the liquid should be absorbed and the stew oily.
5. Remove herbs before serving and add salt to taste.
From the Naparima Girls High School - Trinidad and Tobago Recipes, 1988
Posted in Recipes |
August 19th, 2006 at 4:51 pm
Last time I went home Sylvia Hunt was out of print - apparently due to family squabbling over who owned the copyright!
August 21st, 2006 at 3:23 pm
mouth watering! Look at the cookbook that my mum has getting a name check…never knew Naparima was famous
August 22nd, 2006 at 2:48 pm
I love breadfruit, so it’ll be good to try something different with them. I’ve only made Sri Lankan curries with it in the past. Thanks for posting the recipes!
November 21st, 2006 at 12:09 am
i grew up watchin miss hunt on sundays. discoverd my love of cooking through her.
November 25th, 2006 at 12:26 am
[…] I hope to be making a cassava oil down that I will share with y’all in the near future. Until then Trini food blogger ‘can cook, must cook’ has 2 classic recipes for a breadfruit oil down over at her blog. Check it out! […]
December 24th, 2006 at 1:07 am
can you substitute something else for coconut milk?
December 24th, 2006 at 5:21 pm
Andy, the coconut milk is what gives the oil down its unique consistency. I have never heard of anything else being used in oil down.
June 30th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Growing up wiyh my granny I remembered her using a red sylvia hunt cookbook to do her special treats.I wish I can get a copy ,
she was quite good
August 9th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
How can I get a copy of Sylvia Hunt cook book? My email address for this information is ccobpay@aol.com
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April 7th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
[…] this post has me jonesing for some Oil Down. And according to all this information it’s actually quite good for me. Of course everything […]
June 4th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Never got to try oil down on my travels in Trini–home-cooking I presume.
So I bought and brined some pigs tails and will attempt it tonight. I have to use canned coconut milk. Hope it will work
June 5th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
[…] is a dish I have heard much about, but never tried. Luckily, there are many recipes online. The dish seems to be simplicity itself, once you’ve sourced the […]
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