Cracked Conch

6 med. conch, bruised until thin & fairly well shredded 2 eggs, beaten until frothy 1/2 c. evaporated milk 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper 1/2 c. flour

Clean conch for cooking.  Bruise (pound) with a metal mallet until very tender.  Mix together eggs, milk, salt & pepper.  Dip conch in egg mixture, then roll in flour.  Fry in 1/4″ or less fat (oil preferred) until brown. Note:  Where conch is unavailable, lobster may be substituted.

Bahamian Cuisine

Although virtually any type of international food can be found in The Islands Of The Bahamas, it would be a mistake to miss an opportunity to sample the local cuisine.

No matter where you are, you won’t have any difficulty finding plenty of restaurants serving Bahamian cuisine and fresh local seafood at reasonable prices.

Seafood is the staple of the Bahamian diet. Conch (pronounced “konk”) is a large type of ocean mollusk that has firm, white, peach-fringed meat. Fresh, uncooked conch is delicious; the conch meat is scored with a knife, and lime juice and spices are sprinkled over the meat. It can also be deep-fried (called “cracked conch”), steamed, added to soups, salads and stews or made into conch chowder and conch fritters.  It is known for its alleged aphrodisiac properties. The Bahamian “rock lobster” is a spiny variety without claws that is served broiled, minced or used in salads. Other delicacies include boiled or bakedland crabs, which can be seen, before they are cooked, running across the roads after dark.

Fresh fish also plays a major role in the cooking of The Islands Of The Bahamas — a popular brunch is boiled fish served with grits, and when done right, is often the most flavourful way to enjoy the taste of a fresh catch. Stew fish, made with celery, onions, tomatoes and various spices, is another local specialty. Many dishes are accompanied by pigeon peas and rice (the infamous peas ‘n’ rice served throughout the Caribbean), with spices, tomatoes and onions.

Another main ingredient in Bahamian fare is coconut.  A dessert is not quite Bahamian unless the sweet taste of the coconut is added! Coconut trees are in abundance in the Bahamas and coconuts are a common ingredient in Bahamian dishes especially desserts. Coconut can be found in tarts, cakes, pies, pudding, trifle, custard and ice cream and sometimes shredded on top of almost anything!  Coconuts are available year-round. They are usually found in grocery stores and at fruit stands with the outer ‘husk’ removed. The hairy brown shell (size of a large grapefruit) is lined with ‘meat’ and contains juice (termed coconut water or milk). To get the juice out without spilling, you can tap a screwdriver into one of the soft round spots on the end of the coconut and drain it into a glass.

Peas also figure prominently in the wide array of fragrant Bahamian soups – pea soup with dumplings and salt beef and the familiar split pea and ham soup are just two of the many pea-based broths. One soup unique to the Caribbean and Bahamas is the souse (pronounced “sowse”) — the only ingredients are water, onions, lime juice, celery, peppers and meat; no thickeners are added. The meat added to a souse is often chicken, sheep’s tongue, oxtail or pigs’ feet — giving the souse a delicious, rich flavor, new to many visitors.

The cuisine of The Islands Of The Bahamas is never, ever bland. Spicy, subtly and uniquely flavored with local meats and produce, more than any other cuisine in the West Indies, Bahamian cooking has been influenced by the American South. One very popular example of this influence is the “fish ‘n’ grits” mentioned above.

For a late breakfast or early anything ask our friendly conchmonger to ‘scorch’ (Bahamian word for score) a fresh conch. Needed in this concoction is a squeeze of lime, slices of onion and the all important fire-hot Bahamian bird pepper. The whole mixture is then eaten out of a plastic bag and washed down with soda or beer. A truly Bahamian treat!

copied from BahamasGateway.com

Bahamian Cuisine

Although you can find almost any kind of international food in the Bahamas from Sushi to Lasagna, some dishes are unique to the Bahamas.

The Bahamas are the delight of fresh seafood lovers who enjoy the bountifully rich treasures from the sea.Crawfish (local rock lobster) conch (pronounced ‘konk’), land crabs, and fish such as Grouper, Yellow Tail and Red Snapper are local and tourist favorites.

A typical Bahamian meal consists of crab and rice, delicious steamed fish, served with baked macaroni and cheese and a good helping ofpotato salad. This is followed by desserts such as coconut or pineapple tart, bread pudding or guava duff, a delicious dessert that is made through a laborious process of folding the fruit into the dough and boiling and is served with a sauce. This meal is topped off with a large glass of ice cold “switcha” (lemon, sugar and water mixture) or beer. Such a typical meal also explains why their are so many Bahama Mama’s and why heart disease and diabetes is so rampant in the Bahamas.Conch (pronounced ‘konk’), is a mollusk (shell fish like an oyster), is a perennial local seafood favorite. Unlike the slimy oyster the meat of conch is firm and white and is prepared in a variety of ways includingconch chowder, conch stew, conch salad, popular conch fritters,and is also deep fried as “cracked conch”.

Boiled fish and grits is a favorite breakfast. Boiled fish is also delicious served with homemade Island bread. Grouper is the most popular fish used for boiling. Bahamians are experts at cooking this fish which is flaky, white, tender and mild in flavor.

Other specialties include Bahamian stew fish (made with celery, onions, tomatoes, spices and fish), Bahamian crawfish, peas n’ rice(consisting of pigeon peas with salt, pork or bacon, tomatoes, celery, rice, thyme and pepper) and Johnny cake (pan-cooked bread made with butter, milk, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder).

A typical Bahamian Christmas meal consists of baked ham and baked turkey with stuffing, green peas and rice, yam or sweet potato, baked macaroni and cheese, potato salad, coleslaw and vegetables.

from The Bahamas Guide website

Removing Conch from its Shell

Find the spot on the conch shell that is on the side, between the 3rd and 4th spiral from the center. Use a hammer to make a hole about 2 inches long and ¼ inch wide in this spot.

Insert a knife into the hole. Feel the hard abductor muscle and cut through it. This will effectively kill the conch. If you feel soft material, do Step 1 again.

Grab the conch’s claw and pull the meat out of the shell’s large opening

Take the black claw and cut all black and white viscera away until you are left with only clean gray and white muscle.

Place the conch body with the eyes face up and cut off the projection above the eyes and the proboscis.

Cut out the esophagus that lays under the skin from the proboscis to the ragged edge of the muscle.

Find the intestine, which is a dark vein on the underside of the white muscle, and cut it out.

Slice through the skin from the bottom of the conch meat to the claw and use your thumb or knife to pull the tough skin off. Then remove the claw.

Refrigerate the conch or use it in your favorite recipe

taken from ehow.

Conch Salad

Things You’ll Need:

• 1 lb Conch Meat
• 2 Tomatoes
• 1 Green Pepper
• 1 Red Pepper
• 1 Large Onion
• Several Jalapeno or Habenero peppers
• About six limes
• Salt

The hardest part of this recipe is finding the conch. You will probably have to go to a market that specializes in just seafood because most grocery stores don’t carry it. You can’t get fresh conch in the US, but most seafood shops carry previously frozen conch. You will need about a pound for this recipe. When you purchase it, ask the store clerk if they will tenderize it for you. This basically consists of beating the conch with a mallet which makes it much more tender.

Cut the conch meat into bite sized pieces, about 1/2 inch. Discard any orange or grey sections that may still be on the meat, as this is very tough and hard to chew.

Dice up some fresh tomatoes (remove the seeds from the tomatoes), green pepper, red peppers and onions into small pieces, about the same size as the conch meat.

Very finely chop up a couple of hot peppers. If you want a very spicy salad as I do, use a habenero or scotch bonnet pepper.  They are very small, but very hot. If you want less heat, use a jalapeno. Add the pepper a little bit at a time and taste the salad as you add it. Stop adding the hot pepper when it has just the right amount of spice for you. This step is optional, but it totally changes the flavor of the salad if you leave it out.

Squeeze the juice of about 6 limes into the mixture and then add salt to taste. Stir completely as to coat every piece and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. The longer it marinates in the better it tastes.

copied from ehow with thanks to sflasusie