Been Watching

I never actually liked reggae reggae sauce. I thought it tasted weird and was essentially a spicy tomato ketchup. I much prefer this stuff. Levi Roots performance on the Dragons Den was also strange because I kinda felt that he was belittling himself a bit and playing up to the cameras. I have however been enjoying his current TV show Caribbean Food Made Easy.

The show covers the staples of Caribbean cooking by visiting parts of the Caribbean and the UK. When Levi cooks to show us how to make the food the emphasis is on getting things to feel right when cooking and this includes all elements ingredients and atmosphere. Levi's real personality shines through and he's a great ambassador for Caribbean food.

The sunshine kit which I did find tacky at first is a great gimmick. A collection of spices, herbs and ingredients with which you should be able to make anything have a Caribbean flavour. That's when you realise what's so great about Caribbean food. It's mixture of good well cooked meat which treats and respects the natural meatyness in a way the nose to tail crew would agree with. The meat goes with the freshest vegetables, fruit and squashes and the flavours are elevated with traditional things like thyme and garlic and also exotic spices including pimento and ginger and then everything is brought to life with intense heat (and flavour) from the brilliantly delicious scotch bonnet pepper. Dare I say it's kind of achieved what all those fusion idiots tried in the nineties.

The first episodes lamb with dragon stout gravy plays on mind in times of hunger and now I know how to cook a yam properly. I'd like Levi to show us how to rehydrate those funny dried salt fish next.