An island pantry, an iron pot, and time
Jamaican Cooking Without Vegetable Oil
Coconut oil in the frying pan, butter in the dough, pimento smoke over everything. Six dishes from the Jamaican table, cooked the way grandmothers cooked them, with no seed oil anywhere in the house.
What we hold to
“A Jamaican pot never needed seed oil. It needed coconut oil rendered gold, a knob of good butter, fresh thyme and scallion, and the patience to let pimento wood do its slow work. Everything else is noise.”
Coconut Oil FirstButter In The BakeNever Vegetable Oil
Read the six recipesThe Filsou index
Six Dishes, Numbered and Kept
Each recipe below is a dish you will find on real Jamaican tables, from Kingston yards to country kitchens in Saint Elizabeth. Every one is made with coconut oil, butter or olive oil. None of them touches vegetable oil. Click a dish to open the full method.
-
Ingredients
- 8 bone in chicken thighs, skin on
- 6 scallions, roughly chopped
- 1 to 2 scotch bonnet peppers, seeded
- 1 tbsp ground allspice (pimento)
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- 1 thumb of ginger, peeled
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- Juice of 2 limes and 2 tsp sea salt
Method
- Blend the scallions, scotch bonnet, allspice, thyme, ginger, garlic, sugar, lime juice, salt and coconut oil into a rough, dark paste.
- Score each thigh twice through the skin. Rub the paste into every cut and under the skin. Cover and marinate in the fridge overnight, or at least 4 hours.
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Set the thighs skin side up on a rack over a lined tray, spooning any loose marinade on top.
- Roast for 35 minutes, then baste with the tray drippings and roast 15 minutes more, until the edges char and the juices run clear.
- Rest the chicken for 10 minutes under loose foil so the spice settles into the meat.
- Serve with rice and peas or hard dough bread, with the tray juices poured over.
-
Ingredients
- 2 whole red snapper, cleaned and scored
- 1 lime, for washing the fish
- 2 tsp sea salt and 1 tsp black pepper
- Coconut oil, about 1 cup for shallow frying
- 1 large carrot, cut into thin sticks
- 1 white onion, sliced into rings
- 1 scotch bonnet, sliced thin
- 6 whole allspice berries
- 3/4 cup white cane vinegar
- 1 tsp raw sugar
Method
- Rub the fish inside and out with the cut lime, rinse, and pat completely dry. Season with salt and pepper, working it into the score marks.
- Heat the coconut oil in a heavy skillet until a breadcrumb sizzles at once. Fry each fish 5 to 6 minutes per side until the skin is deep gold and crisp. Set on a platter.
- Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the carrot, onion, scotch bonnet and allspice berries and toss for 2 minutes, keeping the vegetables firm.
- Add the vinegar and sugar and let it bubble for 1 minute, just enough to sharpen and soften.
- Spoon the hot pickle and its liquor over the fried fish so it seeps into the cuts.
- Rest at least 15 minutes before serving. Escovitch is even better the next day, straight from the fridge with bammy or bread.
-
Ingredients
- 2 large bunches callaloo or amaranth greens (spinach works)
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 small onion, chopped fine
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 ripe tomato, chopped
- 2 scallions, sliced
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 whole scotch bonnet, uncut
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Method
- Strip the callaloo leaves and tender stems, wash twice in salted water, and chop roughly.
- Melt the butter in a wide pot over medium heat. Soften the onion, garlic and scallion for 3 minutes without coloring.
- Add the tomato and thyme and cook until the tomato slumps into a rough sauce.
- Pile in the callaloo with the coconut milk and set the whole scotch bonnet on top. Cover and steam 8 to 10 minutes on low.
- Lift out the pepper before it bursts, season with salt and black pepper, and serve with boiled dumplings or roasted breadfruit.
-
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried red kidney beans, soaked overnight
- 1 lb stew beef, cut in chunks
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 lb yellow yam or potato, peeled and cubed
- 1 carrot, sliced thick
- 4 scallions and 6 thyme sprigs, tied together
- 1 whole scotch bonnet, uncut
- 6 whole allspice berries
- 1 cup flour and a pinch of salt, for the spinners
- 1 tbsp butter, to finish
Method
- Drain the soaked beans and put them in a large pot with the beef and 10 cups of water. Boil hard 10 minutes, then simmer 1 hour 30 minutes until the beans crush easily.
- Mash a ladleful of beans against the pot wall to thicken the broth, then pour in the coconut milk.
- Add the yam, carrot, the tied scallion and thyme, the allspice berries and the whole scotch bonnet. Simmer 20 minutes.
- Make the spinners: mix the flour, salt and just enough water to form a stiff dough. Pinch off pieces and roll them between your palms into thin cigars.
- Drop the spinners into the soup and simmer 15 minutes more, until they float and turn glossy.
- Fish out the pepper and the herb bundle. Stir in the butter and season with salt.
- Ladle into deep bowls and let it sit 5 minutes. Red peas soup is always hotter than it looks.
-
Ingredients
- 4 cups bread flour
- 1 cup warm coconut milk
- 2 1/4 tsp dry yeast
- 3 tbsp raw sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 egg, beaten
- 6 tbsp butter, melted, divided
- 1 tbsp butter, softened, for the bowl
- A little flour for dusting
- A pinch of grated nutmeg, optional
Method
- Stir the yeast and sugar into the warm coconut milk and let it foam for 10 minutes.
- Mix in the egg, 2 tablespoons of the melted butter, the salt and the flour. Knead 8 minutes to a smooth, springy dough.
- Turn the dough in a buttered bowl, cover, and let it double, about 1 hour in a warm kitchen.
- Divide into 8 balls. Roll each into an oval, brush generously with melted butter, and fold in half like a wallet.
- Brush the tops with more butter, cover, and rest 20 minutes on a lined tray.
- Bake at 375°F for 15 to 18 minutes until pale gold and puffed at the fold.
- Brush once more with the last of the butter and serve warm, torn open by hand.
-
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups freshly grated coconut
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup coconut milk
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp grated nutmeg
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla
Method
- Heat the oven to 350°F and butter an 8 inch square tin.
- Cream the butter and brown sugar until sandy, then beat in the egg and vanilla.
- Fold in the grated coconut, then the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon.
- Loosen the batter with the coconut milk. It should drop heavily from the spoon.
- Scrape into the tin and bake 35 to 40 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean and the top is deep amber.
- Cool fully in the tin before cutting into squares. Toto firms up and tastes better on the second day.
Our Kitchin
Why We Cook This Way
Filsou Kitchin is an editorial project about one idea: Jamaican food does not need vegetable oil, because it never did. Long before commercial seed oil reached the shops, island cooks fried fish in coconut oil pressed nearby, enriched their dough with butter, and let pimento wood season everything else. We write the recipes down as they were cooked, and we test each one in an ordinary home kitchen before it earns a number on this page.
Everything here is free to read and cook from. We publish slowly, in small numbered sets, and we would rather keep six honest recipes than a hundred rushed ones. If a step matters, we say why. If a shortcut fails, we tell you.
Back to the six recipes