Vegetarians be warned, this is a meat post :) but please do not let it prevent you from commenting or asking a question. Email me for a vegetarian version of this dish.
Rice and peas and peas and rice are not the same as the Guyanese Cook-up rice or the Trini pelau. In Barbados, rice and peas refers to cooked pigeon peas (dried, fresh or canned) with rice and flavoured with a piece of salt meat, pigtail to be exact. In other parts of the Caribbean this combination is also known as peas and rice and the peas/beans used to identify the dish are different in a variety of islands. For example, peas and rice in Jamaica is red kidney beans cooked with rice. In the Eastern Caribbean islands stewed peas served with steamed rice is what is known as peas and rice.
Salt meat is self explanatory, it is meat that has been cured with salt (think bacon). Pigtail is a very popular salt meat in this region and Barbados is known for its pigtail or tails as they are fondly called :) Because the meat is salted, it is used when making rice and peas to season the entire dish and impart some flavour. To read more, click here.
- For an entertaining take on how our tastes change, adjust and adapt, click here.
- For this week's column, click here.
- For the recipe of this dish Email me
36 comments:
Barbecued pigtails - that's such a different thing for me to read, LOL! I've heard of oxtail, of course, never this. I may make this with chicken sausage, though!
Cynthia, salt meat is huge in the North-east of Brazil - unfortunately, I don't know the cut they use to make it.
This dish would be a hit with my dad! :)
Hi Cynthia! how r u? Your peas rice looks great. Next time, I will try your's rice recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Cynthia, the Rice and Peas looks like down home food. I guess eachg region in the world has their version of peas and rice, in my parts they cook a bean and peas rice but with toor dal but no meat. But I can imagine what an added flavor adding meat would give the dish!
Pig tails, pig feet and all that are loved by old southerner and there is one dingy grocery store that still sell them. I am an oddity with my freinds as I absolutely love organ meat as well as tongues, feet and tails...so I loved your post! I made bbq pigs feet the other day an was glad to see my hubby devouring them!
Cynthia,I love rice and peas but never tried Salt meat although Bacon is on the table every Saturday.Looks great.I love BBQ food:))
Sra - yes dear, I imagine how different it is for you. You can make the rice and peas with sausages. Great flavour there too.
Patricia - it must be something with us who live on this side of the planet :) I like your dad already!
Jyothi - I am fine thank you sweetheart. What about you? I'll send you the recipe.
Indo - We also make rice and peas with moong dal. The trick is always about ensuring that the dal does not melt and then make cooking the rice difficult.
I would like to hear more about your dish.
Helen - okay, we need to talk (lol). I draw the line at tongue.
Asha - you should really try making this rice and peas with a bit of bacon hon. You will absolutely love it! Will send you the recipe.
Cynthia ,your peas rice looks so tasty .I love this kind of dish,juicy and full of flavor.
Cynthia, I love the flavor of pegion peas very much and I am in for the vegeration version. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.
This is a lovely rice dish! I don't take pork anymore due to health reasons, but I think I can substitute with with soem smoked chicken.. I love rice cooked like this - Great one pot dish!
This was such an interesting post. I wish I knew more about these cuisines because the dishes look delicious!
I like the rice and peas. Barecued pigtails ?? Thats something new for me :)
Cynthia, your writing and the presentation is as usual outstanding. Could not comment on the dish :) Viji
Hi Cynthia, interesting story behind that dish. While I don't eat pork, I do like beans in my rice.
You should sometime try the Northern Brazilian version of this peas and beans, called "feijoada". Quite a treat. It's amazing how cooking grows, expands, changes from one place to another. The Costa Rica version is "gallopinto", much lighter, no meat, only on the side. I must do it once a week and keep it in the fridge, it`s my children´s favorite.
Sorry Cynthia for being away for some time. Nothing serious, personal stuff: one son leaving to work in Spain, and so on. Keep in touch. Big hug!
"It takes love, and time, and respect for one's ingredients to properly deal with a pig's ear or a kidney," wrote Anthony Bourdain in Fergus Henderson's The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating. I suppose that goes for pigtails too.
I want to be in Barbados now, eating some rice and peas and all the other fab foods. I'm so going to be picking your brains when it comes to us doing your part of the world.
Hope you've had a great weekend.
Amanda
Sylvia - Thanks hon. It is really delicious. :)
Seema - Thanks hon. I sent you the recipe, I hope that you make it and enjoy it.
Anh - Thanks hon. This dish with smoked chicken would be great.
Truffle - it is my pleasure to be able to share these dishes with you hon. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Jyothsna - a very warm welcome! It is a pleasure to have you visit. Please come back again.
Viji - as always, your encouragement brightens my day. Thank you.
Nora - *smile*
Pamela - I miss you. Will email you soon. Thanks for bringing those dishes to my attention. We will chat later.
Lots of hugs to you!
Karin - I do love me some Anthony Bourdain and you know that he is quite a character himself! :) And yes, I suppose the same goes for pigtails too. (lol)
Amanda - bring the family and come! Oh, I am so going to enjoy it when your kitchen comes to this part of the world
I had no idea about all these variations Cynthia.how fabulous!!
hey, hope u had a good wknd! i'm amazed at the number of ways that rice can be spiced up, each with a unique recipe :)
Cynthia, rice and any kind of legume or any kind of legume and rice can seldom be a bad thing! ;-) I've eaten the Jamaican version already- is it always sweet? But this one looks excellent too; I'd even try it, as the pig is hardly killed just for its tail- I have little ways of working this out see?
I have to tell you this little story...(I'm still in short-comment therapy, yes) One day I was doing my usual shopping at a local Thai/Lao grocery store, when, in the refrigerator, a bag of certain somethings left me a bit awestruck: chicken feet- lots of them! In a big bag. I thought they were a new vegetable until I got closer. Well, curiosity got to me, so I just had to ask the shop-keeper how they were prepared, which she happily told me. OK. Interesting. Well, I was visiting my mother next day, and told her about them...to my utter amazement and suprise, she exclaimed, "Oh! Chicken feet! We used to love those! You just have to clean them really well...", which was what the lady from the day before had just gone through with me... There's just no accounting for taste, see...but often there's a good reason for it! ;-)
ahh cyn... that looks fab! salted meat and rice and peas.. what can go wrong with that... hope you had a great weekend sweetie...
Hi Cynthia,
I love rice and beans in any form, yum. I make versions of it all the time -- rice and black beans, rice and kidney beans, rice and green peas.... I don't eat pork, but if I did I'd definitely try out your recipe!
Cynthia, wonderfull recipe. Here in Galicia ( Spain ) we also eat salted pigtails, pig ears, pig feet, etc.
Valentina - Thank you.
Richa - I did and I hope that you and the family did too!
Pel - Honey, save your money. Do not continue with the therapy. I like your long comments!
The Jamaican peas and rice you had... was it in Jamaica? or at a restaurant there in the US? I have never known Jamaican peas and rice to be sweet at all.
Yeah chicken feet is popular down here also, people use it to make something called souse which is really a fresh pickle with lots of cucumbers, splashes of vinegar, hot chilies, garlic, green onions and other fresh herbs.
Sig - Yeah baby, you know the thing. Had a good weekend. Got to drop you a line soon.
Cheese with a spoon - oh yes, in any form it is indeed a pleasure.
Pilar - thank you! I could imagine the amazing things you make.
My hubby would be all over this yummy meal!
Hi cynthia,
How r u? i was bit busy and couldnt visit ur blog.Sorry dear...
Peas rice looks yummy....
Pig tail is looking nice...It sounds new to me.....different recipe....
Hi Cynthia,
Peas and rice looks rich..though Non.veg eaters..i eat only Lamb&Chicken.
I thought of informing these from long time...once i got chance to go to Caribbean res...tasted feww varieties..i was impressed with the Caribbean.chicken Soup....
Have heard of pigtails, never tasted it and don't think will too ;-)
The rice looks great and as Sra said sausage or other meat might be agood substitute
I like rice with chickpea, nuts and raisins can be added too.
Kristen - That makes me very happy.
A very warm welcome. Hope to see more of you.
Priar - that's okay sweetie, I know how busy things can get at times.
Sukanya - Yes hon, this is known as Caribbean creole food :)
Usha - this rice and peas would be great with chicken or lamb ummmmm.
Can you remember which country's cuisine was being featured at the restaurant?
Sandeepa - yes I imagine that you won't :) But there are substitutions.
Sharmi - that's a great idea. Shn made a really nice rice dish the other day that she featured on her blog. Be sure to check it out.
Pigtail sounds interesting. Does it taste more like ham?
Pigeon peas are toor dal, right? Your picture suggests that you use them whole and with the skin. Do you cook them separately before adding them to the dish or are these fresh pigeon peas?
Hi Manisha, a very warm Caribbean welcome to you! It is a pleasure to have you visit. Please come back again.
To answer your questions: yeah, the pigtail because of the curing process will taste a little like ham but it's a lot saltier hence some people boiling it to remove some of the salt before cooking it.
I checked here http://www.foodsubs.com/Lentils.html and while the pic there definitely looks like toor dal, I think it is not the same thing because it says that pigeon peas can be used as a substitute for toor dal.
The pigeon peas used in the dish are the dried variety which I soaked overnight and then cooked separately in the pressure cooker for about 15 minutes before adding the rice.
When making the dish with the fresh pigeon peas, they cook the same time with the rice.
Hope I've answered your questions. Please let me if you if you any other questions.
Again, thanks for dropping by.
I was just about to tell you how interesting I thought that you were cooking with pigtails... then I saw those amazing looking baked eggs in the previous post. Egad woman! I just ate dinner and your photos have made me hungry again. Yum!
Ari (Baking and Books)
Cynthia, thanks for the detailed reply!
Packets of toor dal used to be labeled as split pigeon peas till recently. I looked up pigeon peas and found this on Wikipedia and this from a manufacturer/processor of toor dal.
Do let me know if any of this makes sense. There is a picture of pigeon peas from Trinidad & Tobago on the wiki link and the peas look divine!
I haven't cooked with fresh pigeon peas. I'm not sure I will get them in any form other than frozen though. Could you email me the recipe for this rice whenever you get a chance? polarmate at gmail dot com
Thaks a ton, Cynthia!
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