Rice, Peas & the Prize

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

Barbequed pigtails