By Rosemary Parkinson, ContributorMISS JEAN hails from Treadways, St. Catherine, and is the love of the Linstead Market, St. Catherine, because of her fine fare. She begins her routine in the early morning with a breakfast of ackee and saltfish, or salt mackerel, then turns her attention to lunch.
Miss Jean, the best cook in Jamaica, if you listen to her devoted clientele, has been in the market for about 20 years, but has only been cooking for the last 10.
Her devotees include market higglers, people who work in and around this north St. Catherine town, about 28 km. from Spanish Town. Her cooked meals, she says, is prepared from the best of the market. Her little area manifests this with bundles of seasonings, fruits and vegetables intermingled with the pots and pans used in her cooking.
Her real claim to fame is the tripe recipe which lures customers from miles away.
Stew Tripe
3 lbs. tripe, washed and cut into pieces
2 lbs. red peas
1 juice of one lime
3 sprigs escallion
2 whole sprigs thyme
1 dried bay leaf
4 large onion
2 Garlic cloves
1 tbsp. butter
2 tbsps. ketchup
2 tbsps. jerk seasoning
1/2 tbsp. salt
1/4 tbsp. black pepper
1/4 Scotch Bonnet deseeded
and finely chopped
Enough water to cover
METHOD
Chop all ingredients and place in a
pressure cooker. Drop a fresh green scotch bonnet pepper into pot. Cover with water. Place lid on pressure cooker and bring to
the boil. Cook for just under an hour on a medium flame. When finished, open lid after cooling. Taste for seasonings and when ready serve on a bed of rice garnished with salad of your choice and a slice of pear.
