Rice in Variety
Jasmine, health nut-brown, plain white, pre-seasoned, saffron-tinted yellow, parboiled Iberian—Jamaicans eat a lot of rice, to the point where I was stunned to discover as a moved-out college student that rice comes in smaller-than-20-pound bags, and even single-serving boxes. The variety is key here, as the rice used changes according to the dish: yellow rice is most often paired with fried snapper and other fish or used for seasoned rice; parboiled or jasmine is primarily used for rice and peas; plain brown and white serve as foils for the more savory curried goat, curried chicken, and cow foot (a cool-weather dinnertime favorite of melty, pressure-cooked cows’ feet, beans, and potatoes).
Porridge Grains
This broader sub-category includes hominy, barley, oats, bulgur (cracked wheat), and cornmeal. They’re cooked singly or in combination, enriched with spices, fats, sweeteners, and secret additions of the cook’s choosing. These grains have the added benefit of versatility: bulgur is often seasoned and used as a rice replacement, barley and hominy occasionally lend their heft to soups, and cornmeal shows up in everything from sweet corn pudding to savory “Turn Cornmeal” (Jamaican polenta) to the dough of fried festivals and dumplings. (We also use cornmeal to slick down the domino table so we get that nice, fast shuffle.)
