Cou-Cou and Flying Fish

Barbados (West African fufu and cornmeal tradition adapted to the Caribbean)

Cou-cou and flying fish is Barbados's national dish — a polenta-like cornmeal and okra pudding (cou-cou) served alongside steamed flying fish in a butter-tomato sauce seasoned with lime, onion, thyme, and scotch bonnet. The cou-cou is the more technically demanding preparation: fine cornmeal is whisked into salted water with sliced cooked okra, then stirred continuously with a 'cou-cou stick' (a long wooden paddle) until the mixture pulls cleanly from the pot sides, forming a smooth, glossy, firm but yielding mass that is shaped in an oiled bowl and inverted. The sticky okra mucilage is what gives cou-cou its characteristic smooth, silky texture. Flying fish (Cheilopogon melanurus) is endemic to Barbadian waters and their seasonal abundance made them the defining protein of the national cuisine.

The flying fish sauce (butter, tomato, lime, scotch bonnet) provides the seasoned counterpoint to the plain cou-cou; rum punch is the canonical beverage — Barbados's Mount Gay rum is one of the world's oldest rum brands and inseparable from Bajan food culture.