Aulacode

Ingredients

Meat

• 1.2 kgaulacode, greater cane rat, smoked and jointed
• or another smoked game meat

Base

• 2onions, chopped
• 6 clovesgarlic
• 3cm ginger
• 6tomatoes, blended
• 3 tbsptomato paste
• 3scotch bonnets
• 100 mlred palm oil or vegetable oil

Also

• 2stock cubes
• 1 tspground crayfish
• 2bay leaves
• 1 tspdried thyme
• salt and pepper
• about 500 ml water

To serve

• with rice, with pâté, or with igname pilée

Directions

1. Cook it thoroughly, right through, with no pink remaining. Wash hands, boards and knives thoroughly after handling any raw game. Wash it thoroughly in water with lemon or vinegar. Joint the meat into serving pieces.
2. Boil the smoked meat with onion, stock cubes and thyme until tender. It is lean and worked meat and it needs time, an hour or more depending on the animal.
3. Keep the broth, which carries the smoke flavour. Fry the chopped onion in the oil until soft and golden. Add the garlic and ginger, then the tomato paste, and fry it for four minutes until it darkens.
4. Fry the blended mixture for fifteen to twenty minutes over a medium heat. Cook it until it darkens noticeably and the oil separates and rises to the surface.
5. Stir it regularly, since a thick tomato base catches readily. Add the boiled meat and enough of the reserved broth to make a thick sauce.
6. Add the ground crayfish and bay leaves and simmer for thirty to forty minutes. That long simmer lets the smoky meat and the sauce come together, and the sauce should reduce and thicken.
7. Add them whole for aroma or blended in for full effect. Taste and season firmly with salt and pepper. The sauce should be thick and clinging rather than soupy. Serve it with rice, with pâté de maïs, or with igname pilée, pounded yam.

Technique

• Benin pioneered farming cane rats from the 1980s to relieve pressure on wild stock.
• Farmed meat is both safer and more sustainable than wild-hunted bushmeat.
• Import of bushmeat is illegal in the EU and many other jurisdictions.

Substitutions

• Any smoked game meat, such as rabbit, which gives a similar dish.
• Smoked goat or beef, which is a common substitution.

Variations

• Grilled over charcoal rather than stewed.
• Made with a groundnut sauce instead of tomato.
• Made milder, with fewer peppers.

History

Benin pioneered aulacodiculture from the 1980s with German technical cooperation, farming the greater cane rat to meet demand without hunting wild stock.

Frequently asked questions

What is Aulacode?

Aulacode is a main from Benin: cane rat smoked and stewed in sauce, the most prized bush meat. Benin pioneered aulacodiculture from the 1980s with German technical cooperation, farming the greater cane rat to meet demand without hunting wild stock.

How long does Aulacode take to make?

Aulacode takes 30 min of preparation and 2 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Aulacode?

Yes, within limits. Any smoked game meat, such as rabbit, which gives a similar dish. Smoked goat or beef, which is a common substitution.

What is the most important thing to get right in Aulacode?

Add them whole for aroma or blended in for full effect. Taste and season firmly with salt and pepper. The sauce should be thick and clinging rather than soupy. Serve it with rice, with pâté de maïs, or with igname pilée, pounded yam.