Ingredients
Main
- 1 kgbull’s genitals, cleaned and cut
- 2limes
- 3 tbspvinegar
- 2 tbspcoarse salt
Vegetables
- 4green bananas, peeled and cut
- 300 gyam, in chunks
- 2carrots
- 1chocho or chayote
Dumplings
- 150 gplain flour
- 50 gcornmeal
- ½ tspsalt
- water
Seasoning
- 1onion, chopped
- 4spring onions
- 4 clovesgarlic
- 2 sprigsthyme
- 1scotch bonnet, whole
- 2 tspallspice berries
- 1stock cube
- salt and black pepper
Also
- 150 mlwhite rum, added at the end
- 2 litreswater
To serve
- hot, in a mug or a bowl, from a roadside stand
Directions
- Rinse it thoroughly under cold running water. Rub it hard with coarse salt, working it over the whole surface, then rinse. Now rub it with cut lime and vinegar and leave it for twenty minutes.
- Rinse thoroughly afterwards, since lingering vinegar sours the soup. Repeat the salt and lime treatment if it still smells strong. Bring it to a boil in fresh water and boil hard for fifteen minutes.
- Drain it, rinse each piece, and wash out the pot before starting again. Do not skip this, since it decides whether the finished soup tastes clean or not. Cut it into bite-sized pieces before the long simmer, since cooked connective tissue is slippery and hard to handle.
- Simmer it in fresh water for at least two and a half to three hours. Connective tissue needs genuinely long cooking to break down, and undercooked it is rubbery in a way nothing later can fix. Add onion, spring onion, garlic, thyme, allspice and stock cube. Allspice, called pimento in Jamaica, is the defining Jamaican spice and it should be used generously.
- Add it whole and unbroken, which gives the fruity aroma without overwhelming heat. Take it out before it bursts unless you want the soup genuinely fierce. Add green bananas, yam, carrot and chocho for the last forty-five minutes. Mix flour, cornmeal and salt with water into a stiff dough.
- Roll small pieces between your palms into thin tapered shapes, which is where the name comes from. Drop them in for the last twenty minutes. Keep them small, since large dumplings stay raw in the middle.
- Add white overproof rum in the last few minutes, off the boil. Adding it at the end keeps its character, where long boiling would drive it off entirely. Add hot water if it has reduced too far. Taste and season firmly with salt and black pepper. It should be well peppered, since the base is mild. Serve it very hot in a mug or a bowl.
Technique
- The aphrodisiac reputation is folklore rather than established fact.
- It is almost all connective tissue, which gives the soup its gelatinous body.
- It needs three hours of simmering, and undercooked it is rubbery.
Substitutions
- Oxtail or cow foot, which give a similar gelatinous soup.
- A pressure cooker to shorten the long simmer.
Variations
- Made with cow foot as well.
- Made without rum.
- Made hotter, with the scotch bonnet burst into the pot.
History
A Jamaican soup with a long reputation as an aphrodisiac and tonic for men, sold at bars and roadside stands.
Frequently asked questions
What is Cow cod soup?
Cow cod soup is a soup & stew from Jamaica: bull’s genitals simmered with bananas, rum and pepper. A Jamaican soup with a long reputation as an aphrodisiac and tonic for men, sold at bars and roadside stands.
How long does Cow cod soup take to make?
Cow cod soup takes 45 min plus soaking of preparation and 3 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Cow cod soup?
Yes, within limits. Oxtail or cow foot, which give a similar gelatinous soup. A pressure cooker to shorten the long simmer.
What is the most important thing to get right in Cow cod soup?
Rinse it thoroughly under cold running water. Rub it hard with coarse salt, working it over the whole surface, then rinse. Now rub it with cut lime and vinegar and leave it for twenty minutes.
